tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1691205078500083881.post7390206477912686117..comments2024-03-09T21:28:30.555-05:00Comments on Special Education Law Blog: Yes Rural SpEd is Different, ContinuedJim Gerlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12482331907215552507noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1691205078500083881.post-82384050872425467802008-03-27T15:27:00.000-04:002008-03-27T15:27:00.000-04:00Hi Linda,My best suggestion is that you find a law...Hi Linda,<BR/><BR/>My best suggestion is that you find a lawyer licensed in Texas who is familioar with special ed law and with the problems you describe.<BR/><BR/>Good luck,<BR/><BR/>JGJim Gerlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12482331907215552507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1691205078500083881.post-35273715961375060132008-03-20T22:19:00.000-04:002008-03-20T22:19:00.000-04:00I agree with everything you have written about rur...I agree with everything you have written about rural special ed and procedural safeguards.<BR/><BR/>I too believe numbers related to due process and mediations are being "fiddled" with especially here in Texas.<BR/><BR/>In 2003, Texas Education Agency re-organized. The legal department for the agency took over the complaints, mediation and due process hearings officers at the agency. Only lawyers were allowed to be hired as independent contractors for the agency for mediation of disputes between parents and school districts. The mediators and hearing officers attend the same meetings and discuss cases across boundaries. Mediation cases are therefore lawyered up and while legal fees are not awarded at due process hearings, lawyers at mediation negotiate fees as a separate side deal of settlement....when the parents are affluent enough to be able to hire an attorney in the first place.<BR/><BR/>I know this because from 1999 to 2003 when the Complaints Division was run by educators and not lawyers non-lawyers were hired as mediators for the federal IDEA contracts.<BR/><BR/>To say parents of children with disabilities (503 & 504) are getting a raw deal in Texas is an understatement. Last summer, the inspector general for the agency wrote up the Deputy Director Robert Scott for making sweetheart deals to lobbyists for special education contracts and grants from the Gates Foundation.<BR/><BR/>If you have any suggestions on how to investigate this corruption, I would be happy to follow your suggestions. I feel passionately about the preservation of public education especially special education for the children in Texas.<BR/><BR/>Thank you for listening.linda labeauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08428263672356915606noreply@blogger.com