Families Of Children With Special Needs Are Suing In Several States. Here's Why.
Vanessa Ince's daughter, Alexis, has a rare chromosomal abnormality and autism. Alexis has thrived at her public school in Wailuku, Hawaii, and loves spending time with her classmates.
Ince says when the COVID-19 pandemic closed her school in Wailuku, the effect on her daughter's well-being was "devastating."
"Alexis regressed so severely. She was previously, I would say, 95% potty trained and she started wetting herself." She also regressed in other areas, her mother says: She went back to crawling and stopped trying to use her communication device.
Ince says her daughter, who is 10, especially seemed to miss being around other children, as well as her regular routines, structure and stimulation. She went from a "happy, bubbly, loving-life child," to wandering the house aimlessly. "She just looked flat and empty and not really there."
Ince and her husband have filed a lawsuit seeking to get Hawaii's Department of Education to pay for the services Alexis needs in a facility where she can see other children.
Education Dept. Says Disability Laws Shouldn't Get In The Way Of Online Learning https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/03/23/820138079/education-dept-says-disability-laws-shouldnt-get-in-the-way-of-online-learning
They are part of a growing number of parents around the country who are suing schools and state education departments over this issue. The Ince's attorney, Keith Peck, has also filed a suit seeking class action status for all families in the state who argue their students' Individualized Education Plans have been breached during the pandemic. (Hawaii's Department of Education did not respond to NPR's requests for comment.)
There is also a suit seeking national class action status, filed in New York City, that claims would-be plaintiffs in 20 states and growing.
Peck says that because Hawaii is a single, statewide school district, it makes it easier to CONTINUE READING: Special Education Lawsuits Are Growing During The COVID-19 Pandemic : NPR
