Posted on 08/19/2005 7:58:52 AM PDT by SmithL
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. - The school district and the state will pay more than $6.7 million to a family of an autistic boy to settle claims that the agencies failed to provide the child with an adequate education.
An attorney involved in the case said he believes the settlement is a record payment for a special education case.
The case began in 1999, when Deborah and John Porter claimed that the Manhattan Beach Unified School District in suburban Los Angeles had failed to provide their son with appropriate instruction in reading, language instruction and socialization.
The state's special education hearing office agreed and ordered the 6,500-student district to make corrections.
But the Porters filed a federal lawsuit in 2000, claiming the district had not made the changes.
U.S. District Court Judge Gary Allen Feess in December 2004 ruled that the district tried to "use the power it has as a means of retaliating against the Porters" for their criticism and lawsuit. He determined that the state Department of Education had failed to properly supervise the district in the Porter case.
District Superintendent Gwen Gross, who has been in her position since October 2003, said the district has taken major steps to improve its special education program.
But the Porters' attorney, Steven Wyner, said the district could have avoided the lawsuit by complying with the initial state orders.
Deborah Porter in a statement said: "No amount of money can compensate for the school district's deliberate failure to provide an appropriate education at a crucial point in our son's life."
Nearly $1.6 million will be put in a special needs trust for the student and nearly $2.4 million in a trust for his parents. Another $1.1 million will pay for a court-appointed special master to oversee the boy's education through June 2007.
The Porters' attorneys will receive the remaining $1.7 million.
The school district will pay $5.4 million of the settlement.
The now 17-year-old boy was not identified because he is still a student in the district.
don't these parents have any responsibility to ensure a resonable education for their child? - Beyond filing a lawsuit?
well isn't this special...
another family and another lawyer win the lottery!
gezzzzzzz,
and we wonder why our taxes are so damn high!
RIDICULOUS!
2. The verdict hurts the district's chances of improving the situation
"failed to provide the child with an adequate education"
Could every parent that has a failing child now sue for a million dollar education?
Only in California! Liberals are still running(into the ground)and destroying this state. Just more liberal and judicial lunacy from the socialists....
If not properly educating a child is worth millions of dollars, then every child who attended public schools in California should be a millionaire.
That statement would apply to nearly ever big city, democrat run school system...can I sue also?
I could go along with a jihad against lawyers.
NO...the State of California, the California teachers unions, and the Socialist Department of Education have stripped away parents rights and with it their responsibility...
IT TAKES A VILLAGE! ... Didn't you get the memo?
This case is the exception to the normal treatment that these kids get.
This is so totally outrageous and will likely become a precedent for more to follow. May be reversed on appeal if one is filed. Common sense is in short supply in courts these days.
If not properly educating a child is worth millions of dollars, then every child who attended public schools in California should be a millionaire.
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Given the disasterous record of California's schools (near the bottom in the nation!!), why can't a class action suit be filed by all parents in the state on behalf of their children??? While such a token suit would never get past the liberal ownership of California's courts, it would be nice to it put before the world for everyone to understand what a sham the entire California system is.
Why blame the lawyers? Don't the parents share some blame? What about the court? Lawyers are just doing their jobs.
When it comes to special education, you have it 100% backwards. It is the parents who have demanded that the state take care of their kids and provide:
Speech therapy
Occupational Therapy
Physical Therapy
Recreational Therapy
Additional treatments may also be demanded no matter how little such treatments may accomplish, in some cases.
I believe courts have generally ruled that school systems do not have an enforceable duty to educate any individual child. It's rather like the police don't have an enforceable duty to keep any particular citizen from being murdered, robbed, etc.
I speculate that Federal or State law regarding disabled children may the basis for the judgment for this child; that would not be applicable to a non-disabled student.
"That statement would apply to nearly ever big city, democrat run school system...can I sue also?"
No. The only ones who can sue are the disabled -- the ones who won't really be educated no matter how much is spent on them. In the meantime, programs for the gifted are phased out for lack of money. Kids can't be "tracked" any more into classes where all kids have similar abilities, so bright kids sit and twiddle their thumbs while the curriculum is aimed at the dumbest kid in the class.
These millions taken from schools for this one kid are an outrage. But this goes on on a smaller basis all the time. Kids who are totally disabled are being housed at schools with caretakers on the school payroll who take care of two or three kids at the most. The per pupil expenditure for these kids is multiples of what the children who can actually learn have spent on them.
Those white people in LA take everything and they are destroying our communities!!! Oh wait, did I get the races mixed up?
I believe courts have generally ruled that school systems do not have an enforceable duty to educate any individual child.
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Yet, taxpayers are FORCED to pay taxes to support government schools, regardless of their performance. What's wrong with this picture??
That is my thought on this. If the school district was not doing it's job why didn't they home school? Secondly, it is my understanding that children with autisim are especially difficult to educate. If I'm wrong please accept my apologies, but how much can you expect from a child with that challenge during his or her lifetime?
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