FW: School Board Settles Lawsuit Brought by Family of Autistic Student

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From:

AutismRecoveryNetwork

[mailto:AutismRecoveryNetwork ] On Behalf Of Holly

Bortfeld

Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 7:18 PM

To: AutismRecoveryNetwork

Subject: [AutismRecoveryNetwork] School Board Settles Lawsuit Brought by

Family of Autistic Student

School

Board Settles Lawsuit Brought by Family of Autistic Student

By Chambliss for The Ledger. tiny.pl/82xm

Polk County School Board members agreed

unanimously Tuesday to pay $475,000 to a Lakeland family and settle a

four-year-old year lawsuit over whether an autistic student was given a proper

education.

Earlier this year a judge ruled the School

District had not provided a full education to Drew Sammons. The ruling in April

ordered the district to pay up to $144,000 a year for five years to send

Sammons to a private school.

The School Board appealed the ruling and faced

the prospect of mounting attorneys’ fees that, for the district, have already

reached $816,000.

District officials said Tuesday the $475,000 to

be paid the Sammons family includes the family’s legal expenses.

In their lawsuit the Sammons family said Drew

Sammons was allowed to graduate without receiving the academic instruction or

training in developmental skills that the law requires disabled students be

provided.

Drew Sammons was diagnosed with Asperger’s

syndrome, a form of autism, when he was a young child. He attended Polk schools

since kindergarten.

The district has maintained that Sammons

fulfilled the requirements for graduation, including passing the FCAT.

If you are not outraged,

you are clearly not paying attention.