New lawsuit over special education access filed against Salt Lake City School District

Salt Lake City, Utah –

The parents of two elementary school students “EJ” and “HS” are suing the Salt Lake City School District for wanting their children to go to their neighboring schools and receive special needs education there. However, since EJ and HS are cognitively disabled, the school district assigned them to “hub” schools, sometimes more than 20 miles away, where they consolidate students with special needs.

Beyond the Books visited this issue in June 2021.

Salt Lake City School District Superintendent Timothy Gadson is also named as a defendant; Interim Director for Special Education Nicole Suchey; and the Salt Lake City School District Education Committee.

EJ’s parents requested that she attend Dilworth Elementary, their neighborhood school, but the district insisted that she transfer to Emerson Elementary for “academic support” and her full special education services, “otherwise her services would be reduced or removed” . is the complaint.

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As a result, EJ visits Emerson even though her neighborhood friends and a sibling are driving to Dilworth and Emerson is a much longer bus ride away. Her parents have since found out that the inclusive, “collaborative classroom” promised by the school district was not fully implemented at Emerson, the lawsuit said.

HS’s parents made the opposite decision and forfeited HS’s full special school performance to keep him at his Bonneville Elementary neighborhood school. The county had assigned HS Highland Park Elementary and a special class for students with “severe” disabilities, a designation that HS’s parents disagree with. In fact, they say that HS thrives in Bonneville with friends and siblings and benefits from an environment not limited to peers with disabilities, and they fear that its progress would slow down in a segregated environment.

Nate Crippes, an attorney representing the families of the Disability Law Center, told Beyond the Books, “We would like to see children with disabilities as well as their friends, their non-disabled peers, their siblings who live in the neighborhood, go to their neighborhood school in the same neighborhood to get the special educational services they need. “

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Should EJ and HS prevail, the court can determine that the Salt Lake City School District is violating federal disability laws. No damages would be refunded, but the DLC could recoup legal fees.

When contacted, the Salt Lake City school district spokeswoman told Beyond the Books that she was unaware of the lawsuit but could still not comment. “We do not comment on any pending / ongoing litigation,” said Yandry Chatwin via text message.

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