Anonymous wrote:My advocate has encouraged me to sue fcps for refusing to test my child and not providing him with services/programs. I trust my advocate, but am unsure of taking on the school. Has anyone been through this? I would sue out of principal so what they've done to my child and how disrespectful they've been to my family won't happen to anyone else. Several other parents have had similar experiences at my school so I worry if I don't take action, their illegal actions will continue and children won't be served.

I'd appreciate any information, tips, links, advice, etc. you could share.

I don't think you need to sue. A "nicely" worded letter from a lawyer should be all it takes for them to at least evaluate. Then, if you disagree with their evaluation, you can ask for an independent one and if they refuse, have your lawyer draft another "nicely" worded letter.

If this is for services like speech or OT, anecdotally, I have seen a tightening of the strings in FCPS in the past year or two. I have a friend who went down the independent route and the independent evaluator agreed with them last fall and the school still did not budge. They are at the "nicely" worded lawyer step for that. It cost them $600 for the initial sit down visit and letter.

Hey OP! How about an update? It's been 10 months since your OP. How are things going?

Did he use the actual words "sue?"

As a lawyer, I find that many people assume the lawyer meant sue when what the lawyer meant was file an appeal, file a complaint, go to mediation, have a second step meeting.

Suing is rare.

File a complaint first. FYI, most attorney's will require a retainer. There won't be a "free" consult. I would check Wright's Law for one.

Wow, is it the same in arlington schools?

FCPS says no to everything. I fought them in iep meetings for my son from kindergarten up until 6th grade, all fcps will do is try to intimidate you and fight you , they have no interest in the best interest of the child. FCPS staff are worst then the police and they have immunity to everything and are not held responsible for anything or any of their actions. I finally pulled my special needs child out of school in six grade to be home-schooled, wish I had done it in kindergarten as he suffered irreversible damage being in there program for ED kids and was routinely locked in a time out room. They scape goated the fact that he had fallen so far behind academically. You are powerless with out an advocate or an attorney at an IEP meeting.

Who is a good attorney for special ed students? My DS has been emotionally and physically abused by teacher. Cannot seem to get the ok to go to a different school. Does FCPS routinely say no until threatened with attorneys?

It is an ugly, ugly, viscous process with the deck stacked against kids. Unfortunately, if you don't follow thru, your child's issues will not be addressed. The longer you wait, the further your child will fall behind.

I wouldn't recommend reaching out to the county board of ed. In my experience, that will cause negativity with your child's current school personnel. Also, the BOE folks I've encountered in my years with my own child are more pawns and gears in the system. It looks nice, and seems appealing, but you will get nothing substantive out of them. It's the ultimate decisionmakers and the people that hold the purse strings you have to get to. And that requires I'm sorry to say an attorney with a solid reputation and some sound documetnation and evidence your bring to bear.

We are using an attorney now. Very expensive and very aggressive. But we are seeing results already and we certainly have the county's attention. At the very least they know not to mess with us and that my child will get everything he can possibly be entitled to, and they will pay my lawyer's fees if they refuse to do that in the end.

This is war. I'm sorry to say that. But it is.

I don't think you are aware of all the steps. Also a law suit against the schools and special ed is probably not what you think. You should consider elevating the complaint beyond your school first. You can request an administrative review if you were denied an evaluation. You can file complaints with VDOE. If you go through a Due Process Hearing it is very different than a standard law suit.

Parents seem to rarely win in due process hearings in this state BUT the few cases where the parent prevail usually involves your case. It is VERY costly to go this route. You need to understand what your options are before you take this route.

Best of luck to you, OP. I'm so burnt out with our family's school educational dramas, so burnt out...losing the motivation to fight for my kids. I keep thinking, if jobs are so difficult to come by these days, is there any excuse for hiring and keeping on so much mediocrity?

The advice for a free initial consult is good. A lawyer would be able to look at the case and tell how strong of a case you have.

You may want to weigh the cost of fighting for an evaluation vs. paying for testing yourself. Lawyers are expensive (could be $400 per hour). How many hours will it take to fight your case?

If you win, what would you get? FCPS will do the evaluation? How competent and comprehension will their evaluation be? You might be better off getting a third party evaluation so the testing is comprehensive and competently done. Remember FCPS has a financial motivation NOT to identify your child's needs.

At the consultation, the lawyer can see the roadmap and advice you on the steps to take. In my case - I paid for the educational and neuropsyc testing. I went back to the school with the data. They acknowledged the disabilities but denied academic impact. We collected data over multiple classes including concerning emails from multiple teachers. Then we filed a Due Process complaint. Cost me a lot of money, but eventually the end game was achieved of getting the services my child needed.

My attorney was Michael Eig.

Is your advocate a lawyer? Many are not. I would seek legal advice from an attorney (you will need an attorney anyway to file if you want to sue). My personal experience with non-lawyer advocates is that they do not understand the legal process, do not have any experience with how cases which have been filed turn out, etc.

Many special ed attorneys will provide a free or fee per hour consult to hear an overview of your case and advise you of options. It should only take about 1-2 hours to talk with an attorney and get a good idea of the merits of your case.

A good special ed case may even pay attorney's fees. By "good", I mean egregious violations with evidence-based facts to present.

Alternatively, I have to ask, have you involved anyone else in the FCPS school system outside of your school in your case? Filing suit is typically not the only dispute resolution option. Did you receive a "due process" notice during your meetings? Typical options are to complain to the countywide 504 supervisor or head of the department of special education, to file a complaint with the federal Office of Civil Rights, or to request mediation.

I am not in FCPS, but I personally have found quick resolution from county level people after egregious mistakes made by the principal and other special ed staff within the school. The county people understand that failing to fix a clear legal violation will only strengthen your case should you ultimately choose to file....

Sadly, principals and special education staff within schools are often not very aware of special education law or procedures, IME.

Wow - got to ask which school system? FCPS?

My advocate has encouraged me to sue fcps for refusing to test my child and not providing him with services/programs. I trust my advocate, but am unsure of taking on the school. Has anyone been through this? I would sue out of principal so what they've done to my child and how disrespectful they've been to my family won't happen to anyone else. Several other parents have had similar experiences at my school so I worry if I don't take action, their illegal actions will continue and children won't be served.

I'd appreciate any information, tips, links, advice, etc. you could share.