1st Day Of Class For LI Student With Down Syndrome After 8-Year Battle

WESTHAMPTON BEACH, NY — It's the moment his family has fought tirelessly for: On Wednesday, after a battle that has spanned eight years, Aiden Killoran — now 20, of Remsenburg — who has Down syndrome, attended his first day of classes in the Westhampton Beach School District.

"It's a great day for Aiden, a great day for our greater Westhampton Beach community — a great day for change in the New York State public schools system," his mother Terrie Killoran said.

Originally, a pep rally was to be scheduled. "With so much work still to be done, we decided to forgo the pep rally," she said. "Honestly, everyone was asking, and people showed up to support — but there is so much more work to do."

As a mother whose long-held hope has been to see Aiden attend school with his siblings — his brother has since graduated — and friends, Tuesday marked a momentous day.

"We are so happy, but it's bittersweet — with all that he has been blocked from," she said.

Aiden's journey has been fueled by determination, grit, and no shortage of heartbreak as his parents said they watched the hope die in their son's eyes, time and time again, as he was refused the chance to attend classes at the school.

All Aiden, who has Down syndrome, ever wanted was to attend school with his siblings and friends. To go to prom. To be included — his parents Christian and Terrie Killoran have long said.

The Killorans began their official legal battle on Aiden’s behalf in 2014, eight years ago.

"At such time, the Westhampton Beach School District had 'outsourced' the post-elementary education of every single 'alternately assessed student' that had ever come before it," Christian Killoran, an attorney, explained.

In response, he said, the district was forced to create its first "alternately assessed special education program."

And yet, he said, the district "still sought to punish Aiden and our family for our advocacy and initiative by continuing to exclude him. Over nine federal actions have ensued, and several state court actions as well. Most recently, following a successful Article 78 action, the State Education Department was compelled to approve a variance that the district was administratively ordered to submit."

Recently, after eight years of battle, Aiden’s Committee on Special Education, or CSE, voted unanimously to place Aiden within the district’s class, Killoran said.

"Notably, the district’s director of pupil personnel abstained from voting," he said. "In any event, a new day has been forged. Although there are still a multitude of injustices that need to be reconciled, that pursuit will have to wait until tomorrow. Today, Terrie and I would like to thank everyone who has supported us. I said from the beginning that when conviction is fueled by love and faith that mountains can be moved. One was moved today — so thank you again and God Bless. This is Aiden’s legacy!"

Westhampton Beach Union Free School District issued a statement from Superintendent Dr. Carolyn Probst: "The district cannot comment on individual student matters."

Killoran told Patch that the victory stems back to the last academic year, when Aiden's CSE met and recommended placement with the Eastport-South Manor School District. "We brought a due process complaint alleging that that was not the least restrictive environment, something we had been doing since the beginning," Killoran said.

He added that the Westhampton Beach school district had not considered placing Aiden in a special class that already exists in the district, comprised of alternately assessed students.

During that due processs hearing, the independent hearing officer called for interim relief, ordering the Westhampton Beach school district to apply for an age variance — needed by law, since Aiden, then 19, was more than three years older chronologically than the youngest student, Killoran said.

However, Killoran accused the district of arguing "against it, within the context of the application. It was basically destined for failure" as it headed to the state's special education quality assurance office. "They denied it," he said.

Next, Killoran brought an Article 78 against the New York State Education Department — used to appeal the decision of a New York State or local agency with the courts in New York — and said the decision was "arbitrary and capricious" and didn't consider the least restrictive environmental factors, Killoran said.

"I won," he added.

New York State Supreme Court Judge Richard Mott ordered the Westhampton Beach district to reconsider the applicaton; they filed a motion to renew and reargue and the Killorans won again, he said.

His son is "super happy," Killoran said. "We’re all very, very happy and grateful, But it is bittersweet, because of all that we've gone through. So now, we're just now focusing on finishing the job, so to speak."

As recently as 2022, it was a new battle for Aiden's family, when he just wanted to go to participate in senior year activities with his friends.

In 2018, while in the midst of the ongoing legal battle to let Aiden go to school with his friends, he was also told he could not volunteer at a summer recreation program where he'd spent many happy years, his family said.

The Killoran family filed a complaint in federal court in past years.

Aiden, Terrie said, has been a vital part of the community since birth, attending Saint Mark's Bright Beginnings Preschool at the age of 2 and then the Remsenburg-Speonk School District, "always on the same path as his peers. Along the way, making friendships to last a lifetime."

While many of his peers will go to college, return to the area, settle down, have families and perhaps open businesses, the path for her son is marked by challenges, Killoran said.

"We do not know if Aiden will go to college, but one thing is sure — he will have to depend upon his relationships to get a job. It is so heartbreaking and detrimental for him not be able to continue his relationships and friendships, not to mention being absent from his community, further delaying his independence, navigating community roads and establishing more community relationships," Terrie said.

She added, "We are all different, but all the same. A community is just that. We all help each other and include each other."

She and her husband have said that New York State has been ranked No. 50 in terms of inclusion.

The Westhampton Beach School District, Killoran said in 2017, was ordered to formally enroll Aiden, retain a qualified consultant on inclusion, with experience at the middle school level, and reconvene a Committee on Special Education to develop an appropriate individualized education program, or IEP, for Aiden, something that was seen as a victory.

In 2017, however, he remained only partially enrolled, Killoran said, suffering the "educational deprivations of not being educated completely within the least restrictive environment possible."

Killoran's other son, Christian, was enrolled in the district and has since graduated. The Killorans also have a daughter, Shannon, he said.

In recent years, the Killorans kicked off a Change.org petition, "My Son with Down Syndrome Deserves An Education."