Supreme Court Rules

Thank you to the Supreme Court and (soon-to-be former) Justice Souter for the decision in the case involving the strip search of an Arizona middle-school female student in pursuit of drugs as a violation of her Fourth Amendment rights. So, someone told the school administration that this 13-year old girl was holding drugs, i. e., prescription ibuprofen. An assistant principal at a school with a zero-tolerance drug policy directed the school nurse to search the girl including removing her bra and panties. (She held nothing, incidentally.) Unbelievable! All I want to do is ask the universal question, “What the hell were you thinking??” You ever hear of “call the parents!?”

All said, this has nothing to do with education, but, rather, is an individual rights case (thus the Fourth Amendment stance). The case on which the Court ruled that impacts education is Forest Grove School District v. T.A. The plaintiffs claim that the school district failed to identify their child as ADHD and, therefore, refused services. The parents placed the child in a private school and, subsequently, sued the district for reimbursement ($5,000 a month). The Court ruled that even though the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) meant to control the costs of private school placement, it does not preempt a hearing officer or federal judge to order reimbursement under certain circumstances.

What does that mean? It means that the door is open for parents who disagree with a district’s decision of providing special education services can opt to take their business elsewhere at the district’s (taxpayer’s) expense. As Justice Souter (are we going to miss him or what) wrote in the dissenting opinion in the 5-4 decision, “Special education can be immensely expensive, amounting to tens of billions of dollars annually and as much as 20 percent of public schools’ general operating budgets.” I say that the majority of districts’ special education personnel have the best interest of the student at heart and mind. This decision opens the door to parents who disagree with any district decision to go elsewhere and send the tab to the taxpayer. This is not the intent of IDEA.

What say you?