The IDEA explains that those students who qualify for special education are eligible to receive an Individualized Education Program (IEP). The IEP provides the basic framework for the student’s education and describes the instruction, support, and services that the district will provide to ensure that the student receives a free appropriate public education (called a […]

John Rue & Associates, LLC has filed a lawsuit against the Borough of Sayreville School Board of Education (the Board) and the Commissioner of Education, alleging that a bullying decision by the Board was a violation of the student’s First Amendment right to free speech. The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for […]

When your child receives special education services, making sure that they receive an appropriate education can be difficult. Unfortunately, it can be particularly frustrating when the local school district saddles your child with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that fails to address their unique needs. The good news is that you are not “stuck” with […]

Dear Ringwood Parents: An email communication sent to you by Ringwood Board of Education dated May 4, 2020, grossly mischaracterizes a recent Memorandum from the Department of Education, “Parental Waivers for the Delivery of Remote or Virtual Special Education and Related Services.” Notwithstanding the DOE Memo’s actual title, Ringwood suggests that the DOE Memo was […]

A number of parents have asked us follow-up questions about our blog post about waivers.  Here are responses to the most common questions: What’s wrong with asking for a waiver? I think the district just wants to protect itself from parents suing them claiming that the services being provided are not good enough. The problem […]

Some New Jersey school districts are taking advantage of the vulnerability of parents of children with disabilities during the pandemic, by demanding a broad waiver of all legal liability in exchange for nothing more than providing the services required by the child’s IEP. Huffington Post has the full story, here. Would you sign a breathtakingly […]

You might be wondering whether an IDEA claim waiver you made in the past is legally binding in court. This very issue came up in the case of W.B. v Matula, an influential 1995 Third Circuit decision that has been cited in nearly 500 cases. Specifically, the case dealt with whether a waiver of claims in a settlement agreement was sufficiently clear that the courts would enforce it. The Matula court held that for a waiver of IDEA rights in a settlement to be legally binding, the agreement has to be clear and specific, as well as voluntary, deliberate and informed.
The facts in the case are straightforward. W.B. was the parent of a child, E.J., who exhibit…

A former official from Montclair Public Schools publicly voiced his displeasure about our firm on Facebook. We thank him for the compliment. For the past two years, we have been involved in heated litigation with the Montclair Board of Education. On behalf of two clients—the parent of triplets diagnosed with autism and the parent of a preschool-aged girl who is blind—we have fought to ensure that the board is fulfilling its legally-required duty to provide a free and appropriate education to special education students, and for the parents’ right to know if the services their children were offered are comparable to those provided to other children. S…

Under New Jersey law, a victim of domestic violence is any person “who is 18 years of age or older or who is an emancipated minor and who has been subjected to domestic violence by a spouse, former spouse, or any other person who is a present household member or was at any time a household member.” The victimizer may also be any person with whom the victim has a child in common, or with whom the victim will imminently have a child (i.e., one party is pregnant), or with whom the victim has had a dating relationship. N.J.S.A. 2C:25-19. The idea that only women can be victims of domestic violence is a long-held misconception. After all, men are generally…

With the inauguration of a new President, some things will change; but much will stay the same, because of the limits on the power of the President to make changes to existing law without the consent of Congress. Regardless of the rhetoric, employees should know that protections against discrimination in the workplace do not change just because a different person is sitting in the White House or because the public dialogue may sound different. Under both federal and state law, workers are protected against discrimination based on age, disability, genetic information, national origin, race, color, religion, and gender (including pregnancy). New Jersey…