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D.C. Schools See Opportunity to Pare Back
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Fairfax County school board member Stuart D. Gibson (Hunter Mill) said that if the court had ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, parents would have had little incentive to work with school staff instead of heading to court.
"The expense comes in terms of time that our special education people are not spending with children," he said.
For Montgomery, which spent seven years and an estimated $300,000 in legal fees on the case, the ruling was "a victory for special education teachers in Montgomery County and across the nation," said Superintendent Jerry D. Weast.
The case centered on individualized education programs, or IEPs, the blueprints for which services special education students will receive. The process for developing an IEP is supposed to be collaborative but can turn combative when parents and the school system disagree on what is best for a child. Traditionally, the party that challenges the appropriateness of an IEP must prove why it is flawed. The Schaffer case challenged that notion.
Schaffer said she and her husband knew early on that their son had learning difficulties, so they enrolled him in a small private school in Rockville where the emphasis was on hands-on learning. When Brian reached the seventh grade, administrators at the school recommended the family find a new program.
The family turned to the public schools. But from their very first meeting in February 1998, the school system and the Schaffers disagreed on Brian's diagnosis and placement.
Unable to resolve their dispute, the Schaffers enrolled their son at the private McLean School in September 1998. They filed a complaint contending that the education plan did not meet their son's needs and seeking reimbursement for the private school tuition. Brian Schaffer eventually enrolled in a public school and graduated from Walter Johnson High School.
Jocelyn Schaffer said she e-mailed the news to her son, now a junior in college. He called her immediately.
"He said, 'Gee, Mom, this is really sad for other kids,' " Schaffer recounted.
Staff writers Rosalind S. Helderman and Nick Anderson contributed to this report.
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