Tara Murphy is a SPAN Resource Parent, a Volunteer Advocacy Ambassador for Autism Speaks, member of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA), founder of Parenting Frontier, and the mother of two children diagnosed with developmental disabilities.  You can listen to a podcast with Tara and Laura Waters here called “Learn as Much as You Can.”

Every year in New Jersey, parents of children with special needs and learning disabilities meet with their public school’s child study team where they receive a copy of the latest “Parents Rights” pamphlet. This booklet is an easy-reader for N.J.A.C. 6A:14, the New Jersey administrative code for special education, but these rights are only as good as the enforcement. 

When disputes occur between parents and their local school district over special education placements and services, parents have the right to file for due process to enforce a free and appropriate public education, as mandated by federal Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). In 2021, of the 1,287 cases filed in NJ, parents won 28% of the time and public school districts won 72% of the time. For parents, this is an improvement from the 19% in 2020 but still not an encouraging statistic, considering the amount of money parents will pay a lawyer to represent them, experts to testify, and time spent in hearings and mediations.

How did we get to a place where students with disabilities, assured of a “free and appropriate education” through federal and state law, are victimized by their local school districts, deprived of their civil rights?

Public schools are the default placement for all children due to the “least restrictive environment” requirement in IDEA.. What does this really mean? Its intent is to prevent children with disabilities from being secluded in classrooms in far-off wings of a school building or sent to specialized schools unless absolutely necessary. Instead, disabled children are expected to be educated, to the largest extent possible, among non-disabled peers. Thus, the birth of the inclusion movement. So parents are fighting an uphill battle from the start. 

Due process hearings last an average of 5 days, not consecutively, calling expert witnesses who, for parents, cost thousands of dollars out of pocket. 

Here’s a sampling of law firms that may be representing your school district when you file for due process: 

• Flanagan, Barone & O’Brien,
• DiFrancesco, Bateman, Kunzman, Davis, Lehrer & Flaum, P.C. 
• Parker McKay 
• Adams, Gutierrez & Lattiboudere, LLC, 
• Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, P.C. 
• The Busch Law Group, to name a few. 

This is made possible by Errors and Omissions policy insurers like QBE specialty and Argo Group. 

District delay tactics that parents can expect: 

• sufficiency challenges 
• stay-put placement challenges 
• motions to dismiss the case 
• rescheduling hearing days due to illness and family emergencies 
• motions to exclude MD’s notes regarding the child. 

Dirty moves include: 

• districts claiming they need more info by doing an observation of the child, not sharing the results with parents and saving it for the judge 
• hiring specialists full time only to be used in court and don’t work hands on with students ● using other children’s reports to discredit parents’ witnesses 
• sending staff who aren’t authorized to settle a case to the settlement conference. 

Speaking of which…there’s the mandatory settlement conference at the Office of Administrative law, EVEN after a mediation is attempted. This wastes more of parents’ and children’s time. Parents can expect to spend a year on average on the endeavor. 

Then there’s the judges who decide your child’s educational fate. Most have government ties since they’re appointed by governors. Currently, four administrative law judges worked at law firms representing school boards and the state Department of Education? What are the odds that they will side against the public school district? 

Autism Speaks and Autism NJ, who are supposed to be advocating for children with autism–, a large percentage of classified children in NJ– have no response on this topic. SPAN NJ also won’t confront school districts because SPAN receives state funding. Parents are on their own to fight for their children. They can save themselves time and money by pulling their children from the system and homeschooling them with private therapies which are sometimes covered by insurance benefits. This isn’t an easy option for everyone but it can be done. There is freedom in walking away from the system. No more IEP meetings. No more wondering what’s really going on in your child’s classroom. 

Having control over your child’s education. You can’t put a price tag on that.