Thread by @SEALS_065

Shame on the school districts and SELPAs!!
#educationnotlitigation

NEWS RELEASE

Contact:​Steven Figueroa, Educational Consultant​
Phone: ​[phone]; E-mail: [e-mail]
Date: ​April 8, 2020
​FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Amid Corona Virus Outbreak Law firm Sues Children with Disabilities

Riverside, California-- The law firm of Fagen, Friedman and Fulfrost (FFF), has filed a myriad of legal actions to deny services to children with disabilities during the Corona Virus outbreak. With offices

throughout Southern and Northern California, the firm represents various schools districts in the Inland Empire. But, while families of children with disabilities are home bound due to our country’s crisis, FFF has continued billing their client school districts for legal

services, namely suing kids with disabilities in the Inland Empire.

Some of the FFF founders were previously with Lozano Smith. In 2005, a federal Judge sanctioned the firm for unethical practices related to the denial of services to a child with autism. According to news

reports, the firm spent hundreds of thousands of public dollars to deny a student’s request for tutoring services. According to news reports, the attorney representing the student would have settled the case for approximately $20,000.

While being sequestered in their homes due

to the national pandemic, FFF has filed legal actions against families of children with disabilities in the @UplandUnifiedSD , @AltaLomaSD and Fontana Unified School District.

In Upland, FFF sued a special needs family for $12,000, arguing they are

due the money they needlessly spent on hiring private investigators to conduct surveillance of the student’s attorney and private tutor. In March 2018, @UplandUnifiedSD School Board voted unanimously to settle the case but yet, FFF continued to pursue litigation without any

board approval. Public records show that the firm spent over $124,000 in an eight month period to litigate but ZERO dollars to actually provide the services to the student which the school board had approved. The law firm hired a private investigators to do surveillance on the

student’s attorney and private tutor. The surveillance the district paid for with education tax dollars included: Surveillance at the home, Comprehensive background, Establishing whereabouts, Locating picture of subject, Research of social media, Verifying property ownership,

and DMV vehicle registration check/verification. All this to fight a request for reading instruction and related services.

In Alta Loma, FFF has been litigating a case for several years to deny a child with autism a simple vision test. The dispute began when the parents

challenged the results of the district’s assessments because they did not include Vision Therapy Assessments. The family’s Educational Consultant suggested the child’s vision be checked. Enter Dr. Royal Lord III of the West End Special Education Local Plan Area (WESELPA a

regional agency for special education), who told the family the WESELPA set a “cap” of $1,000 for Vision Therapy Assessments, never mind that no such cap exists in statute or regulation. The family tried to collaborate with the district and agreed to pay for the difference.

Then, WESELPA and @AltaLomaSD got their FFF lawyers (TWO of them) out, dragging this simple issue into a Due Process Hearing (open to the public). The Student lost at hearing, which is not uncommon as the Hearing Officers from the Office of Administrative Hearings, are

notoriously district friendly. The family appealed to the federal court and prevailed. FFF filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court on behalf of the Alta Loma School District. The federal Judge also remanded a portion of the case back to hearing. The Student prevailed and

the Administrative Law Judge ordered that ALSD issue a Memo to its staff explaining some of the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In early March, while the Corona Virus was looming over the country, FFF filed yet another federal lawsuit against the

same student; this time to fight the issuance of a simple Memo.

In a 48 hour period, FFF sued two brothers with autism. The family was forced to hire attorneys to defend their children’s rights and spent over two weeks in January and February in a special education due

process hearing (akin to a court trial). One of the children was not attending @AltaLomaSD schools as the family was paying for private education. The district is now threatening the family to file a new legal action should they continue to request assessments for their child.

“@ALSD_Super_Jim Moore is leaving the District and what I will remember most about his tenure is how my two children were sued by the District”—commented the parent.

Since 2015, a Fontana family had to endure a constant fight with the special education department. All of their

three children require special education. FUSD, also represented by FFF lawyers, has filed legal actions 4 times to deny the children needed help and assessments, including attempting to remove all services from one of the children who was previously receiving them. “These

actions are in fact, retaliatory our SELPA director will not allow parents to use an assessor who advocates for children. The family has complained to the FUSD board about the many violations, including violations of California’s Brown Act which ensures open government. “Our

SELPA director was the one who brought in the firm of Fagen, Friedman and Fulfrost to our district. Any complaint I have filed for her blatant violations of the law are sent over to FFF to investigate and of course they are not going to bite the hand that handed them the FUSD

contract. It is my opinion that this is a conflict of interest”—the parent said.

Rita Fernandez-Loof, a Member of the San Bernardino County Board of Education, Area B; has raised questions about the use of county dollars (see attached) to fund lawsuits to deny children with

disabilities needed services. “Constituents constantly reach out to me regarding how they have no other recourse but to hire lawyers in order to obtain services for their children. Special education gets blamed for being high cost, but I think that lawyers are a lot more

expensive than teachers and it would be more cost effective to send money to the classroom rather than the courtroom”—stated Fernandez-Loof. The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools funds the lawsuits out of the county treasury, labeling the expense as “instruction

related”.

Steve Figueroa has been advocating for students with disabilities for many years. He has seen how out of town private law firms are profiting from denying children the help they need. #unroll @threadreaderapp

@MackenzieMays