 Attorney Wong was recently interviewed about Massachusetts' new anti-bullying law and how the law affects children with special needs. Read the entire article Some Question Whether Mass. Anti-Bullying Legislation Will Leave Special Needs Students Vulnerable here. If your child is being bullied or being labeled a bully, contact the Massachusetts North Shore Law Office of Lillian E. Wong. Add Comment  On October 26, 2010 the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Russlynn Ali issued a "Dear Colleague" letter to educators throughout the country. The purpose of the letter is to remind school officials that "some student misconduct that falls under a school's anti-bullying policy may also trigger responsibilities under one or more of the federal antidiscrimination laws enforced by the Department's Office of Civil Rights (OCR)." Ms. Ali warns schools that, "by limiting its response to a specific application of its anti-bullying policy, a school may fail to properly consider whether the student misconduct also results in discriminatory harassment." The letter specifically addresses disability-based harassment, and warns that bullying of a child with a disability, because that child is disabled, may very well violate Section 504 and Title II. Read the entire 10-page letter here. Read more about Massachusetts' new anti-bullying law here. If your child is being bullied or harassed at school, contact the eduction law practice of Lillian E. Wong, located in the North  The Massachusetts Bureau of Special Education Appeals has released its statistics for 2010. The statistics reveal that most disputes with school districts result in a resolution long before a hearing decision is issued, and if the dispute reaches the hearing stage the school district is likely to prevail. 854 cases voluntarily participated in mediation and 84.5% ended in a legally binding agreement. 545 parities requested hearings, but the vast majority of disputes were resolved before a decision was issued. Only 50 hearing decisions were issued and the school district prevailed outright in 58% of the time, the parents only prevailed 18%, and 8% of the time mixed relief was granted. School districts were represented by counsel 100% of the time. Of the 29 cases where the school districts fully prevailed, parents were represented by counsel in 8 cases (27% of the time). Of the 9 cases where parents fully prevailed, parents were represented by counsel in 5 cases (56% of the time). In cases where mixed relief was granted, parents were represented by counsel in 5 cases (63% of the time). These statistics highlight the importance working with a special education lawyer when pursuing a due process claim. Read the entire report here. If you are considering filing a due process request with the Massachusetts Board of Special Education Appeals, contact the North Shore law office of Lillian E. Wong today.  Are iPads and iTouches the next big thing in Assistive Technology? Last week, Apple unveiled a new section of its application store on iTunes - “Special Education: Learning for Everyone." Within this section, the applications are conveniently organized into five subsections: communication, hearing, language development, literacy and learning and organization. Applications include text-to-speech software, graphic organizers, and handwriting tools. The applications themselves are fairly inexpensive (some are even free), and compared to other platforms, schools may consider the iPad or iTouch a good bargain. Remember, the law requires schools to provide assistive technology devices or services to a student with a disability if the participants on the student's IEP team determine that the student needs such a device or service in order to receive FAPE. If you need help asserting your child's special education rights, contact Massachusetts North Shore attorney Lillian E. Wong today. |
