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AUTISM FIRST STEPS
AUTISM DAILY NEWSLETTER
Tuesday, November 20, 2001
INDEX:
* ALERT: JURY AWARDS ONE MILLION TO FIRED SPECIAL ED TEACHER
* "C.E.P.I. HOPES NEW SITE PROVIDES MORE ACCESS"
**********************************************************
ALERT: JURY AWARDS ONE MILLION
TO FIRED SPECIAL ED TEACHER
In
September 1998, Pamella Settlegoode accepted a job as special education
teacher with the Portland Public School District. Because she had a
doctorate in education, her students called her Dr. S.
DISCRIMINATION
Soon after she began work as an adaptive PE teacher, Dr. Settlegoode was
struck by inequities in access and services. She found that students with
disabilities were treated like "second class citizens."
Her students were not allowed to participate in activities that were
freely available to non-disabled students. For example:
* Non-disabled students had PE five days a week
* Many of Dr. S's students had adaptive PE one day a week
* Many students with disabilities were bussed to a different school for
weight training
* Non-disabled students participated in sports like tennis and track
* Many students with disabilities were not allowed to participate in
sports
After Dr. S. taught a child who was born without arms to play tennis by
using straps, her supervisor terminated tennis instruction.
Dr. S. discovered that the high school was not accessible for people in
wheelchairs - no accessible sidewalks, no elevators, no ramps.
* Non-disabled students and teachers used a sidewalk to move safely
outside the building
* Disabled students in wheelchairs and students who were deaf had to use
the street and parking lot
The wrestling coach was superb coach - and a quadriplegic. He wanted his
students to learn about independence and the value of hard work and
perseverance. The high school did not have ramps or elevators for students
or staff. When the coach had to move from one floor to the next, his
students had to carry him up the stairs, deposit him on the floor, and
retrieve his chair.
Dr. Settlegoode wrote letters about these violations, including the need
for ramps and crosswalks at the high school (e.g. no access to tennis
courts; kids in wheelchairs using parking lots/streets to get to fields;
crossing the street is dangerous for wheelchair/ walker /deaf students.)
She complained that the district altered IEPs and failed to provide
services listed in IEPs, violations of the Individuals with Disabilities
Act. How did her supervisor deal with these issues? Her supervisor
directed her to discontinue her practice of communicating through letters!
Although she met with a member of the school board, the problems did not
improve.
RETALIATION
Dr. Settlegoode contacted Robert Crebo, special education director, to
express her concerns about discrimination and retaliation. How did Crebo
respond? He directed her to discontinue letter writing! After she
contacted Crebo, the district renewed its retaliation against her.
Her supervisor took away responsibilities. She was directed not to write
letters. She was ordered not to volunteer for a reading program during her
lunch hour. She was excluded from IEP meetings for her students. Classes
were cancelled.
But Dr. Settlegoode continued to write letters. She wrote to
Superintendent Ben Canada about retaliation and ongoing problems with
discrimination against students with disabilities. Canada admitted that he
read one page of her letter, saw the claim of retaliation, and forwarded
her letter to those individuals who were retaliating against Dr.
Settlegoode!
Eighteen months after she began work as an adaptive PE teacher, Dr. S was
fired.
THE LAWSUIT
Pamella Settlegoode brought suit against the school district and two
school administrators for violating her civil rights. Fortunately, Dr.
Settlegoode is married to William Goode, an attorney who specializes in
civil rights litigation and is an experienced federal court litigator.
Mr. Goode prepared and filed the lawsuit against Portland Public Schools,
Multnomah School District No. 1, Susan Winthrop, Robert Crebo, and Larry>
Whitson. (Note: Midway through the trial, Mr. Whitson was dropped as a
defendant.)
The Complaint filed in the U. S. District Court alleged violations of
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, violation of the First Amendment of
the Constitution, (as a 1983 action), violation of the Oregon Whistle
Blowers Act, Defamation of Character, and a violation of the Equal Pay
Act.
A few weeks before the trial, Pamella Settlegoode retained Greg Kafoury
and Mark McDougal as the counsel for the trial. The firm of Kafoury and
McDougal is well known in Portland.
THE VERDICT
The trial lasted eight days. The jury deliberated nine hours before
announcing their unanimous verdict.
The jury awarded Pamela Settlegoode ONE MILLION DOLLARS and ordered
Defendant Winthrop and Special Education Director Crebo to pay $50,000 in
punitive damages.
In an interview after the verdict, the jury foreman said, "The big issue
was the handicapped kids . . . That's what the Rehabilitation Act is all
about. We wanted to send them a message that they are not invincible."
=====================
LESSONS FROM THIS CASE
"If it was not written down, it was not said. If it was not written down,
it did not happen." Pete Wright (FROM EMOTIONS TO ADVOCACY, page 201)
Pamella Settlegoode wrote letters to document her concerns. Her
supervisors directed her to stop writing letters. She did not stop.
Change the facts. Dr. S. was fired. She filed a lawsuit. Assume she
testified about these incidents but did not have letters to substantiate
her claims. Do you think the outcome of her case would have been
different? Absolutely!
In our book, FROM EMOTIONS TO ADVOCACY, we devote two chapters to letter
writing and include an Appendix of sample letters to the school.
Chapter 23 is "How to Write Good Evidence Letters". You learn about
the
purposes of letters and how to use the letters purpose to guide you. You
learn strategies you can use to ensure that your letters accomplish their
purposes. We provide advice about how to write business letters,
letter-writing tips, and sample letters that you can adapt to your
circumstances.
Chapter 24 is "Writing the 'Letter to the Stranger''. You learn about two
approaches to letter writing - the Blame Approach and the Story-Telling
Approach. You learn about the Sympathy Factor, persuasion, and why you
must not write angry letters to the school.
Appendix I is "Sample Letters to the School." Includes sixteen sample
letters from two hypothetical parents. Learn how to use letters to tell
your side of the story and to:
* Request Information
* Request a Meeting with a Teacher
* Document a Problem
* Express Appreciation
* Decline a Request
* Request an Evaluation
* Request a Records Review
* Request an IEP Meeting
* Request Test Scores
* Document Unresolved or Ongoing Problems
* Provide Ten-Day Notice to Withdraw Child
If you are a parent or teacher and you are having problems with the
school, you need to read these chapters about letter writing.
To learn more about FROM EMOTIONS TO ADVOCACY, and download the table of
contents, index and a sample chapter, please go to -
http://www.wrightslaw.com/bks/feta/feta.htm
=====================
MORE ON RETALIATION & SETTLEGOODE CASE
Thanks to a tip from a newsletter subscriber, we learned about Pamella
Settlegoode's case on Saturday afternoon. Pete contacted Greg Kafoury, one
of the attorneys who represented Dr. Settlegoode during the trial. With
Mr. Kafoury's help, Pete spoke to Bill Goode on Saturday night.
On Sunday afternoon, Pete had a lengthy interview with Pamella Settlegoode
and her attorney spouse, Bill Goode.
Pete is writing an article about this landmark case. We are uploading the
pleadings in Pamella Settlegoode v. Portland Public Schools on the
Wrightslaw site.
We expect send out another Alert within 24 hours with links to Pete's
article and the pleadings in Pamella Settlegoode v. Portland Public
Schools, et. al.
To learn more about retaliation cases, please visit our Topics Page -
scroll down until you get to "Retaliation" --
http://www.wrightslaw.com/topics.htm
CONTACT INFORMATION
Pete and Pam Wright
Wrightslaw & The Special Ed Advocate
P. O. Box 1008
Deltaville, VA 23043
Website: http://www.wrightslaw.com
Email: webmaster@wrightslaw.com
***************************************
"C.E.P.I. HOPES NEW SITE PROVIDES MORE ACCESS"
Gongwer News Service, November 13, 2001
All the information the state collects about schools is now available through
the Center for Educational Performance and Information’s (CEPI) Web site
launched Tuesday. The site includes Michigan Educational Assessment
Program test results, Michigan Merit Scholarship awards and dropout and
graduation rates, as well as a link to the Standard and Poor’s School
Evaluation Service site. For school officials, the site provides
assistance validating Single Record Student Database entries as well as places
to upload building and district data to CEPI. “Our new Web site will make
it easier for parents, teachers, school administrators, policymakers and
researchers to find the information they need about the performance of our
schools,” said CEPI Director Madhu Anderson. The new site, www.michigan.gov/cepi,
also conforms to the state’s new standardized web page design created by the
e-Michigan office.
****************************************
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