ACTUAL SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENT TIMELINE

• Instead of providing mandatory services, the RCSD simply transferred the special needs child from school to school without an Individual Education Plan (IEP).
        • 2nd grade at Herbert Mills Elementary
        • 4th grade at French Run Elementary
        • 5th grade at Hannah Ashton Middle School
        • 6th grade at Excel Academy, Inc.

        NOTE: No Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) was implemented, the child’s feelings of abandonment became an issue again, and signs of extreme frustration developed.  The RCSD claimed the child exhibited an “inability to build or maintain interpersonal relationships” (as they moved him from school to school) despite his success at doing so outside of the classroom environment.

• During outbursts at Excel Academy, Inc., the child was put in the “team and child control position” without the parent’s permission, and locked in a closet with a small window for observation; both of which intensified the child’s aggression and oppositional-attitude.

• Excel Academy, Inc. helped a convict to pose as a licensed teacher, and put him in charge of physically restraining special needs children.

• There was an increase in the child’s affinity toward gang-culture and use of gang-related language and gestures.

• The child brought home the web address of the convict’s web site.  It was discovered that this convict was sharing the merits of his criminal and gang background via the Internet.

• After confronting Excel Academy, Inc.’s Director of Administration, she acknowledged the web site and explained that it was acceptable because the school was “short-staffed.”  After continued parental complaints, the director ordered the student to be removed from the premises.  (It was later discovered that  the school personnel and board members actively promoted this convict’s web site in their annual reports.)

• After the termination of all services by Excel Academy, Inc., a web site was created by one of the child’s family members to document the events in an effort to warn other parents: www.ExcelAcademyOhio.com

• Excel Academy, Inc. attorneys threatened the child’s family with two separate lawsuits, but relented due to the overwhelming facts.  The convict remains at the alternative placement, but is now referred to as an “intervention specialist.”  (The convict’s web site was screen-captured before he could make changes, so his efforts to cover up his misconduct were in vain.)

• The family of the special needs student had to “de-program” the traumatized child.

• The family remains leery of school employees and officials after the RCSD’s Director of Student Services and the Special Programs Supervisor claimed they could not hold Excel Academy, Inc. accountable for any misconduct.  (The RCSD’s Superintendent refused to respond to any of the family’s pleas for help.)

• The RCSD continues to use taxpayer money to send unsuspecting emotionally-disturbed children to be taught by the convict at Excel Academy, Inc.

• The RCSD refused to let the child return to his home district until they lost in mediation.  (The RCSD was forced to enroll the child into the new junior high school.)

• Before losing in mediation, the RCSD officials:
        • pressured the family to accept placement in a “day treatment program” in spite of the recommendations against doing so by the child’s personal psychologist;
        • attempted to cancel tutoring at Sylvan Learning Center initiated by the father;
        • attempted to deny that the child regressed to third and fourth grade levels (documented by Sylvan) while simultaneously funding remediation of skills through home instruction;
        • scolded a teacher for informing the child’s family of Reynoldsburg's weightlifting program;
        • canceled the child’s successful participation in the weightlifting program... where he was building interpersonal relationships with non-disabled students;
        • actively fought the father when he attempted to expunge the tainted Excel Academy, Inc. records;
        • refused to fund a therapeutic camp to help the child to develop interpersonal skills;
        • told the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) that they funded the above-mentioned therapeutic camp (paid in full by the child’s family).

• Before the child returned to his home district, the student successfully participated in summer school at the old Reynoldsburg Junior High School with non-disabled students.  There were no special education instructors present or special services provided.  (NOTE: One instructor consistently reported that “the student worked ahead of schedule with very little supervision.”)

• After complaints were filed against RCSD officials, they were found in violation of Free & Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)*.  In an apparent attempt at retaliation, Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBA) were replaced with a series of suspensions.  They implemented a BIP not developed from an FBA; a plan which ultimately failed.

• After the RCSD was forced to return the child to the new Junior High School, RCSD officials:
        • ignored the recommendations from a taxpayer-funded independent Multi-Factored Evaluation (MFE);
        • filed fraudulent assault-charges against the child (charges ultimately thrown out);
        • hid the videotape evidence allegedly showing the assault;
        • disputed that these charges were used simply to change the child’s placement outside of the district;
        • falsely claimed that the parent “unilaterally” and “voluntarily” changed the child’s placement (the new school director stated the opposite to be true);
        • ignored the new MFE which described the Excel Academy, Inc.’s “fake” teacher as a possible sociopath;
        • ignored the new MFE which directly associated the child’s current educational and emotional challenges to the actions and inactions by RCSD officials.

• RCSD officials shipped this disabled child to a distant institution where he could not be transported back to the district in time to participate in equal activities with non-disabled students.  RCSD officials stated that showing the parent the extracurricular activities on the RCSD web site is equivalent to providing these services.  (Translation: Showing the child a photo of a horse officially made him an equestrian.)


* 34 C.F.R. 300.17 and O.A.C. 3301-51-07(L)