In case you thought the Amherst Pelham Region School Committee is a rubber-stamping flock of sheep, ponder this snippet from their 2/12 meeting where Rob Detweiler gave a budget update for the half-way point of the Fiscal Year.
So he tells the committee that with the year only half over ARPS has already paid out $200,000 in legal claims putting that part of the Special Education Budget over by $330,000. Yikes!
And what is their response? Nothing, nada, zip. No questions, no observations, no nothing.
Anyone else concerned over why the taxpayers are out over $200,000 in legal settlements?
41 comments:
great question! I've been wondering about all these legal expenses too.
My guess is that it is money well spent. One out of district placement, resulting from the school system losing the litigation, could set the district back hundreds of thousands of dollars PER YEAR - for several years if the child placed out of district is in the elementary grades.
Fair enough. But we don't know if that is the case or not. Now do we?
And we will never know!
anon@12:19:
there is no information to suggest the student(s) did NOT go out of district. For all we know, the schools spent lots of money FIGHTING an out of district placement, lost, and then had to settle AND send the student out of district to avoid further litigation. Who knows? We don't know how many cases this money represents. Is it one case at $200,000 or ten cases at $20,000, for example.
Anon 1:02,
This is Anon 12:19 - And I could not agree more. We do not know..and we will never know. The actual cases, their number, and their outcomes, are not in the public realm.
Actually not true. Since they used taxpayer money it belongs in the public realm.
If you give people a blank check book with no one really to report to, no accountability needed and no fear of repercussions this is what you get. Classic waste because it's not their money, and no one has to worry about being accountable. And the sheep of Amherst will write letters complaining and think that will change things. Classic Amherst passive aggressiveness.
I don't understand why the legal cost are so high considering that a substantial amount of money and resources already go to the three programs within the elementary schools (others at the middle and high school levels) that serve high needs kids each staffed significantly with teachers, aides, psychologists, and their own administrators. My hope would be that these programs are serving these kids appropriately and there would be less of a need for litigation. But perhaps I am being naive. As far as additional special education costs go, could someone explain to me why the district office needs a "Director of Special Education" as well as an "Interim Director of Special Education"? Seems a little redundant...
Signed, A concerned taxpayer
Gee, Walter... I thought only cowards commented anonymously...?
First, there is a distinction between legal fees and legal SETTLEMENTS -- settlements are what you pay either (a) to "settle" a lawsuit that you realize you otherwise would loose, and/or (b) what you pay in damages when you do loose the lawsuit.
This is not to be confused with the "fees" -- the money paid to your lawyers, the court filing costs and the rest of the stuff you have to pay too fight SPED claims and to deny accommodations, this is the money you have to pay when you *loose* those fights.
The problem is that the administrators who made the decision to deny the accommodations in the first place aren't personal responsible for the legal consequences of their decision, public employees are indemnified by the taxpayers and where the leadership of a private company would have to pay the damages personally, Team Maria can dump this liability onto the town.
As an aside, this is why I have made the decision to write a book about UMass rather than sue it -- I wouldn't get money from the schmucks who caused me a great deal of trouble -- instead I would be getting it from other UM students who didn't do any of the things that harmed me.
I would suggest that the high settlement cost indicates one of two things -- either they are incompetent and are loosing lawsuits that they ought be winning, or they are being asked to defend district decisions that are indefensible and like the defense attorney tasked with defending the dead-to-rights-guilty drunk driver, all they can do is attempt to get the best possible deal for their client they can.
Is the legal team incompetent? If so, there are other lawyers. And if they aren't, then Maria G needs to be asked some tough questions -- SPED is her field of expertise after all....
Another supposition filled rant from Ed - with not a fact to be found anywhere. Any luck finding a job yet, Ed?
There was an Interim Special Director in place until the Special Ed Director was hired. So, in 2012, when the Special Ed Director came on board, you will see payments to both an Interim and a Spec Ed Director. There should only be payments to the SPED director going forward.
"Any luck finding a job yet, Ed?"
Why don't you give him yours?
Ooooh yeah, that's right, there's that sustainably produced $5000 organic cotton mattress you-just- know-taxpayers-would-simply LOOOOOOVE you to have...
Heaven forbid they should be
let down
right?
(yeah, nice one Ponziviller, nice one)
The dynamic duo of Geryk and Smith royally messed up over the past few years. That has led to a series of expensive legal settlements.
This has everything to do with Geryk's legacy in the SPED department and Smith's love of the Ms. Tate - our community's Quincy based attorney.
It will take years and millions of dollars to clean up the mess.
I love how the.people on this blog speak with such authority about things they know nothing about.
Said the Cowardly Anon Nitwit, with utmost authority.
OK, if the money Team Maria & Co says is for settlements isn't for what the rest of the world considers "settlements" to be, they ought to clarify that or something, you'd think...
Forget calling me names and the rest, if the money isn't for what I think it is for, how about telling us all what it really IS for then....
Yea Larry. A CAN commenting on other CANS who speak with such suthority about things they know nothing about.
With all this Amherst School garbage flying about, I can't understand why the school committees of Shutesbury and Leverett want to regionalize with Amherst. What a huge mistake that would be, to give up their local control to a malfunctioning bureaucracy like Amherst.
Any luck finding a job yet, Ed?
Actually, yes, and furthermore I have a smile on my face as I think about how (a) you and your ilk have no way of learning the details, and further (b) that it is going to irritate the heck out of you that you don't know and can't find out.
Furthermore, did any of you happen to see the Moody’s Investors Service report about how college enrollment will soon be declining, worst in the NorthEast, and how institutions anticipate stagnant and declining revenue?
Oh yes, the Amherst economy is going to collapse and I'm going to smile even more....
The Amherst School beauracracy works just fine...it's this blog that is filled with "flying Amherst School garbage."
To anon 10:37: From your spelling of "bureaucracy" it looks like you probably were educated at Amherst Regional schools. That aside, you must be one of those 'Amherst schools can do no wrong' supporters that sees reality through a layer of gauze. The schools were utterly fantastic up until maybe 10 or 15 years ago or so. Now? You said it: The Amherst School beauracracy (your unfortunate spelling)works just fine, operative word Bureaucracy.
Yea I thought I was mis-spelling the word. I almost put (sp?) after it to indicate I was not sure of the spelling. So sorry.
Actually I did not go to school in Amherst, so I hope you won't blame Amherst for my momentary spelling lapse.
Wishing you a good and pleasant day. And may you always be blessed with perfect spelling talents.
Amherst suppresses the pursuit of excellence of student education and brags about
its accommodation of special need education.
It is public education, right? Public school shouldn't have staff to encourage good
students to perform in the next level, right? C'mon, these students are already doing just fine. Public
school shouldn't spend more money on them any more. The money should be used for more staffing and
resources for special need education. What a infallible argument!
The results?
The town drives out good students from families of this town who
seek excellence elsewhere, out of this district. On the other hand,
Families from out of state seek out Amherst for its special need education.
Each of these special need cases can be expensive in terms of staffing need, and hogging
of resources when operating within the Amherst school system. If things
are not working out, Amherst will pay dearly to settle it.
The financial results: Amherst taxpayers got the short ends of both sticks.
$200,000 settlement? That won't impact
the school administrators and policy makers of the town. Just a few classroom teachers may have to go
next year. Also, Amherst school has to reduce/eliminate art/music/PE Again. That can cause some pain on the
family with children in this town and a good excuse
to suck more blood out of the good-natured taxpayers.
Education without borders.... It is just that Amherst cannot print money to fulfill its education fantacy.
Next time, town wants a 2 1/2 property tax override for school from its tax payers?
Kidding me!
Check these public doc out.
www.doe.mass.edu/bsea/decisions/10-5067.doc
www.doe.mass.edu/bsea/decisions/10-8888.doc
www.doe.mass.edu/bsea/decisions/07-2259_07-3796.doc
We do not know that the 200k is for a settlement. Could be settlement. Could be legal fees. Could be a combination of both. Just because a blog poster says it is all settlement cost does not make it so.
Actually, according to Rob Detweiler:
"The reported over budget Special Education costs were as follows:
$100,559 Out of District Tuitions
$229,300 Legal Settlements (Settlement information is confidential)"
Thanks Larry for clarifying. Much appreciated.
No problem. I'm working on a follow up post anyway.
www.doe.mass.edu/bsea/decisions/10-5067.doc
Three thoughts.
First, if the hearing officers are ruling for the district in these cases, at least one of which I would have ruled the other way, exactly which cases is Amherst loosing and how egregious is their behavior in those?
The DESE is setting the bar quite a bit higher than it is in Maine, so if Amherst is loosing cases under such circumstances, that's significant.
Second, I've got some questions about the quality of care these children are getting. Did you see the med list that the first kid is on?
Depakote (Valproate)
Amitriptyline (a Trycyclic!)
Clonidine
Imitrex
All I can say is WOW...
The tutor's comments about how he did well when kept on task in the 1/1 session, but accomplished little on his own and "was quite disorganized, which affected his progress" jumped out at me -- that's ADHD, not a non-verbal learning disability and definitely not bipolar disorder.
The two questions I would have is (a) is he overwhelmed in an environment where there are a lot of other people present, (b) are the headaches, depression (and I presume mania if there is a Bipolar tag stapled on as well) all secondary consequences of him being overstimulated and thus overwhelmed by an environment that he can't deal with because of the ADHD, (c) are the behavior issues his desperate attempt to control his environment, and (d) how well would he do in a structured quiet environment where he essentially was alone for periods of time with an organized academic task to do.
I'm also concerned about what appears to be an emphasis on the social and behavioral issues and not the learning/educational ones. I wonder how much of all of this is caused by his academic difficulties -- and if they would go away were he not to be having such difficulties.
If I had been on the IEP, in addition to a passing comment on the med list, these are the questions that I would have asked. I do wonder -- and I also wonder how much the home environment isn't helping things either.
Third, I think it would be somewhat relevant to describe what the "traumatic incident" in the high school was and I didn't see any mention of what exactly happened.
If he really has ADHD and not something else, and if he is getting overwhelmed by the overstimulation of his environment, and if one or more of his fellow students think it is cute to push him a little bit further (or a teacher demands that he respond to yet one more thing) when he hasn't yet processed all the stimuli he already has yet, I can see it becoming quite ugly quite quickly.
I've seen kids essentially disconnect themselves from the outside world, and I have seen kids strike out violently at those attempting to engage them in conversation -- in both cases it is a desperate attempt to prevent any new information from getting "into the pipeline" until all the stuff already in it has gotten through the clogged junction box.
If I know this, then Team Maria ought to as well, and.... ???
$229,300 Legal Settlements
In other words, $299,300 in things we did wrong that we had to compensate people for.
(Settlement information is confidential)"
I believe that it's confidential because the district demands that it be as a condition of settlement -- and the Board could demand, as a matter of policy, that this clause not be inserted in settlement offers.
Yes, the name of the child and anything else that would identify the child is confidential, but what it was that caused the district to loose a lawsuit isn't. And the number of settlements they make absolutely isn't.
Why am I not in the least bit surprised that Ed seems so intimately familiar with mental health medications?
Ed said: $229,300 Legal Settlements, In other words, $299,300 in things we did wrong that we had to compensate people for.
Ed, that's not why settlements occur. There is no evidence that anyone involved in any of those settlements did anything "wrong".
I think you're confused about what a settlement is and why they occur.
Why am I not in the least bit surprised that Ed seems so intimately familiar with mental health medications?
Ed has both a PDR and a Merck Manual. Doesn't everyone?
And Ed knows how to read...
I can't imagine what kind of job Ed found that allows him to sit and post long comments at 9am, 1pm, 4pm, 9pm and 1am...
Hey whatever happened to that super-informed blogger Walter that used to comment on these posts?
Actually, Ed, in my experience the only people who own those books are health professionals, hypochondriacs, and people who take so many meds that they need to make sure they don't adversely interact with one another.
But I'm glad you know how to read.
Actually, Ed, in my experience the only people who own those books are health professionals
A prudent educational professional will also tend to have them -- and a few more things as well.
Larry, do a post on the obscure regionalization effort. It's big and way under the radar.
The regionalization effort is anything but obscure and under the radar. There have been public forums about it and articles in the newspaper about it. It is very prominent on the arps website. The committee keeps asking for input from the communities.
Just because you have not been pyaing attention, anon 8:31, does not mean it has been obscure and under the radar. Just because Larry Kelley has not put it on his blog (the only place you apparently get your town news) does not mean the process has been obscure and under the radar.
The entire town of Amherst will vote on whether to regionalize or not...it is not a decision that will be made at the SC level or the SB level. It will be on a town-wide ballot. So, it behooves the citizens of Amherst to get informed about the pros and cons of regionalization so that they can make an informed vote. I, personally, have not arrived at a conclusion. I admit that I have not attended the forums or become fully informed myself - my bad. But I hope I'll find the time to get up to speed before the vote. One thing I will NOT do is rely on Larry Kelley's blog to inform my decision. Voters should go to the source for information and not a blog.
For someone who doesn't rely on me for all the news not covered by "traditional" media, you sure seem to come here a lot.
Post a Comment