Two parents have filed complaints against Vancouver Public Schools alleging the district failed to provide their children with state and federally required special education services.
Cara Bailey and Sarah McPartland last month filed due process complaints, a legal term for complaints filed against school districts alleging failure to provide a free appropriate public education to a disabled child in violation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Though Bailey and McPartland’s sons attended different schools and were eligible for different types of special education services, both complaints point to similar alleged failings by the district. Both claim that over the course of multiple school years and at different campuses, the district improperly restrained their sons and failed to inform them when and why some restraints were used.
Both also say the district failed to correctly implement their sons’ individualized education programs, special education plans formed by school staff and teachers designed to meet a student’s individual needs.
The district declined to respond to a request for comment. A district spokeswoman said the district cannot comment on legal action or specific students.
Both mothers stopped taking their children to school last fall citing their ongoing concerns, meaning both boys have been out of class for nearly 10 months.
Diane Wiscarson, a Portland attorney specializing in special education law, is representing both families.
“These two children are effectively excluded from school due to the district’s inability to meet their needs,” Wiscarson said.
Restraints questioned
Bailey’s son, who has Autism Spectrum Disorder, entered Vancouver Public Schools in the 2012-2013 school year at Eisenhower Elementary School and has since transferred schools twice. While she and the district were at conflict over her son’s individualized education plan and the proper use of restraints for several years, their problems came to a flash point in the 2015-2016 school year when her son was a third-grader at Hough Elementary School.
Over the course of several months, her son was restrained almost daily, Bailey said. She also reports lengthy periods her son was isolated in a “quiet room,” a small separate room off the main classroom that can be closed and secured when a student is considered a threat. On one occasion, according to the filing, Bailey’s son was secluded for more than two hours.
Students can only be restrained or isolated to control “behavior that poses an imminent likelihood of serious harm,” according to state law. School staff must stop holding the student immediately after any danger has passed. Parents must be informed within 24 hours, and a written report must be filed to the district office within two business days.
But Bailey said there were several occasions, including times she said her son came home with bruises on his arms and wrists, that her son was restrained and she was never informed.
Bailey filed two complaints with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction including concerns about restraints and seclusions, and found, on both occasions, that the district was not justified every time her son was restrained, and that the district repeatedly failed to inform her.
In a 2016 complaint, OSPI investigators found there were circumstances when Bailey’s son was restrained that were “too vague and fleeting” to support the need to do so.
OSPI required the district to train employees on restraints and isolation, but still, Bailey said, the problems continued.
She described her son’s classroom this year as loud and chaotic, triggering her son’s anxiety and causing him to feel unsafe at school. She said the district also failed to provide him with an assigned paraeducator, or assistant teacher, at all times as required by his individualized education plan. She’s kept her son home from school since Oct. 2, her complaint shows.
Bailey’s son’s psychiatrist, Daniel Lam, this spring diagnosed him with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder stemming from his school experience, according to the complaint. Lam reports the boy has nightmares, flashbacks, dissociative symptoms, hypervigilance, avoidance and irritability.
“My son has a diagnosis of PTSD, and that’s from school because of the restraints,” Bailey said. “I’ve yet to hear about the district’s plan. We’ve been waiting since September.”
Changed plan
McPartland worked as a teacher in the district for nine years. Armed with that experience, McPartland reached out to Vancouver Public Schools in an effort to put an individualized education plan in place before her son started school.
“We knew we were going to have a ton of anxiety,” McPartland said.
McPartland’s son, whom she said is extremely intelligent, was initially placed in the district’s Highly Capable program at Eisenhower Elementary School, sometimes called challenge or talented and gifted. But due to his Autism Spectrum Disorder, McPartland struggles to pick up on social cues and becomes highly agitated by certain triggers, like sudden transitions or frustration at not understanding the rules of a game or activity. He also has dysgraphia, a disorder that affects fine motor skills and can make it difficult for people to write by hand.
Over the course of the first two months, McPartland’s son — she said in response to those triggers — became increasingly aggressive, and was restrained six times.
After continued problems at Eisenhower, McPartland’s son was transferred to a special education classroom at Sacajawea Elementary School.
He remained at that school for the 2016-2017 school year, where, during the spring, they saw some improvement. McPartland and her son’s teacher worked to develop a binder of information about how to support him when he moved on to third grade and how to avoid triggering his anxious and aggressive behavior.
But in the fall of 2017, when McPartland’s son started third grade, McPartland said her son’s teacher ignored the advice from the previous teacher, saying she wanted to try her own things. According to the complaint, that teacher ignored the plans set by McPartland’s son’s individualized education program team.
Things spiraled, McPartland said. Her son again became more aggressive in response to triggers, and was restrained several times during September. McPartland said she did not receive notice of those holds, in some cases until days after the fact, and in other cases she said she was never informed at all. McPartland pulled her son from school last fall. There were also times he did not have access to a paraeducator, she alleges.
“There’s a systemic problem, and at the end, of this, there’s a child without an education and trauma that’s been done,” McPartland said.
Next steps
As a part of the complaint, both parents are asking the district to provide their sons with compensatory education services, new individualized education programs and training on special education law and policies for district staff. They’re also requesting reimbursement of attorney’s fees, as well as the cost of medical expenses they say were related to their sons’ treatment at school.
Bailey will have a settlement conference by an administrative law judge with the district on Monday. If the family and the district cannot reach a settlement on that day, there will additional proceedings in August. McPartland’s proceedings with the district start later next month.
