KCS attorneys comment quarterly on Bureau of Special Education Appeals (“BSEA”) decisions and rulings for the Massachusetts Special Education Reporter.  Eileen Hagerty’s commentary on the second quarter of 2015 is now available on our website.  Highlights of the commentary include:

• Dissection of a decision involving disputes over eligibility and placement for a student with specific learning disability (dyslexia), ADHD, anxiety, and depression (Newton Public Schools). What factors appeared to influence the hearing officer? Why did she give more weight to some pieces of evidence than to others? What can parents and advocates learn from the decision?
• Analysis of a decision that enforced a student’s right to transportation, underscoring the principle that, when transportation is necessary for a student to access his or her program, denial of transportation is a denial of FAPE (Acton-Boxborough Regional School District).
• Discussion and comparison of two stay-put rulings, one considering whether stay-put required a private special education school’s continuing involvement in a public school classroom (answer: no) (Norton Public Schools) and the other considering whether a private special education school could terminate a student’s enrollment where the school perceived the parents’ conduct, but not the student’s, to be problematic (answer: no) (Agawam Public Schools).

Please take a look!