The families of 10 disabled children who sued the Clover Park School District over allegations of mistreatment and discrimination deserve to have their case heard by a jury, the Washington State Supreme Court has decided.
In a unanimous decision issued Thursday, the state’s high court ruled Pierce County Superior Court Judge Thomas Felnagle erred when he dismissed the lawsuit without a trial last year.
Felnagle ruled the families didn’t have standing to bring the suit because they had not exhausted administrative remedies available to them within the school district.
In an opinion authored by Justice James M. Johnson, the Supreme Court disagreed.
A provision in federal law requiring disabled students to exhaust administrative remedies before suing applies to complaints about the educational process, including how those students are evaluated and where they are placed, Johnson wrote.
It does not apply to personal-injury claims and complaints of discrimination brought under state law, the ruling states.
The high court reinstated the case and sent it back to Felnagle for further proceedings.
School district officials had not had a chance to review the ruling, so they would be unable to comment, spokeswoman Kim Prentice said Thursday.
Attorney Thaddeus Martin, who represents the families, called the ruling historic.
“Prior to this, disabled students were denied access to the courts,” Martin said. “It’s been a long fight.”
The families sued in 2006, alleging their children were called names and yanked and shoved by staff members in the Lakewood district. Most of the allegations centered on students at Lakes High School, many of whom since have graduated or transferred out of Clover Park schools.
The school district said that five years ago it investigated the allegations it knew of and took appropriate actions in those found to have merit.
Police investigated one complaint where a Lakes special-education teacher allegedly slammed a student into a locker, but prosecutors said the teacher’s actions did not rise to the level of a crime.
Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644 adam.lynn@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/crime
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