Charles P Fox Law Offices

Special Education Law and Guardianship

Law Offices of Charles P. Fox
355 W. Dundee, Suite 209
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
Phone: 847-205-9897

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Special Education Law and Advocacy

Experienced Special Education Attorneys

Parents Fighting to Decline Services

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The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in a very strange case that parents may decline IDEA services. In  Fitzgerald v. Camdenton R-III School District [ Download Fitzgerald waiver case.pdf
],  the school district determined that a child needed a case study evaluation on the belief that the child required special education services.  The parents expressly declined services, refused consent, began home- schooling the child and privately provided special education services.

Remarkably, the school district sued to compel consent. The due process hearing officer and the district court ordered that the evaluation should go forward as soon as possible. The parents appealed to the 8th Circuit which ruled:

"Congress intends that a district may not force an evaluation under the circumstances in this case. Where a home-schooled child’s parents refuse consent, privately educate the child and expressly waive all benefits under IDEA, an evaluation would have no purpose."

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New Data Collection System Benefits Children With ASD, Sensory Issues, and Behaviors

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Good qualtity data collection to address a child’s behaviors in school is one of the most stubborn issues that I confront. Often no data is collected, data is collected in a format that is not useful (e.g. simple hash marks with no context), or it is not generated across settings and disciplines. In the event that it is initially created in a useful format  and all the other issues are also addressed  (not a frequent  occurrance), the data is rarely updated to determine the effectiveness of  the plan whether a BIP or a sensory diet. 

Mary Block, who is a school and clincially-based occupational therapist (see brief biography below),  has designed an elegant online solution to these issues of data collection and updating data for FBAs, BIPs and sensory plans.  The product is entitled Student Occupational Time Line which is trademarked under the acronym of SOTL. This product is designed expressly (but not exclusively) for the school setting.

SOTL allows data input from multiple informants, across settings and over time.  It takes much of the drudge and effort out of the process of data collection, and also allows for tabulation and analysis all to the benefit of the child and the staff working with him or her.  [The continuation of this post with the exception of the concluding paragraph was written by Mary Block.]

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Professor Mark Weber’s Talking Points in Opposition to Harmful Changes In Illinois Law

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Professor Mark Weber, who teaches Special Education and other law subjects at DePaul University College of Law, the author of numerous articles and  a treatise on Special Education Law has written the following letter. This letter  further explains why Illinois Senate Bill 2796  is deterimental to parents and should be defeated in the Illinois House. The following open letter to all concerned parties can be used as "talking points" in corresponding with Illinois House representatives. This is an urgent request for action for all parents and others in Illinois who care about the welfare and the educational rights of children with special needs.

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Case Over Public Employee’s Rights to Whistle Blow To Be Reargued

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The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered new arguments in the case Ceballos v. Garcetti.  Reargument is rarely ordered.  According to Court watchers this order is likely an indication that the the vote on the case was 4-4. The reargument will allow Justice Alito the opportunity to cast the deciding vote.  The significance of this case is that it will establish the extent to which public employees (e.g. teachers) enjoy First Amendment protections for blowing the whistle on illegal practices occurring within their office, agency or school. This posting is a followup to an earlier posting on this case.

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Parents Need to Fight Hostile Amendment to State Special Education Law

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Recently a group of parents’ attorneys (including me), school attorneys and SEA officials in Illinois sat down in what was supposed to be a collaborative effort to amend the due process provisions of  the Illinois School Code.  The process quickly degenerated to the point where even the most modest proposal from the parents’ attorneys side was derided and vetoed.  In the end, the official position from the government folks on the committee was that the Illinois amendments were not to go any further than the Federal law. Unfortunately, the true meaning of that phrase was that the State law could not be more protective of parents’ rights than IDEA 2004 mandated, but it could and should be more protective of school interests. 

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IDEA 2004 Rights In Danger

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Wrightslaw has put out an urgent bulletin regarding implementation of IDEA 2004 that is against parents’ interests and requires immediate calls and emails to your Congressperson and Senator.  Congressional email addresses can be easily  found in this directory.   

Since the postal anthrax contamination of a few years ago email is the most effective way of contacting your Federal representatives.

Teacher Suspended for Classroom Comments on Bush

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So much for freedom of speech in the classroom, especially when it comes to critical comments about the Bush adminisration.  A high school teacher in Colorado was suspended from teaching for making critical comments about the Bush adminsitration, during class discussions of  the State of the Union address.  All the more reason that the Supreme Court should rule in favor of  Mr. Ceballos, an assistant State’s attorney who was allegedly harassed and fired  for revealing illegal activities of the sheriff’s office. The Constitution should protect public employees for making reasonable public comment during the scope of their employment.

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