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Special education: Parents fighting Hampton City Schools to get specialized interpreter for disabled son - dailypress.com
Yining Luo wants her disabled son to have a quality education. A dispute with Hampton City Schools puts that in jeopardy, she says.
An additional controversy between school lawyers and the state-appointed hearing officer assigned to the case is further complicating the issue, according to documents obtained by the Daily Press.
The district is using three lawyers to fight Luo's request for a special interpreter in 2011-2012 to help her legally deaf-blind 9-year-old son, Anbao Chen. He also has Down syndrome, mental retardation, autism and a developmental coordination disorder.
The School Board's legal counsel implied it will cause problems with billing and compensation for the hearing officer if he doesn't rule in the school system's favor, according to a case summary sent to all parties last week by Robin Gnatowsky.
Gnatowsky is the state-appointed hearing officer who will issue a ruling after a private hearing Monday at Hampton City Schools' central office. State-appointed hearing officers are paid equally by the state education department and the school system involved in each case, according to Virginia state code.
The School Board is represented by in-house attorney Nanci Reaves and two lawyers from the Richmond firm Reed Smith who are experienced in special education issues.
"(The threat of causing billing issues) has been done before in other cases by this law firm," Gnatowsky wrote. "If there is any indication whatsoever that hearing officer billing will be used in this way, it will be dealt with firmly and directly."
A complaint will be filed with the Virginia State Bar against each attorney who attempts any "improper influence over the hearing officer system," he wrote.
Gnatowsky declined to comment on the case, saying he will make a decision based solely on the facts and the law.
Asked about the implied threat made by the School Board's lawyers, Hampton Superintendent Linda Shifflette said that the Reed Smith attorneys retained to help Reaves are very experienced in special education matters.
"They take an ethical and efficient approach to special education cases and are always mindful that public dollars are involved," she said in an email.
Interveners
The issue at the heart of the case is whether Anbao, a second-grade student at Andrews Pre-K-8 in Hampton, needs an "intervener," which is defined by the Virginia Deaf-Blindness Project as a person with specialized skills related to deaf-blindness who works consistently with a deaf-blind person.
The School Board says the issue is essentially a dispute over a staffing decision, according to its response to the hearing request. Anbao's current interpreter — Cynthea Kent— cannot work with him next school year because she is a Level II interpreter and has not reached Level III certification within two years as mandated by the state, the board's attorneys say.
In a settlement offer Tuesday, the district's special education director, Elisabeth Powers, offered to provide Anbao with a teacher aide to work with him through the school day, in addition to an interpreter, when the 2011-2012 school year begins.
Anbao's parents declined, saying they want Kent to remain with their child by changing her position to intervener or for an intervener to be hired by the school division. Kent is training to be a "deaf-blind intervener" through a Virginia Department of Education-sponsored Professional Training Program in Deaf-Blindness, says Mary Taylor, a Hampton special education parent who is volunteering as Anbao's advocate.
Program participants report improved ability to help students use expressive communication, calmer and less frustrated students during the day, and increased use of strategies that help reduce the affect of being blind on access to the classroom environment, according to a fall 2010 article in Deaf-Blind Perspectives by Julie Durando, director of the Virginia Deaf-Blindness Project.
Anbao, a slender boy with a shock of short black hair, often removes his rectangle-framed glasses and hearing aids during class and recess, according to his family. He is legally deaf-blind, which means he has dual sensory loss. He needs supervision to use the restroom, and support during elective classes such as art, music and physical education.
An intervener could do all of those things in addition to interpreting in sign language for him, Taylor says.
Yining Luo wants her disabled son to have a quality education. A dispute with Hampton City Schools puts that in jeopardy, she says.
An additional controversy between school lawyers and the state-appointed hearing officer assigned to the case is further complicating the issue, according to documents obtained by the Daily Press.
The district is using three lawyers to fight Luo's request for a special interpreter in 2011-2012 to help her legally deaf-blind 9-year-old son, Anbao Chen. He also has Down syndrome, mental retardation, autism and a developmental coordination disorder.
The School Board's legal counsel implied it will cause problems with billing and compensation for the hearing officer if he doesn't rule in the school system's favor, according to a case summary sent to all parties last week by Robin Gnatowsky.
Gnatowsky is the state-appointed hearing officer who will issue a ruling after a private hearing Monday at Hampton City Schools' central office. State-appointed hearing officers are paid equally by the state education department and the school system involved in each case, according to Virginia state code.
The School Board is represented by in-house attorney Nanci Reaves and two lawyers from the Richmond firm Reed Smith who are experienced in special education issues.
"(The threat of causing billing issues) has been done before in other cases by this law firm," Gnatowsky wrote. "If there is any indication whatsoever that hearing officer billing will be used in this way, it will be dealt with firmly and directly."
A complaint will be filed with the Virginia State Bar against each attorney who attempts any "improper influence over the hearing officer system," he wrote.
Gnatowsky declined to comment on the case, saying he will make a decision based solely on the facts and the law.
Asked about the implied threat made by the School Board's lawyers, Hampton Superintendent Linda Shifflette said that the Reed Smith attorneys retained to help Reaves are very experienced in special education matters.
"They take an ethical and efficient approach to special education cases and are always mindful that public dollars are involved," she said in an email.
Interveners
The issue at the heart of the case is whether Anbao, a second-grade student at Andrews Pre-K-8 in Hampton, needs an "intervener," which is defined by the Virginia Deaf-Blindness Project as a person with specialized skills related to deaf-blindness who works consistently with a deaf-blind person.
The School Board says the issue is essentially a dispute over a staffing decision, according to its response to the hearing request. Anbao's current interpreter — Cynthea Kent— cannot work with him next school year because she is a Level II interpreter and has not reached Level III certification within two years as mandated by the state, the board's attorneys say.
In a settlement offer Tuesday, the district's special education director, Elisabeth Powers, offered to provide Anbao with a teacher aide to work with him through the school day, in addition to an interpreter, when the 2011-2012 school year begins.
Anbao's parents declined, saying they want Kent to remain with their child by changing her position to intervener or for an intervener to be hired by the school division. Kent is training to be a "deaf-blind intervener" through a Virginia Department of Education-sponsored Professional Training Program in Deaf-Blindness, says Mary Taylor, a Hampton special education parent who is volunteering as Anbao's advocate.
Program participants report improved ability to help students use expressive communication, calmer and less frustrated students during the day, and increased use of strategies that help reduce the affect of being blind on access to the classroom environment, according to a fall 2010 article in Deaf-Blind Perspectives by Julie Durando, director of the Virginia Deaf-Blindness Project.
Anbao, a slender boy with a shock of short black hair, often removes his rectangle-framed glasses and hearing aids during class and recess, according to his family. He is legally deaf-blind, which means he has dual sensory loss. He needs supervision to use the restroom, and support during elective classes such as art, music and physical education.
An intervener could do all of those things in addition to interpreting in sign language for him, Taylor says.