Reply To: Should Special Ed kids be fed non-kosher food.

The Individuals with Disability Education Act ensures students with a disability are provided with a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) that is tailored to their individual needs. It gives the parent the right to appeal to an administrative law judge or a mediator (Arbitrator). The administrative law judge holds a hearing very similar to a court case with legal procedures and can be appealed to a higher court. Mediation is the two parties agree to follow whatever the mediator decides. The reason mediator are used is it faster than a hearing and it clears up the backlog. A hearing can take two days or more. Mediation can be finished in half a day.

Mediators are usually outside contractors while judges are civil servants. The parent is the one who decides whether to choose mediation or a hearing. If the mediator in the majority of case rules against the parent by the third case, the parents talk to each other and they would already known that they are not going to win with the mediator and will switch to a hearing.If that happens the mediator is out of a job and the district is going to have to start hiring more administrative judges. In order to encourage the parents to use mediators the mediator must side with the parent at least 2 out of 3 times otherwise they will take their chance with the judge.

I am not sure what is meant by “you don’t get the full amount, they usually deduct for Hebrew or Yiddish”

First of all IDEA clearly states that if the parent wins at the hearing the Board of Education must pay the parent’s legal fees.

IDEA clearly states that the FREE EDUCATION must be tailored to the child’s special needs. This means that if the child needs Yiddish the Free Education is in Yiddish and if the child needs Hebrew the Free Education is in Hebrew. I guess your school district does not have any bilingual education you know that when they have teacher speaking Spanish to the students for all the subjects.

“In the case of East Ramapo, the school districts did not fight as hard as they do in the city”

The district is represented by private attorneys and they have a responsibility to protect the district’s interest. If they were lax in protecting the district’s interest you should submit your proof to the bar. Otherwise you are slandering them and they can sue you for libel.

As far as NYC fighting hard not to pay. Just a year ago a man named Eric Garner resisted arrest was put in handcuffs and died. Even though he was illegally selling cigarettes and resisting arrest the city paid his family $5 million without even a trial.