Special Needs Kiddo Needs a Lawyer
Ian is almost 8 years old, and finishing second grade in a Special Education classroom, and has an active IEP. Ian struggles with the challenges associated with his PTSD from years of trauma, ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder, Emotional Disturbance disorder, and Anxiety.
Because of Ian's trauma history, it is extremely important he is directly supervised at all times ( aka "Line of Sight Supervision") because he has demostrated compulsive behaviors in the past that can put him, or his peers in unsafe situations. These sometimes look like, but aren't limited to: head banging, throwing desks and chairs, assaulting peers, biting, punching, body slamming, and various other unsafe behaviors.
When Ian gets upset, triggered, overwhelmed or overstimulated, he often goes from 0-60, and it takes a well trained professional to deescalate him, and provide him the skills to process what he is feeling, and help him cope. Currently, it is the opinion of his family, his therapist, his Wraparound coordinator, and his Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, that his needs in this area, are not being met at school, when they are required to do so.
Ian's mom has demanded from his local school district, that they provide line of sight supervision at all times to ensure the safety of everyone, and the school district failed to provide this. Because of that, Ian continued to demonstrate unsafe behavior, was suspended twice for reckless endangerment, and then following suspension, was put in a "time out" room for hours at a time in an attempt to avoid repeated behaviors and placate him.
Ian's mom then demanded the school district look to place him in a more restrictive environment, also known as a Day Treatment program ( a therapeutic and educational based program than provides more supports and direct supervision at all times). The district SPED facilitator aggresively DENIED mom's request simply for the fact that Ian's behavior hasn't progressed enough to demonstrate "need." They claim that he needs to directly assault a peer or staff, or become more frequently aggressive before he is able to qualify for day treatment services.
Ian's mom is looking to hire an attorney to force the school district to reconsider their placement determination for her son, and also to ensure the school district is following all federal SPED and IEP compliance laws, which were called into question on numerous occasions this school year, including a clear FERPA (think HIPAA, only education not medical) violation on 6/5/2017, when Ian's mom recieved a letter from his teacher, addressed to "The Parents of Ian K" but upon opening it, realized the Incident Report was that of another student, and had extremely confidential and indentifying information on it ( including SSID). When she informed the school district, they simply excused it as human error, and tried to squash it. They refused to give an accurate explanation to such careless actions.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: To those wondering, a year ago, we hired Wiscarson Law and Associates, with the help of GFM donations, to do a file review on Ian's permanent file at his school district. That file review WAS successful in finding multiple compliance violations, but we could not pursue further without further funding. This campaign today, will allow those past violations, and the opportunity for our attorney, Elizabeth Polay, to advocate on Ian's behalf for Day Treatment, line of sight at all times, SPED compliance, and proper training and education for SPED staff when it comes to Trauma Informed Practices. This fundraiser will not only help keep Ian safe, and meet his very complex needs, but it will help ensure future students get the same care and consideration.
