One question for HS, why doesn't MS have an education at 22 yrs old? It kinda sounds like they're leaning towards incompetency here... anyone know if MS had a psych eval in jail?
I know from family experience that wrestling with the public school system for a child with special needs can be incredibly difficult.
My ex-sister-in-law (who I still love like a sister) has a little boy who had a brain bleed two years ago at age seven. He wasn't expected to live and then he wasn't expected to come out of the coma. But he did and he did! However, he'd lost almost all his developmental skills, like walking, talking, fine motor skills, almost everything. He couldn't even crawl at first.
A year ago and hundreds of hours of intensive therapy later, he was finally able to start back at school. And OMG, what a hassle. My ex-sil ended up getting a lawyer to protect his rights to a free education. My ex-sil used to be a paralegal (had to stop working when her little boy was stricken) and her old firm is representing her pro bono.
How many parents, particularly poor parents, have the background and resources to do something like that? My ex-sil wouldn't have been able to afford to pay for legal representation for her son (her old firm has already put in hundreds of billable hours on his case, fighting with the school district).
My ex-sil spends a *LOT* of time checking up with his teacher and his individual aide as to his progress in school, whether his environment is safe, whether they are complying with his Individual Education Plan or not, etc. And that is in addition to the 48 hours of continuing therapy each week.
In the first two months of the current school year, her son was left or put into three different dangerous situations. He can't be handled like a normal child because he's not yet normal but that doesn't mean he isn't entitled to an education and appropriate environment. My ex-sil's lawyer finally had to send a letter threatening the sue the school district before the school finally decided maybe it would be a good idea to remove four different environmental hazards from the classroom!!! Three out of the four hazards weren't just hazards for my ex-sil's son, they were hazards for all the children in the classroom.
Oh man, I could just go on and on but my point is that it can be incredibly difficult to get public schools to fulfil their legal responsibilities towards each student. And if the parents are not incredibly adept at working the system or in a position to get an attorney to safeguard their child's rights... well, it's no surprise to me when I read of someone who fell through the gaping chasms in the school system.
lease: