UPDATE July 10, 2009: The Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) filed an appeal this week from an order of the District Court, among other things, requiring it to find and provide compensatory education to all the children it had missed from 2000 to 2005 according to an article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal. MPS is complaining that such a search would be too burdensome financially for the district. Jeffrey Spitzer-Resnick, managing attorney for Disability Rights Wisconsin which has been lead plaintiff in this case which has dragged on for eight years, points out that MPS is complaining before it understands what it will have to do to satisfy the judge's order.
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UPDATE June 23, 2008: Federal Magistrate Judge Aaron Goodstein on Friday signed an order which fully implemented the remarkable settlement entered between the plaintiffs and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. An article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal Online indicates that the judge appointed W. Alan Coulter of the Louisiana State University to oversee the implementation of the order. The Milwaukee Public Schools Board had no comment until the members had read the decision and had an opportunity to discus it.
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(April 8, 2008)
Wisconsin may provide a new approach to screening children for special education services under a settlement worked out between a plaintiffs' group and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Under IDEA, the local educational agency (LEA) is required to identify those students in need of special education services. Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) was failing this duty because advocate group, Disability Rights Wisconsin (DRW), filed suit against both MPS and Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction (DPI). According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online, last September, the federal magistrate ruled that "MPS had systematically failed to provide special education services to many students and the state Department of Public Instruction had failed to provide required oversight."
When MPS refused to negotiate in good faith, according to the paper, plaintiffs and the DPI reached a separate settlement. MPS would be required to refer possibly up to 95% of students who have been retained in a grade or have been suspended for more than a certain number of days for early intervention services, including referral for special education. In addition, DPI will create and fund a parent trainer position to support parents of children who fall within the definitions set by the settlement agreement. Finally, the performance of MPS under the settlement agreement would be monitored by an authority paid by DPI.
The settlement has been rejected by MPS, alleging huge costs, although later assessments by the district appear to downplay that argument somewhat. A joint motion to impose the settlement on the case has been filed by DRW and DPI, with opposition by MPS.
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