Jarron Draper v. Atlanta Independent School System
Jarron Draper v. Atlanta Independent School System
Here’s one case which illustrates what exactly the repercussions are for a district which, for whatever reason, is found to have failed to provide a FAPE to a disabled student. In this case, a student who was in a district from the age of 7, was repeatedly referred by teachers for special education evaluation. The child was repeatedly misdiagnosed; although he showed classic signs of dyslexia, he was diagnosed as having mild intellectual disabilities, and by the time he was 11, he was in a self-contained classroom, and not mainstreamed at all. By the time he was a teenager, his reading, writing and math skills were still at the early elementary level. When the parents pushed for additional services, the district refused some requests, and promised, and did not deliver the others. The district was also out of compliance with the student’s IEP; it was discovered that high school placement decisions were being made based on an IEP which was three years old. When the district finally did give the student a reading tutor, after being ordered to do so in a hearing, the tutor/football coach spent the tutoring period surfing the internet for football sites. The student also reported that instead of intensive tutoring in other areas, he was given coloring sheets in science class and crossword puzzles in math. All of these combined events (and more!) caused the courts to find that the district had failed to provide a FAPE for Jerron, and ordered the district to pay full tuition at a private school, with no financial cap, for four years, or until the student earned a high school diploma, whichever came first.
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