Published: Wednesday, May. 07, 2008 / Updated: Wednesday, May. 07, 2008 12:40 PM
Mom takes Fort Mill School District to U.S. court
A mother who contends the Fort Mill school district denied her son a "free appropriate public education" under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act has filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking financial compensation.
The suit essentially appeals decisions by administrative hearing officers supplied by the S.C. Department of Education at the local and state levels, said David Duff, the district's attorney.
In the complaint filed in U.S. District Court and dated April 26, the mother, Janet Frazier, seeks funds for placing her son in a private residential school, attorney's and other legal fees and compensation of $5,399 for other services she provided for her son herself.
The complaint by Frazier's attorney, Erik Norton, states that her son has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome - a mild form of autism - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and a disorder of written expression.
On Monday, Frazier said she placed her son at the Montcalm residential facility in Albion Mich., at a cost of $7,000 per month in January. He is enrolled in a nine-month remediating program, and is already showing improvement.
"If I don't do this, he'll never graduate high school and will become another statistic, Frazier said. "It's difficult to be separated, the only saving grace is I know he's getting the help he needs."
The Montcalm program addresses both her son's academic and social needs, something, Frazier said the Individual Education Plan at the school district level was supposed to do, but didn't.
"I've had better conversations with him over the phone since he's been there than I ever had before because he's getting the help," she said. "He's asking about the rest of the family and even doing his own laundry."
Frazier is also working to set up a nonprofit foundation to help families in similar situations. She said she plans to provide help for families challenging their local school districts over special education services and to push for changes in state and federal legislation concerning special education services.
One such change is a voucher program for students with special education needs so if they can't get the services they need in one district, the money would follow them to where the services are available. She also wants to convince S.C. legislators to list Asperger's under Autism rather than "Other Health Impairment" or "Emotional Disorder" because future federal funding for Asperger's and Autism could be lost if the change is not made.
"They're spending more on legal fees than it would cost to educate my son," she said.
The complaint alleges the school district failed to provide counseling or "meaningful services or instruction" at the elementary or middle school levels and claims he regressed in the eighth grade. District intervention that began at the high school level helped but did not compensate for lost progress, the complaint claims.
When Frazier moved to a different school district in another part of the state last year, Fort Mill schools officials did not put some aspects of his individualized education plan in writing, and he regressed, the complaint states.
Frazier sought an independent hearing in September 2007. The local hearing officer, Carl Elsworth, decided the student was not denied a free appropriate public education but awarded Frazier money for counseling services she provided for her son. Frazier appealed that decision, but the state review officer denied the appeal.
Duff said he will file a response to Frazier's federal court complaint, but is not certain it will go to trial.
"We believe, and the administrative hearing officers believe, the district had appropriately served this child," he said. "We continue to believe that."