LOST
BOY
DCPS school, where he had been
lost, ignored and manhandled.
And if he started off the year in
public school, he would lose his
slot at Ivymount. So the couple
took a second mortgage on their
home, which has provided them
enough to pay for a year’s tuition
there at a whopping $70,000.
“I’ve already lost three of
Max’s years,” Greg says. “What
does it take? We’re losing our
little boy, and this process is a
joke. They keep saying he’s progressing, but how come he has
no vocabulary left? How come he
has poop in his pants?”
So, Greg and Maya filed a
counter-appeal and their own
injunction in federal court this
summer. At first, the judge’s response seemed favorable: DCPS,
the judge wrote, must implement
the hearing officer’s decision. But
on the 15th page, the judge wrote
that the district will have 20 days
to stay the initial decision, which
allowed the bureaucratic process
to continue to unspool.
The ruling is “ridiculous,” Greg
wrote in an email. “What incentive does DC have to implement
these decisions when there are almost no consequences to them for
NOT doing so?” he wrote. “DCPS
HUFFINGTON
01.12.14
knows all too well that the average
family will give up the fight. The
emotional cost is staggering.”
Now the family is tied up in
mountains of legal paperwork.
Greg and Maya have filed an appeal in the original case and a
counter-appeal in the second.
Then there’s the injunction they
filed to enforce the most recent
decision to send Max to Ivymount.
Until they hear back, Max
waits. So far, he’s made great
strides during his first months
at Ivymount. He’s mostly back
to being potty trained. Greg and
Maya say he’s trying to speak
again. He’s even sitting still long
enough to play games with two
people. If no change results from
all the filings, he’ll have the one
year in a decent school.
After that, nothing is
guaranteed.
Joy Resmovits is an education
reporter at The Huffington Post.
Maya
and Greg
discuss the
difficulties of
getting their
case taken
seriously on
HuffPost
Live. Watch
the full
segment
here.