The Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of A Special Education Student

[Suppressed]

The Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of A Special Education Student
March 22, 201712:04 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/22/521094752/the-supreme-court-rules-in-favor-of-a-special-education-student

School districts must give students with disabilities the chance to make meaningful, "appropriately ambitious" progress, the Supreme Court said Wednesday in an 8-0 ruling.

The decision in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District could have far-reaching implications for the 6.5 million students with disabilities in the United States.

The case centered on a child with autism and attention deficit disorder whose parents removed him from public school in fifth grade. He went on to make better progress in a private school. His parents argued that the individualized education plan provided by the public school was inadequate, and they sued to compel the school district to pay his private school tuition.

The Supreme Court today sided with the family, overturning a lower court ruling in the school district's favor.

The federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act guarantees a "free appropriate public education" to all students with disabilities. Today's opinion held that "appropriate" goes further than what the lower courts had held.

"It cannot be right that the IDEA generally contemplates grade-level advancement for children with disabilities who are fully integrated in the regular classroom, but is satisfied with barely more than de minimis progress for children who are not," read the opinion, signed by Chief Justice John Roberts.

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Excerpt.  Read more at http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/22/521094752/the-supreme-court-rules-in-favor-of-a-special-education-student

[skeeter]

For some reason NPR omitted the details of this case.

Apparently these parents sued the school because the school was only willing to provide their deaf child with electronic aids to enable him to hear his teachers, when the parents insisted the school provide an actual live interpreter for all his classes.

[Sanguine]

For some reason NPR omitted the details of this case.

Apparently these parents sued the school because the school was only willing to provide their deaf child with electronic aids to enable him to hear his teachers, when the parents insisted the school provide an actual live interpreter for all his classes.

As an ex-teacher all I've got to say is that you can't have it all.  If you take resources from one area, another area is going to suffer. 

I feel for the parents, but they might do better to teach the child to adapt rather than make the system adapt to him. 

[skeeter]

As an ex-teacher all I've got to say is that you can't have it all.  If you take resources from one area, another area is going to suffer. 

I feel for the parents, but they might do better to teach the child to adapt rather than make the system adapt to him.

Absolutely right, but unfortunately that requires a message of self reliance. Society today is heading in the opposite direction.