Due Process Legal Fees- Suing our school district

+$3658 in outside donations & funds (this is a running total that I will update)

This school year has been one of nightmares for our family. The plethora of unjust and heartbreaking situations endured all began with trauma from a coincidental active shooter drill in our elementary school last March on the exact same day of the Covenant shooting in our city of Nashville. Trauma was spurred on by an untrained administrator and IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) was violated. I filed an administrative complaint with the state of Tennessee and it was ruled that IDEA was violated. I have spent this school year trying to hold individuals accountable for all the ways they have since continued to violate my child's rights, trying to build a stronger more supportive IEP and fighting for my child's inclusion in their general education classroom. At every turn their rights have been violated over and over again.

We had to hire an attorney from the beginning because we knew what started this all was serious and the school's administration was dishonest and grossly undertrained. This was the best decision we could have made. So many of you have helped us pay their fees along the way as well and we are so grateful.

Over and over again I have watched in horror as adults have taken advantage of, harassed and violated the rights of my child and no one is held accountable. Sadly I know this is not uncommon for so many children with disabilities and Black and brown children in the school system. We have reached a point where we can no longer move forward without filing due process...suing our school district...for all the ways they have violated our child's rights. They are also proposing unwarranted, permanent things for our child that will not only affect them now, but their future. Today two incredibly knowledgeable attorneys, who have been doing this work for children and their families for 30+ years, filed our complaint and due process was officially set in motion for what we know our child...and every child...deserves and has a right to.

This is going to be a very costly process for our family and we simply do not have the money readily available to us. That feels scary, but WE KNOW we can no longer not fight this battle legally. What adults...administrators and staff...at our child's school have done to our kiddo and are proposing moving forward for their education is egregious and sickening. We were left with only moving forward legally.

And here we are showing up and asking humbly for help again. Our fees have already began to add up so I decided to set up this GoFundMe for our legal fees. No donation is too little...or too big ;) We know not everyone is in a position to give so please feel free to share our fundraiser. Any help in any way is greatly appreciated.

If you are in the Nashville area and know of organizations who assist families financially who are filing due process for their child's educational rights, I would love to hear from you. I have only found a few organizations who do this. I did apply, but have not heard back. Any help would be awesome!!!

Thank you guys so much for all the encouragement, support and love through out this school year! Thanks for fighting along with us wherever you are and thank you for loving our kiddo so much!

-Love The Kelleys