Charter denies child with ASD re-enrollment, mom sues

lite-bright · August 2014

It sounds like he was set up with an IEP during his first (maybe second?) year there, then denied re-enrollment on the basis of the IEP. And people wonder why I am mostly anti-charter. I absolutely do NOT understand how they can claim to be public schools, accept public funding, and in the same breath refuse to accept kids like this, in good standing, because of his special needs.

https://www.denverpost.com/News/Local/ci_26350257/Mother-of-autistic-student-sues-Cheyenne-Mountain-school-district

The mother of a 6-year-old autistic child has filed a federal lawsuit against Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 after a charter school sponsored by the district denied the child re-enrollment.

The lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court on behalf of Robert Smith names Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 and the Colorado Department of Education as defendants.

Ramona Smith is asking the court to order the district and state to pay for her son's enrollment in a private school equipped to handle the boy's special needs.

Robert began attending the school in 2012. An individualized education plan was developed in November 2013 and updated in 2014.

Walt Cooper, district superintendent, said he could not comment about pending legal issues.

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Colorado Classroom covers local and state education issues affecting K-12 and higher education students in the state of Colorado.

Ramona Smith's lawsuit says Cheyenne Mountain Charter Academy executive director Colin Mullaney notified the family that he was denying enrollment to the boy because his IEP required the charter school to hire additional staff.

Mullaney could not be reached for comment Friday.

The lawsuit says that according to district policy, it is the responsibility of the district to fund paraprofessionals to meet the special education needs of students.

Smith's lawsuit says the district has an automatic re-enrollment policy for students in good standing and there are no exceptions for special education students.

Smith filed a due process complaint with the state Department of Education on July 16 stating that the refusal of the charter school to accept her son was a violation of the federal "stay put" law.

The lawsuit says Smith received a response from the education department saying that the "stay put" provision didn't apply and that the charter school and school district were not going to admit her son.

Not permitting the boy to attend the charter school is causing "irreparable harm," Smith wrote.

lvisser · August 2014

My older kids attend a charter and I've been pleased with it so far... In 2-3 years it will be interesting to see what happens with ez... We might choose to send him to the private school a mile down the road.... We'll see...

funchicken · August 2014

That's really crappy.

Does she have a case or can the district just say, "well, we can provide what he needs at the public school"? Does the mom have to demonstrate that the public school can't meet her child's needs in order to get the district to pay for private school?

lite-bright · August 2014

funchicken said:

That's really crappy.

Does she have a case or can the district just say, "well, we can provide what he needs at the public school"? Does the mom have to demonstrate that the public school can't meet her child's needs in order to get the district to pay for private school?

It's my understanding that it is illegal for charters to discriminate on the basis of need for SN services, under federal law. As is clear here, they do it anyway.

So the mom is calling them out on discrimination against her son on the basis of his IEP. It's not clear from the article and I haven't read the filing, but my guess is that she is probably saying *either* the district needs to pay for a para/services so that her child can continue to attend his school of record (which, at least on paper under IDEA, her son should be eligible for the same services at a charter that he would be at any public school even though it rarely happens that way in practice) or if he cannot be accommodated at the public school then they must pay for private. Can the district come back and say "well, we can accommodate him at this school but not at this one" even though they're both public? I'm not sure, it probably depends on his needs.

@wife07mom09, most parents of SN kids don't want their child at a school where they aren't wanted, but that doesn't make what the charter is doing legal. Most parents just go quietly back to their home school and people don't fight the charters because it costs a lot of money to do so and you're right, they don't want their kid to be singled out negatively. In CO, the state league of charter schools claims that they accept students regardless of SN and that they do not discriminate -- they legally can't, in order to get public funding. But they ought to be sued, IMO, if they're breaking the law. This mom had her son enrolled at a publicly funded school and everything was hunky-dory until he got an ASD diagnosis, and then they kicked him out. I'd be mad as hell, too, knowing that my tax dollars were funding that kind of discrimination.

funchicken · August 2014

Thanks lite-brite. That's the part I was wondering about--whether the district can pull a CYA move and say they can accommodate him at another school. ITA that they shouldn't get away with discrimination.

hopanka · August 2014

This is appalling. DS has been in the same charter school since kindie, so this is our fifth year there. They absolutely pay for his BII/BID services. We had to go to mediation over speech before, otherwise we love it, though. We won and since then no issues. It's a great school in this area. Can't imagine what that school is doing would be legal.

ToastieSimons · August 2014

-auntie- said:

wife07mom09 said:

This just seems entitled to me.

I disagree. A charter school is a PUBLIC school.

If they can't provide the services she needs to find elsewhere.

Would you feel this way if it was the public school catchment area in which the child lived that decided not to meet the child's needs? Should that mom go elsewhere or advocate to get her child's educational needs met.

I don't know a lot about charter schools but around here they are not like regular schools, they are more for either underachievers needing a push to excel or overachievers needing a place to excel.

That is not the case in most places. Charters often subscribe to an educational or cultural philosophy- language immersion, KIPP and Montessori are common kinds of charters.

Perhaps you are confusing these with magnet schools or alternative schools. Magnets generally serve students with an unusual talent like academics, music, STEM, performance arts. My BFF lives in the city near an agricultural high school with livestock in Philadelphia.

We used to have charter schools here and they were only for high achievement in certain areas. Each high school hosted 6-12 grade for a certain area. one high school was for math, one for science, one for performing arts, etc. They were all public schools and had to be applied for and accepted into. They have since done away with them, they only lasted a few years.

I don't see how a special needs program fits into that. Besides how do you think this child will feel when he knows his mom sued to keep him there? I would imagine it could contribute to hurt feelings, much teasing and resentment. And depending on his level of functioning of high, teaching this child that if things in life are hard you just sue.

I know an awful lot of very bright kids with ASD and HFA who have twice exceptional- the have ASD and a gifted IQ. Really, I know a few who've pulled perfect SAT scores or been talented enough to play with the Governor's Band and Choir in high school.Should they be excluded?

That's not what I desire to teach my children.

I'm teaching my kid a couple of things-

Set your goals high and don't let anyone else limit what you chose to do based on their ignorance or fear

Not to roll over because some person or institution wants to decide against him

To stand up for his rights and for those of others

And most importantly to be a probelm solver. To understand that sometimes when the front door is barred to you, you need to find a side entrance.

Those are my thoughts which may be skewed by my less than perfect understanding of charter schools.

MaxandRuby · August 2014

"If a parent can demonstrate that the school is failing to meet educational needs, then they can go to due process which most often changes the services or placement in the district. It's pretty unusual to get a private placement out of the box unless the district is small or the student has a very unique need like having both blindness and ASD."

Cheyenne Mountain SD is in Colorado Springs. For the purpose of the linked report and the bolded comment, I can tell you it isn't a small district. :-) I'm curious to see what happens. I lived there for many years.

Princess_Lily · August 2014

Im going to place a big WTH?!? here. This screams discrimination to me, and I'm glad its reached the press - putting it on blast! Let's see what happens now.

funchicken · August 2014

Out of curiosity, I browsed the website of the charter school in the article. Their mission statement is kinda creepy-sounding, IMO, but the following is from their FAQs:

"Charter schools are public schools. Cheyenne Mountain Charter Academy (CMCA) and The Vanguard School are open to students who wish to enroll regardless of the district in which they reside. CMCA and The Vanguard School does not discriminate against any student on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, national origin, religion, disability or need for special education services."

They also purport to use the Direct Instruction method of teaching.

From Wikipedia:

In the past decade Direct Instruction curricula, especially Language for Learning, have become popular tools for teaching language arts skills to children with developmental disabilities such as autism and other Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Knowledge of Direct Instruction methods is mandatory for any applicant aspiring to become a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). Board certification in behavior analysis is an attempt to set quality levels for behavior analytic practice (seeProfessional practice of behavior analysis).

Thought that was interesting. I tried to find more info about the case but couldn't find anything.

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