The federal complaint names the ODEW and its director, Stephen Dackin, as defendants. The Warren County ESC is not named as a defendant.
A 13-year-old Maineville student diagnosed with autism identified only by the initials D.H. is the plaintiff, according to the 29-page suit filed Sept. 23.
The lawsuit seeks class certification for about 525 students placed at the Warren County ESC “as well as the students’ parents and guardians.”
The ODEW declined to comment on the federal complaint, citing “pending litigation,” the department’s chief communications officer, Lacey Snoke, told this news organization.
The lawsuit states the “DEW and its director have violated IDEA by denying parents and students the procedural safeguards … and failing to implement an effective state complaint process, causing substantial educational harm for D.H. and the class of students at WCESC.”
The defendants’ “violations of IDEA in their administration of the state complaint process and their general supervisory authority resulted in systemic harm for this class of students and will result in systemic harm for future students with disabilities that utilize the state complaint process if relief is not granted,” according to the lawsuit.
Aside from claiming three violations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the suit also alleges violations of the 14th Amendment and a “deprivation of Constitutional Rights.”
The filing asks the court to require the defendants take several actions to remedy the alleged violations, in addition to granting “any other relief this court deems just and proper. Plaintiffs reserve the right to seek attorneys’ fees as permitted by law.”
At the center of the dispute is the Wellness Center on Old Irwin Simpson Road in Deerfield Twp., a day-treatment program Warren County operates for students with intensive behavioral and mental health needs.
In April, the ODEW said it was appealing a Warren County Common Pleas Court magistrate’s order in favor of the county ESC in the parties’ lawsuit about alleged violations of special education law.
The magistrate on April 2 denied the state’s motion to dismiss the ESC’s lawsuit and issued a preliminary injunction in the ESC’s favor.
The injunction stopped corrective actions that were issued by ODEW, after an investigation by Disability Rights Ohio in May 2022 alleged several violations of special education law. However, ODEW paused corrections after Warren County ESC raised concerns about the fairness of the previous findings.
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