Special education so bad in D.C., parents are forced to litigate

Re: “Special ed is bane to children, boon to lawyers,” Sept. 24

Your recent articles unfairly imply that lawyers representing children with disabilities are responsible for special education’s failures in the District of Columbia.

But as the D.C. Appleseed Center concluded in a comprehensive study of D.C. Public Schools’ special ed program, it is “a mistake to believe that aggressiveness and overreaching by plaintiffs’ counsel is the primary cause of DCPS’s special education problems or the key factor responsible for the excessive number of due process complaints.”

DCPS’s own attorneys have admitted that they have no valid defense in 70 percent of cases, thereby effectively admitting that lawyers are helping parents bring meritorious claims. Yet DCPS still goes to hearing 85 percent of the time.

Why do parents need to bring these cases? Appleseed found that about a third of due process cases result from DCPS’s failure to do what it agreed, or was ordered to do in hearing officer decisions. Another third comes from the failure to evaluate children and develop individualized education programs.

Parents receive reimbursement for a private school and their attorney’s fees only if an independent hearing officer or a court finds that the school district has provided an education so inferior that it has failed its minimal legal obligation to provide a free appropriate public education. This is not a high standard, but it is more than many special education students receive in the District, where study after study has concluded that special education programs are woefully inadequate.

Jessica Butler
Chair, board of directors
Robert Berlow
Chair, Government Relations Committee
Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates Inc.
Towson

Jena 6 should face the consequences

Re: “Congressional Black Caucus members ask Justice Department to investigate ‘Jena 6’ case,” Sept. 27

It is appalling to me that Al Sharpton and his followers continue to push to have all charges dropped against the Jena 6.

As hard as it may be for him to believe, it is not OK to beat the living daylights out of someone who does not share your beliefs. We must remember that people filled with bigotry and hate are just as entitled to their opinions as the rest of us are to ours. We cannot let them infuriate us. We need to laugh at their ignorance, not get physical about it.

The Jena 6 assaulted someone. Their behavior was unacceptable — and they must face the consequences.

Tom Leonard
College Park

Radio host goes ballistic over Poplar Point development

Re: “Barry furious with Fenty over Poplar Point,” Sept. 3

The age of the bombastic and belligerent “it’s my show” radio talk host has passed. A higher standard demanded by today’s discerning news consumer has arrived.

Someone should e-mail WOL-AM radio talk show host Joe Madison, whose arrogant tirades against alternative views are nothing more than a black version of Rush Limbaugh. If he has any substantive disagreement with other District citizens about the development of Poplar Point, a 130-acre site in Ward 8 right across the river from the new Nationals ballpark, he should put certified facts on the table.

At the very least, many people were simply disgusted by Madison’s purposeful distortions about community-controlled land trust development, truly affordable mixed-income housing, sustainable job creation for city residents, community created local retail, long-term revenue generation, and our concept of sustainable exponential economic development (SEED). We clearly lay out the Ellington Center development concept at DCIndependents.org.

Many wonder whether Madison’s hostility toward other perspectives on the Poplar Point development is rooted in something other than objective give-and-take. Does he have some other ax to grind behind his on-air hostility toward callers and guests? Is it any wonder that, despite his national and online broadcast, presidential candidates are avoiding him?

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would agree to cordially discuss and disagree without being disagreeable. Information has greater power when it is generated and discussed intelligently

Dennis Moore,
Chairperson,
District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control