Thread by @SEALS_065

SELPA harassment of service providers exposed, see comments made during WESELPA public comment period today. Posting with permission:

Public Comment

My name is Doug Stephey. I am an optometrist with a master’s degree in education. I have been providing Related Services to

special needs kids for more than 30 years. These services are commonly known as vision therapy. Vision therapy has been written into the California education code for roughly 40-50 years. Let me briefly share some of my experiences with the West End SELPA:

1. In early 2018 a

parent asked for a vision IEE and named me as their provider of choice as is their right to do so. The parent was told I wouldn’t sign the agreement because I wouldn’t accept the West End SELPA’s arbitrary and capricious fee cap. I would not and will not accept an arbitrary and

capricious fee cap on a child I know nothing about. I don’t know their history, I haven’t reviewed past records, I don’t know how much of my testing they can participate in, how long it will take to write a summary report, how long an IEP meeting will be, and whether or not more

than one meeting will be necessary. Given all of those variables I don’t know how anyone could agree to the SELPA’s assessment policies. Although there are many more twists and turn to the story let me summarize it this way. This poor child was (and I suspect) remains so

dys-regulated they could not participate in much of my standard testing battery. So I did what I could and wrote a summary for $800.00. Now more than 2 years later this case remains unsettled and more importantly this child’s needs remain unmet as my therapy plan was never

agreed to. Moreover, this case remains unsettled and has risen to the 9thcircuit court with no end in sight. By all accounts, the attorney’s fees for the school district and the family’s attorney fees are now estimated to be about $200,000. Furthermore, as far as I can tell the

attorneys for the district have no fee cap, unlike those of us providers actually rendering care. Let me humbly suggest I can assess and actually treat a number of special needs kids for a fraction of this amount. And mind you, this $200,00 which may easily go to $300,000 or

higher is only for one student

2. In addition to having no fee cap, I also recently discovered that the SELPA’s attorneys get paid within 30 days. My contracts say I will not be paid for about 60 days. I will no longer be agreeing to those terms. Moreover, I have one contract in

place right now with Dr Lord that has not been paid since it was originally invoiced December 19, 2019. That’s now 120 days and I’ve written to the West End SELPA not less than 4 or 5 times with absolutely no return correspondence.

3. I can further tell you that I am being

harassed in this case by the SELPA’s attorneys as I have been repeatedly subpoenaed for phone records and emails between me and the family and me and the family’s advocate. These subpoenas have nothing to do with the clinical merits of the case. I am being asked to potentially

violate the privacy rights of the child and family or risk being in violation of a subpoena. This kind of abuse can no longer be tolerated. Such frivolous litigation must be stopped and it must be stopped now. Spend this money on the kids who need it.

4. Oh and by the way this

is only the tip of the iceberg with what goes on within the West End SELPA and its leadership. This includes Susan Bobbit Voth and Royal Lord. #IEP #FAPEdenied #educationnotlitigation #moreteacherslesslawyers
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