Parent: Educators Obstruct Parent Specal Ed Input

Update 2:47 p.m.:

The Nov. 6, 2012 memorandum that plays such a big role in the complaint from 22 parents of Darien special education students was missing from a Freedom of Information Act request in which it should have been included, according to a parent of a special education student.

The Darien Times also reported the alleged omission of the memo, which is included at the end of a complaint filed with the Connecticut Department of Education (published here on Darien Patch).

In the purported memo, Darien Special Education Director Deidre Osypuk allegedly says that school employees should work out a "united front" before a PPT meeting with a parent in which a special education student's Individual Education Program is developed.

The formal complaint states that this denies a role for parents in developing the IEP, which is a parent's right under federal law, so therefore the policy is a violation of education law.

Darien Patch has requested a copy of the memorandum from the school district.

"Predetermination of an Individual Education Program without including a parent is against the law," said the Darien parent, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the parent said he or she didn't want retaliation against either the parent or the parent's student.

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For definitions of abstruse education terms and acronyms used in discussions of Darien Public Schools, see "Darien Education Glossary: Abstruse Terms Defined" on Darien Patch. (And feel free to suggest additions to the list.)

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"Parents have gone to PPTs and then been given programs without their [prior] involvement," the parent said. Some parents have complained that school officials have reneged on agreements made in PPT meetings and school officials then denied that the agreements were ever made, according to the parent.

The parent also said that the Board of Education was approached and asked to meet with parents of special education students so that the parents' complaints about procedures could be aired.

If the Board of Education didn't want to say anything for fear of compromising their position in a potential lawsuit or administrative complaint, the parent said, the board members could have listened in silence, and they could have had their lawyer in the room, the parent said.

But the board wouldn't agree to a meeting, and now those parents are taking their case to the state Education Department, the parent said.

Update 2:14 p.m.:

Superintendent of Schools Stephen V. Falcone wrote in an email exchange with Darien Patch:

For clarification, we do respect the process (as you write in your article), but I would not say that we turn things over to the attorneys.  My comment from last night is that we do respect the process which gives us an opportunity to respond in an effort to move toward a resolution.

We do certainly work with our attorneys on this matter, including any FOIA issue.

This article originally said the district "hands the matter over to district lawyers to handle," citing Falcone as having made that statement. The phrase has now been removed to correct the article.

Original article:

Board of Education Chair Elizabeth Hagerty-Ross and Darien Schools Superintendent Stephen V. Falcone said they can't comment on the recent complaint about changes in special education practices and policies.

The district doesn't give public comments either on lawsuits or on  complaints against it being processed through the Connecticut Department of Education, Hagerty-Ross said.

On Wednesday, Darien Patch publicly revealed the complaint from 22 Darien parents of special education students. The complaint accuses the school district of not following federal education law in various ways.

When an issue like the recent complaint becomes essentially a legal matter, Hagerty-Ross said, "It's out of my hands," and it's passed to the school district's lawyers.

Those lawyers are at Shipman & Goodwin's Stamford offices, Falcone said, and they will represent Darien in the administrative process of adjudicating the complaint.

Falcone said that each time a complaint against the district is filed with the state Department of Education, the school district "respects the process" that state officials have set up for such complaints.

Three, four or five complaints are typically made about the school district to the state Department of Education each year, of varying importance, Falcone said.