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Parent Files Complaint Against Sedona Oak Creek School District

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Sedona parent files second suit after Court finds in favor of the SOCUSD on March 27, 2015

Sedona AZ (April 29, 2015) – A five year battle for a disabled child’s right to an education continues to escalate, says parent.

In a letter to the SedonaEye.com editor, Matthew C. Oskowis announced that on Monday, April 27, 2015, he filed his second federal complaint at the United States Arizona District Court in Phoenix against the Sedona Oak-Creek Unified School District (“SOCUSD”) on the behalf of his son. This is another administrative appeal of an impartial due process hearing decision brought pursuant to the civil action provision of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the law that governs a District’s obligation to its most vulnerable students.

This is the second federal lawsuit against SOCUSD that has been filed by either an attorney or lay advocate since the SOCUSD inception nearly twenty five years ago. Oskowis plans to announce his filing publicly at the SOCUSD Governing Board meeting scheduled for Monday, May 4.

“It has been a constant challenge with the SOCUSD since my disabled son started at West Sedona School in March 2010,” Oskowis stated, “We have only asked SOCUSD to be accountable to the commitments in which the District had already agreed to. It is frustrating when you have a dispute with a public entity, you choose to be cooperative with that public entity, you come to an agreement with that public entity, and then you have to go back and remind that public entity of what they agreed to repetitively because they’re not in compliance with their obligations.”

Oskowis said the decision to file was not only based on a less than satisfactory ruling by an Administrative Law Judge, but a large factor continues to be the District’s apparent apathy in honoring prior legal agreements and the malevolent attitudes Mr. Oskowis continues to experience from District administration regarding his continual pursuit for the rights of his disabled son.

“The most upsetting thing is that the school is willing to spends tens of thousands of dollars defending itself, whereas we were asking for only what would translate into several thousand dollars in compensatory education services for our disabled son,” Oskowis added, “It doesn’t make any sense other than the District doesn’t want to appear in the wrong in any way. Although the Arizona Department of Education has found them non-compliant numerous times, the District continues to insist they have not done any wrong at an inordinate cost to the District itself.”

“Hopefully a federal judge can enjoin SOCUSD to fulfill its obligations towards my son’s education,” Oskowis concluded.

The school district was not asked for comment as the Court’s decision stands.

The case number for the suit is currently CV-15-8064-PCT-DJH. The second complaint was filed as a response to the Oskowis denied request for relief by the Court. On March 27, 2015, Judge Tammy L. Eigenheer ruled against the Oskowis IDEA lawsuit.

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11 Comments

  1. Les Tripp says:

    This parent needs to pack it up. He lost his case & didn’t come off sounding like the parent of the year. Spend more time helping your child, less time harassing others.

  2. It’s another fine kettle of fish for Sedona school board. Z. Richardson mess was not enough? We have to waste money on a fake pay-me because I’m a parent of a kid we can’t build hopes and dreams on lawsuit. Teachers will never get enough money to teach irregardless of what the child’s ability is or isn’t.

  3. Greg, parent says:

    Questioning if this lawsuit drove Lisa the principal out?

  4. Julie says:

    Free education isn’t appreciated.

  5. I am not surprised, and I feel for this parent. The IDEA law was made for a reason – and that reason is that disabled children are treated like 2nd class citizens, a child of a lesser god. It is the same for the above-average children as well. My daughter was in an advanced class for gifted children when we moved to Sedona. She attended West Sedona elementary until we realized she was being harassed for asking too many questions. The homework she brought home was the SAME EXACT homework she did in California in FIRST GRADE two years prior. The only way to get satisfaction is to leave the school – which, of course is exactly what they want you to do. I hope this parent sticks with it and gets promised results.

  6. Meredith says:

    Teachers need to be held accountable, they need to be supervised by administrators held accountable. That’s not happening in most Sedona classrooms.

  7. FHR says:

    Voices should be heard not stifled – and if there’s a problem why wasn’t it apparent in the first lawsuit that they lost? The school district should be more aware than ever. Handle this and make sure the system is the best it can be. That would be the best outcome for all concerned. That should be the goal of all.

  8. Toya Chesney says:

    It’s not exclusionary or divisive to say Sp Ed kids require separate teaching environments and, in many cases, facilities for wheel chairs, diaper changing (yes some students require teachers/aides to remove and change soiled diapers), one-on-one aides, medication distribution, etc. As a SP Ed teacher for many years I’ve seen the difference in quality of Instruction, and it’s less now when parents of children with disabilities demand gen ed inclusion. A small Special Ed class offers individualized attention. Large gen ed population classrooms have become disorganized chaos. You cannot meet individualized needs in a general ed classroom. You should not want it for your child. You should want the best and the most effective. Many severely autistic children do best with boarding schools designed to meet specific needs.

  9. TaraLynn says:

    Having been experiencing the APATHY of the environment as a whole, Board Members, Administrations, some teaching staff, lots of parents, and especially the community at large being is no one really seems to ever care enough to get to the bottom of a conflict with Transparency, therefore genuinely a address a problem at hand making a problematic outcome for all concerned. Then others, whom care not at all can be so absolutely opinionated having little to no facts to substantiate their findings or conclusions…and I have found most of humanity at most times seeking the end road of non accountability throughout their days spent as they priorities their lives excluding what’s important, honesty or truth…the TRUTH in all endeavors or pursuits…most persons still tell those little white lies, “oh, I never got that message,” or “thought it was so and so that was supposed to…”, again, or “I only did this…not, and/or it wasn’t me…” People really simply don’t care to really deal with truths or honesties. They seem think people will feel less of them, see them differently or their public figure or character will be ridiculed… Anyways, most live in complacency and apathy to the rest of all outside their own little ‘bubble’. Most find it of their ‘right’ to be opinionated, casteth judgement or condemn or simply just complain about what they do not know or understand. They do not realize to warrant such viewpoints and have valid or valued input is to have a genuine transparency to all, if not, most all the details and or facts about any given scenario to have an opinion of merit or righteous strength to their conclusions. It’s interesting how people cast options or votes or complaints without basis of facts. I always told my Mother as an adult with many children myself…Mom, yes, your opinions and the ‘your, should haves or would haves’ are important, as I am your child and respect you have a say and rightfully so…BUT, how can you weigh in with such demand that what you believe to be true, is, especially if you are only always are dealing with 7-10% of the actual information or facts…always, there’s a much bigger picture, genuinely another 90+%…so, those whom have no real genuine insight of anything positive or true, well then your opinions do not mean very much in the scheme of things, unfortunately…so, please feedback that’s helpful for families that are dealing with such concerns, provide some genuine input of value otherwise utilize your time and energy elsewhere where your viewpoints can have a good intention vs a bad…think about it…if you do not know…how can you even fathom an opinion, especially if you have no shared applied experience, because it’s obvious to any reader those whom have no real idea why it’s like to be blessed with such challenges and what beauty is brought into your lives and what you are actually missing out on simply because you just do not understand…those in humanity that are actually tending to the work that’s really import find themselves constantly needing to have patience and forgiveness for those whom are ignorant and unkind… Believe me you, the truth is out there…documentations themselves stand alone without a shared word of input…just need to ask…

  10. It has been tough as alot of times we are seen as the bad guys, why would we engage a school that has obviously bigger problems??? Well one thing that I should mention is that the school pays into a Legal Trust on a monthly basis, think of it as legal insurance, and the money to pay for the school’s legal battle with us comes out of that Legal Trust. So the true cost to the school is minimized, but I believe similar to car insurance the premiums do go up… And then their incidentals that are not covered by the trust, such as court reporters… the cost of the court reporter alone for the four hearings so far has exceeded the equivalent cost associated with the amount of compesatory services we were requesting in the first place.

  11. Rachel says:

    Given the explanation you provided it is reasonable to assume the costs are not coming from the children’s textbook fund. You may want to consider the rationale for continuing to stay your first course because in your own words, the compensatory benefit was offset by costs. Check your umbrage at the door, parents. The legal system doesn’t work on right v wrong, it works on a system of evidential hearings and rulings. Your child will not be helped by this. Neither will you.

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