Special education legal fees for outside counsel for January 2013 totaled $31,983. The year-to-date total of $233,976 is $1,224 (0.5 percent) lower than the same period in the previous year. Total year-to-date special education legal costs of $233,976 are $105,027 (31 percent) lower than the budgeted amount of $339,003.
The Jeffrey A. Krew bill for January 2013 totaled $31,983 and included work on five cases. Three cases involved administrative hearings ($28,822), and two cases involved appeals to federal or state court ($3,161).
And in related news: Montgomery County Council members are asking schools Superintendent Joshua P. Starr what, in his fiscal 2014 budget request, is aimed at closing academic achievement gaps between students of different races.
ReplyDeleteStarr explained to the council’s education committee on Tuesday that every dollar included in his $2.23 billion request will go to “ensuring that every child performs at the highest level.”
http://www.gazette.net/article/20130419/NEWS/130418726/1022/council-asks-montgomery-schools-chief-how-achievement-gap-is-being&template=gazette
Maybe someone will ask how spending $30K a month to fight families' requests for special ed services will "ensure that every child performs at the highest level."
Thank you for following up on the enormous legal fees spent not only by MCPS but the families in dispute and the activities of Mr. Krew. Anyone that has had the "opportunity" to face Mr. Krew at a hearing knows how he denigrates parents to win at all costs and he has the opportunity to use legal maneuvers to slow down the hearings to increase his earnings and punish parents with additional legal costs. He is quite adept at using various distracting arguments to water down the primary issues. It is amazing that the administrative judges so not redirect his fallacious arguments. The parents of children with special needs are treated with such disrespect that the end result is anger and disgust at MCPS. The child is lost in the battle as MCPS is trying to prevent added costs. Yet, they are willing to spend monies on attorney fees rather than direct the monies to the child's education. And, in the long run, MCPS pays a cost with loss of credibility. At the same point, MCPS holds forums to present how they value parents' feelings and want mutual respect and collaboration. In short, MCPS plays a dirty game with certain families and refuses to admit this style. Also, a parent never gets a direct answer as to who in the system is making the decision to battle. When a parent attempts to communicate with an administrator to seek resolution, the parent is told, "We cannot talk when there is a legal case." Mrs. Mason or Mrs. Richardson will not publicly state their positions. Many of the staff as witnesses are so intimated that they will not truthfully present their real feelings. This system is demeaning for the parents and teachers and the child's best interests does not always come out. So time in the future, the maladaptive process will be revealed and the financial cost to the taxpayers will be high. This is an accident waiting to happen!
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