Lakewood Parents Sue School District for Services Attorney Michael Inzelbuch

we're here tonight uh speaking with some parents from Lakewood Public Schools who unfortunately have had to go through the litigation process to get what they deserve and they are entitled to I introduce you to Mrs Uzi to my right and beo to my right good evening good evening okay uh if I could ask you Mrs stto your child without saying your child's name your child went to which school Clark School Clark School and currently uh Mrs Soto's child has been home for about four months Mon and we are currently at the office of administrative law looking for the child to get an appropriate education the board has told when I say the board the employees who are involved uh even told Mrs sto who's from Costa Rica is that right yes uh their answer was to take the child back to Costa Rica is that what they told you yeah with my grand with the grandmother with where her grand with your grandmother where she lives in Costa ricao yes and that was what Mrs soda was subjected to and I don't know why an employee would tell Mrs SoDo to take her child who has some issues we're not denying that but to tell him to uh tell her to take him back to Costa r that is not the solution um we go to Mrs Uzi Mrs Uzi is from Israel her husband is from England they also and just so we are understanding um Mrs Uzi and her husband went to Lakewood Public Schools it's not like they didn't try Lakewood Public Schools uh they went to the Early Learning Center and then they went to was it oak or Clifton Clifton Avenue and they too there she has twins very cute twins um who are autistic and Mrs Uzi and Mr Uzi felt that they were not getting what they were entitled to which we're not looking for lexuses we're not looking for Cadillacs we're looking for what's called fape a free and appropriate public education prior to obtaining me both these parents try to work it out on their own in fact when the ues came to me I said go try to work it out uh go speak to employees go speak to uh the director of special education go speak to the superintendent and unfortunately that did very little we actually took the uh District to court and on the uzi case we won uh both children now go to a state approved school called the Yale School it's approved by the New Jersey Department of and the district in our opinion wasted tax dollars by fighting these families uh the ues um obviously paid me to represent them but the district once they lost had to reimburse them to pay me and pay me pay their evaluators and pay for both boys to go to the Yale School and transport them uh easily more than $200,000 if you figure all the costs but luckily and how do you like the AL School I like it I can't I had nothing like I dream about it more and what's different from Yale which is state approved by the New Jersey Department of Education and where you were at at Clifton the main main difference is y specializ just High function autism they're not mixing any other problems not behavioral issues not uh they're not taking low function together with high function just High function autistic k is in Clifton it was mixed completely low function High function uh very bad behavioral kids that have very severe behavioral issues uh that really impact on my kids um mixing all problems together and and that's the problem unfortunately uh in many's districts I Su districts throughout the state but unfortunately we're seeing where uh for economic reasons for other reasons these self-contained classes are basically becoming holding grounds for all types of disabilities and obviously just like God forbid if someone needs brain surgery they're not going to Kimble Medical Center the same they go to NYU or chop or something like that the same if you have a child and the anomaly of these children the ues if I can is they're high functioning kids but they do have Aspergers or Autism and they needed specialized instruction as part of the settlement with the district we also got you're getting home services is that right M how many hours a week um it's 10 hours a month 10 hours a month where actually the skills that they learn in school are generalized beyond the school day which is really the ABCs of autism but that was never offered by the district was it no okay these are the uzi boys U Uzi okay U Uzi Uzi and what school did you go to before Yale I think Clifton Avenue yeah okay do you like your new school yes okay good got to Camp there now oh you go to Camp too okay good on summer program and there's a summer program too um her child Mrs sod's child and uh with her permission I'm saying this Mrs SoDo Works a full-time job her husband unfortunately uh uh was killed at a work site he he was at a work site of Trenton uh the district wouldn't even classify her child forget about giving him the right services but said there's nothing wrong even though they suspended him Time After Time After Time and we're not talking for drugs and we're not talking for knives we're talking he has some behavioral issues but yet a smart kid so the district decided guess what he's so smart he doesn't need extra help but yet he needs to stay home so we did go to court twice already we got the district to provide home instruction and we got the district to pay for evaluations but now we're looking for schools where kids of high intelligence or average intelligence go but you can get the specialized behavioral supports and you try to work work this out with the district before you came to me correct yes and what was the result no they don't help me they don't help you they say new very old mother and a lot of things they talk to me and we have witnesses from L with Board of Ed employees who have signed and told us that the statements mom is making unfortunately are true thank you thank you