Here We Due Go Again

Hopefully, frequent readers of my two blogs, and those who should be knowledgeble about IDEA, understand the difference between a state complaint and due process as both are defined in IDEA. Here is a letter for you to read and share with others:




What this Mom would say to a School Board, if she believed they would listen…..

June, 2008

Dear Hillsborough County School Board members,

I am writing to ask that you review a pending due process case in your district, one filed on behalf of my son Andrew. As elected professionals serving the families and students of our county, I feel certain that you understand your fiduciary responsibilities as well as an inherent commitment, as expressed in your mission statement, to serve all the children of our district.

My situation is one that unfortunately we have faced before. In 1992, when Andrew began kindergarten, we were forced to file due process in order to receive the promised speech therapy designated on his IEP. We won at due process and the district was found guilty of seventeen violations of IDEA (the federal law governing the education of students with disabilities). We were relieved to have it over, and never dreamed our own school district would respond by suing us in court. In response, and not for the first time, my husband went to a public School Board meeting and begged the Board to review our case, talk to us, talk to their attorneys and understand the issues. The response of the Board was to turn to their attorney and say “Handle it Crosby” and immediately hire additional appellate attorneys. I think looking back on that moment in time the Board must have ultimately regretted that comment. Because abdicating their responsibility to the attorneys resulted in over 8 years of litigation, at a breath-taking monetary cost to the district, and ultimately resulting in Hillsborough County setting a national precedent as the first district in the U.S. to have been found guilty of retaliating against parents who advocated for their son. I was almost embarrassed when members of our School Board were brought to testify in depositions and in federal court only to have each of them admit they did not know or understand the real issues of our case. To this date, one only need mention “Hillsborough” to anyone across the nation in special education, and they know you are the district who retaliates against families of children with disabilities. And your attorney, whether he is your friend or foe, is known for a “scorched earth” policy when it comes to litigating – not exactly what I would term a “family friendly” district.

It is not my intention to open old wounds, relive the past, but one must as the saying goes, remember history in order not to repeat mistakes. I thought it appropriate as my elected officials that I write you with one and only one request. Please read the due process filing I have made on behalf of my son Andrew. Do your own research regarding what the federal law says with respect to the responsibility of schools to provide appropriate transition services. Ask your attorney why an 8-hour mediation ended in an impasse without a single offer by your district administrators to compromise (although we are bound not to discuss the details of the mediation – you can know it did not end with resolution). Ask your transition administrators why a program they have participated in, and promoted for a solid year, was suddenly ended when it came time to implement the program. Call some surrounding counties and ask how they implement transition. Call the FDOE and ask if they believe your people are implementing transition in compliance with federal law. And even if you don’t care about my son and whether or not he has any appropriate transition services, consider the liability of this case.

Now some would say I am giving my case away by writing all of you and asking these questions. But instead I say I am simply doing what I have done all along, asking that the right thing be done for Andrew. But even if you do nothing else, please do not repeat the sins of the 1992 School Board, do not abdicate your responsibilities to the attorneys, do not act as Pontius Pilate and wash your hands of this simply because due process has been filed. Read the due process filing and ask questions, require accountability of your administrators and fiduciary responsibility on behalf of your attorneys. It is your job. It is not too late to save the taxpayers of our county what amounted to over a million dollars paid out to our family and your attorneys over the last Whitehead case. I am as confident of a win this time as I was in 1992. I was right then, and whether or not you believe I am right this time as well, please believe me when I tell you it is not my desire to litigate. I simply want my son to have the transition services (which I currently believe would not cost the district any additional money than currently received under his IEP Matrix equivalent of a 255 since he already has a Teacher’s Assistant) so that he can exit the school system as a contributing tax-paying, employed citizen of Hillsborough County. The resistance I have received to a pro-active approach w/ no additional funding requirements is mind-boggling. But the cost if I am forced to litigate will surely be more.

I am happy to answer any questions you may have, or even encourage you to contact the local teachers at my son’s school who also support his program. Or perhaps I should erase that sentence since so many teachers live in fear of pressure and retaliation from those above that when inquiries are made, silence is returned, It seems the people who have the most problem with what we are requesting reside at the Velasco Building and have never even met Andrew. Reminds me of the attorneys who made all the decisions in the last case without ever reviewing it with the people who count most – our School Board.

And just in case anyone doubts that history threatens to repeat itself, just view our press release from the end of the last litigation in 2000 – the personal statement in paragraph two speaks for itself…
http://www.wrightslaw.com/news/2000/whitehead_newsrelease_000503.pdf
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Blessings to all,

Nikole Whitehead
Mother of Andrew Keith Whitehead