Open Letter to Starr, County Council ED Committee

Dear Dr. Starr and Ms. Ervin:

At the County Council hearing on the OLO Autism report the other day, the conversation veered off into special education dispute resolution. Dr. Starr stated, repeating an earlier theme, that he doesn't want to hear anecdotes, but that he wants Data and Facts.

Unfortunately, the special education hearing decisions that are posted on the MSDE website are so heavily redacted (even school names are redacted) that it is impossible for advocates to know which schools and programs are even the subject of dispute.

Nevertheless, the current superintendent has responsiblity for the actions that have occurred since
he arrived on the scene in July. Dr. Starr's statement that there were "only" 120 dispute resolution requests last year doesn't include the 27 state complaints from FY 2011, which is the "poor man's" method of dispute resolution since MCPS embarked on its "scorched earth" special education dispute resolution
policy during the Weast years.

I look forward to the Council's upcoming discussion on special education dispute resolution. You may not realize that a budget review committee specifically looked at this issue many years ago, and found that MCPS utilized special education dispute resolution as a "cost containment" method. In addition, I will be happy to provide the Council with a copy of their "outside counsel" contract for special education legal services, which provides that outside counsel be paid $6,000 a day per day of litigation. Even in the Washington DC area, with its stable of high-priced lawyers, I do not know any other litigators that command $6,000 a day for working for a public, governmental entity.

Sincerely,

Lyda Astrove