Student With Down Syndrome Allowed To Attend LI School After 8-Year Battle

WESTHAMPTON BEACH, NY — After a battle that has spanned eight years — long enough for his siblings to graduate high school, head to college and move ahead in their lives, Aiden Killoran, now 20, of Remsenburg, was finally granted permission to attend classes in the Westhampton Beach School District.

It has been a journey 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."

On Tuesday, 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!"

On Wednesday, 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.

After Tuesday's vote, the door is open and Aiden can finally walk through to the future he's long hoped for, Killoran said, adding that his son was able to start Wednesday.

"It’s bittersweet, certainly, but it’s obviously a huge step," Killoran said. " We’ve been fighting for his inclusion since 2014. It’s kind of a surreal. And there's still a lot of work to do — now we have to rectify the wrongs done."

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."

Terrie Killoran, Aiden's mother, added: 'I would like to thank all of our friends, family and The Aiden Challenge supporters. "The Westhampton Beach School District has spent thousands to "segregate my funny, happy kid — only to be forced to include him. His first day of inclusion will be on April 19," she said." Someone mentioned a marching band," she laughed.

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.

The Killorans a dvocated for years for their son Aiden's right to attend school in the Westhampton Beach School District with his brother and the friends he attended classes with in the Remsenburg-Speonk School District.

Last year, the Killorans were told that Aiden could not participate in any Westhampton Beach High School senior extracurricular activities or graduation with his friends and brother.

"The Westhampton Beach School District has denied and refused to allow New York State Public School student Aiden Killoran to attend graduation and prom with his friends and brother Christian Riley," Terrie wrote on Facebook. The year before, he was unable to attend the junior prom with his brother and friends, his parents said.

As a mother, she is devastated, Terrie Killoran told Patch. "My heart is broken."

In a letter to the Killorans, MaryAnn Ambrosini, director of pupil personnel services, said the district had deemed it "inappropriate" for Aiden to participate since he wasn't enrolled in the district. And that he could have attended similar activities in the Eastport-South Manor School District if enrolled there, but that his parents had opted to homeschool their son.

"It is unfortunate that your election not to abide by Committee on Special Education recommended placements over many years at this point will continue to isolate Aiden socially and academically and not afford him the socializations that would have existed" had they done so, Ambrosini wrote.

At the time, Probst also issued a statement to Patch: "The district cannot comment on matters related to specific individuals. However, to participate in graduation, a student must be actively enrolled as a student at Westhampton Beach High School and have met all requirements for graduation. The senior prom is an event for Westhampton Beach High School 12th grade students and their guests."

Addressing the statement made by the district that Aiden needed to be enrolled, Killoran said: "He actually is, as the school district was ordered to enroll him back in 2017."

The litigation remained ongoing in federal court, Killoran said. "The district still hasn’t figured out a way to educate him for over seven years, choosing to want to send him to Eastport-South Manor, Southampton, Hampton Bays and BOCES."

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.

Aiden was rejected by the Westhampton Beach School District as a volunteer, his father said.

When reached by email, former Westhampton Beach School District Superintendent Mike Radday responded: "This matter is the subject of ongoing litigation. Accordingly, I am unable to comment at this time."

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

The complaint, filed with the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, states that Aiden "continues to suffer from the significant emotional, psychological and physical effects caused by Westhampton's affirmative and discriminatory actions."

He added in 2018 that it had been more than three years since Aiden graduated from Remsenburg-Speonk Union Free School District and yet, the Westhampton Beach School District "continues to have its heels stuck in the ground, so as to preserve its discriminatory culture of institutional laziness. My family understands the Westhampton's intransigence, because Aiden's case basically represents a 'Pandora's box', that will change the way Westhampton has historically been governed."

And, Killoran said, "Remarkably, New York State remains the worst state in the nation regarding inclusion, and Westhampton remains a perfect example of this antiquated mind-set. The recent Supreme Court decisions profile that Westhampton can no longer 'hide' behind its past practices."

The complaint asked that that the court issue a declaratory judgment holding that "Westhampton has violated Aiden's rights" as protected, issue an order "compelling to educate Aiden in accord with its at law mandates, which shall expressly include at least an attempt to implement Aiden's IEP within Westhampton," an award of compensatory education to mitigate the deprivation of educational rights" they believe their son suffered for two years, and "an award for monetary damages (including punitive) related to the emotional, psychological and physical damages suffered by Aiden and his parents due to Westhampton's intentional, malicious, and/or recklessly negligent violations," the complaint stated.

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 on 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."