Supreme Court in favor of Parents

WASHINGTON, DC (October 10, 2007) -- By a vote of 4-4, the Supreme Court today upheld the Second Circuit Court decision in the case of Board of Education of City of New York v. Tom F., 06-637, thereby affirming parents' statutory right to challenge a school district's Individualized Education Plan (IEP) without first “trying out” the school district's proposed placement. The New York City Department of Education had argued that even if the child's IEP is demonstrably inappropriate, a parent should not have standing to challenge their child's IEP unless the parent has first “tried out” the school district's IEP."Today the court affirmed the danger of making students try out an inappropriate school district program. Students who need early intervention do not have time to waste," said Gary Mayerson, an Autism Speaks board member and founder of law firm Mayerson & Associates. “School districts need to fulfill their statutory responsibility to create an appropriate IEP for every child with a disability or to pay for that student to attend an appropriate private school.”

These early years are what form children for the rest of their lives, Do we really want children to learn they have to fail first and be labeled as stupid before they can get help and be successful? School districts don't have to live with the internal torment of the child that cant rise above thinking of low self worth, parents do and it breaks their hearts and their pocket books to do anything to help their child succeed. I just put my child through 6 years of private schooling in a Montessori school to overcome, not the learning disability but the self esteem issues of having to fail first in the public school system. I prefer individualized learning then teaching to the masses in the hopes everyone learned the same way.