My son is in 3rd grade and was attending a catholic school with and outdated IEP (2004)?

Question

I aggreed to have some new IEP but the catholic school claims they could not assit my son. But the school was getting funds from NYC Board of Ed for these services. They would not let my son return and since I have been having problems getting him into my zone school.

Do I have any legal rights to sue the Cathliocs school?

Answer 1

No, and I would not waste my energy on a negative thing like that. Focus on the positive and do something positive for your son. Bring him to the library and the planitarium. Go to the zoo. Do positive, educational things with your son.

Answer 2

That sounds like there is a violatiion of church and state going on there.  In my state, public schools will not support a student in a Catholic School.  If additional services are needed the child has to go to the public school or other approved special ed program fro the additional services.  

The only exception is a religious affilaited school that is an approved special education school but does not provide religious education.

The IEP is expired and there is generally a 2 year statute of limitations to file a lawsuit.  I would guess that the Catholic School did not have any obligation to provide special education serivices after 2004 so they would not be liable.

What kind of trouble are you having getting into your zone-a public school must accept a child or find an alternate placement if they cannpt provide a free and appropriate education.

There is something very wrong about this situation as a whole.  Bring it to the attention of the mayors office and the head education officials.  Consult a lawyer-the public district amy be the one at fault for not maintaining a current IEP and providing a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment.

For example, a girl with dyslexia was sent to a private program on Saturdays.

I find it very odd that the public school had any sort of contract with a Catholic School-at most they would have a contract with an outside agency to provide supplemental services to students that attend Catholic Schools.

Answer 3

No, private schools do not have the same obligations to provide services for all students as public schools.  You should not, however, have any trouble placing him in the public school that serves your district.

***True, the school district does have to send therapists to the Catholic school, if that is what is called for in the IEP.  However, the Catholic school does not have to follow or provide any of the accomodations in the classroom.

Answer 4

No you cannot sue the catholic school for not following an IEP. They are not under the same obligation as a public school.

You could sue the catholic school if the discriminated against your child because of his disability or other wise excluded him in some way or violated any of his civil rights.

www.wrightslaw.com is a great resource for legal questions.

Answer 5

If private schools recieve state and or federal funding then YES they ARE suppose to provide IEP services if a child qualifies for them.

Every state has a free service to help parents in these situations.

Call your state dept of education and ask for the 'federally funded special education parent advocacy agency'

They can help you step by step.

Answer 6

Your childs IEP is the responsibility of his home school district.  They should be doing a yearly review of his IEP and sending therapists to him.  He does not need to attend his home school in order to get these services.  The therapists can go to the Catholic school and provide his services.

You need to contact your school district's CSE (chairperson special education) and request a review and/or evaluation of your son for his IEP.

Answer 7

Not sure what an IEP is, but private institutions don't always follow the same standards as public schools..so I'm not sure.

Did you sign a contract with them?  If so, then what does the contract say?

Answer 8

If they are recieving funds from your state education dept then they should be providing the services for which they are recieving the funds.

Don't know about legality of suing them or anything as I live in australia and our laws a bit different to yours.

If they are recieving funds from the state to educate him then they should be. Why haven't they allowed him to come back to school.

As somebody has already said talk to a lawyer but also talk to your state education dept as they would probably know what the deal is with the catholic schools in that state.

I know here that the catholic schools get quite a bit of funding and they have to go by alot of the stuff that the state education dept goes by.

The state education dept would probably also be able to assist you to get your son into the zone school.

Answer 9

No you can't sue the Catholic School, because they are a private school and they do not provide special education.  When I was a kid I had to go to public school in order to keep my IEP.  If I went to a Catholic School or a charter school I would not be able to keep my IEP.  Since they are not public they do not have to keep up with the laws of special education.

Plus if you want your son to go to college, there are colleges that have programs for special education students and I went to a college that had one.  With that being said you want to get your son into a public school as soon as possible and you want to keep records all of his testing that he had ton and all his IEP's, because colleges that have those programs require them when you apply for their special education help program.

Answer 10

Consult an attorney ... he/she will know the answer.

Answer 11

Why have you been allowing your child to attend without demanding a new IEP???  An IEP MUST be reviewed yearly.  Private schools are not required to follow IDEA and therefore are not bound to incorporate or utilize an IEP.  

This being said, why would you not want your child in the public school system where you can ensure compliance.  As this childs mother it is YOUR responsibility to be his advocate and ensure things are in place and being followed.

Answer 12

The IEP is the responsibility of your home school district, even if your child does not attend there.  The school district is also responsible for providing all services that your son may need.  They need to send someone to the Catholic school to service him.  The Catholic school may have said that your son couldn't go there because the school district was not complying with the rules.