The Dedham public schools have settled a civil rights complaint filed in June by Dedham Middle School teachers on behalf of 13 special education students, closing a federal investigation on the matter.
U.S. Department of Education spokesman Jim Bradshaw recently said that the school district “has agreed to voluntarily resolve the issues of the complaint,” and has entered into an agreement with the department’s Office for Civil Rights “that includes the district’s assessment of whether any compensatory services are needed as a result of the denial of a free, appropriate public education to students with disabilities.”
School Committee Chairman David Roberts said the district is offering compensatory services through an extended summer program on math and literacy for middle school students with special needs. The extra time will be four days a week for three weeks.
The complaint alleged that the district denied the students the education they are due by not providing teachers trained to instruct them. Last winter two special education teachers left Dedham Middle School during the week before Christmas vacation, and in January until about Jan. 22, to provide two hours of home tutoring, most days per week, for the child of a then-School Committee member, who has said repeatedly that she did not receive any special treatment.
A retired Dedham teacher and a full-time aide provided substitute coverage in each case during the reassignments, using “very detailed lesson plans” left by the departed teachers, Superintendent of Schools June Doe said earlier this year.
The resolution agreement assures that all aides and substitute teachers will be informed of all services that will be available to a classroom, as Roberts put it.
Bradshaw wrote in an e-mail that the resolution also calls for the district to revise its grievance procedures and staff training “to ensure that all responsible staff understand their responsibilities relative to Section 504 plans and Individual Education Programs and their implementation.”
Section 504 protects the rights of individuals with disabilities in programs that receive financial assistance from U.S. Department of Education.
That stipulation addresses another major aspect of the teachers’ complaint. It said “that the district failed to implement a grievance procedure that provides for prompt and equitable resolution of disability discrimination complaints,” Bradshaw said previously.
As part of the resolution agreement, the school department will also report to the Department of Education on three or four dates.
Dedham Transcript staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.
Dedham Public Schools Settlement with U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights
