| News
& Views
- Dec, 1993 (#25) |
SUPREME COURT BACK PARENTS
Orders reimbursement for Unilateral Private Placement
by: Lon Woodbury
(Digested from Education Week, Volume 13, Issue 11,
November 17, 1993, pp 1, 16: "In Special-Ed. Case, Justices
Back Parents" by Mark Walsh)
While a 9th grade student in
a public school in Florence County School S.C., Shannon Carter
was diagnosed with a learning disability which included dyslexia
and attention-deficit disorder. Her parents, unhappy with
the School's desire to place her in a "resource room" which
included retarded and emotionally disturbed students, placed
her for three years at Trident Academy in Mount Pleasant,
S.C. They then sued for reimbursement of almost $36,000 in
tuition and expenses. The Academy specialized in learning
disabilities but did not attempt to meet all federal and state
special-education guidelines. The family won in both federal
district Court and the 4nd Circuit Appeals Court (Florence
County School District 4 v. Carter - Case No. 91-1523). The
Courts had ruled that the school system had failed to provide
an appropriate education plan for Shannon Carter.
The Supreme Court accepted the
appeal on the argument that the Academy was not approved for
special-education placements, and also to resolve the apparent
conflict with a Second Circuit Court's ruling in 1989 that
a parental placement was not proper under the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act unless the private school
met state special-education standards.
The Supreme Court unanimously
rejected the Second Circuit Court's approach. Writing for
the Supreme Court, Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote
that is seems "somewhat ironic" and "hardly seems consistent"
with the goals of the I.D.E.A. "to forbid parents from educating
their child at a school that provides an appropriate education
simply because that school lacks the stamp of approval of
the same public school system that failed to meet the child's
needs in the first place."
Reactions to the decision range
from claims that it gives parents of special-education children
a blank check, to claims that it does not change standards
parents must meet. (I would appreciate hearing the results
of any research or experiences in this area. - Lon)
Copyright
© 1993, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced
without prior approval if the copyright notice and proper
publication and author attribution accompanies the copy.)
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