Attorneys
petitioning for
Felix overseer

Critics say schools have failed
to meet special-ed targets

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By Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin

A motion was expected to be filed today asking a federal judge to appoint a receiver to oversee the state's compliance in the Felix consent decree, an attorney for the plaintiffs said.

"We've asked the court for relief, so it's serious," Shelby Floyd said last night.

The federal consent decree came about as a result of a lawsuit filed on behalf of special-needs student Jennifer Felix. The lawsuit said the state was violating federal law by not providing adequate educational and mental health services to special-needs students. The decree mandates improvements to those services.

A combination of reasons led to the decision to file the motion for a receiver, Floyd said. First, the state failed to meet several benchmarks that were agreed to last year, she said.

Second, the Legislature's actions in reducing Felix-related funding requests this past session were seen as effectively "sabotaging" efforts by the state departments of Health and Education to carry out their compliance plans, she said.

And third, Floyd added, there is evidence that schools are limiting services as the burden of providing programs for special-needs children shifts from the Health Department to the DOE.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra is being asked in the motion to order the parties to meet to select a person to serve as a receiver and to determine the powers of that receiver.

The judge is also being asked to extend the consent decree for a year from the December 2001 compliance deadline.

Floyd said the Felix plaintiffs believe it will take the departments that long to achieve compliance, and it will give the parties time to see what the Legislature does next session.

This request comes as state attorneys earlier this month also asked the court for an extension of about six months.

The plaintiffs' attorneys are not the only ones worried about the transition to school-based services.

Deborah Hill of Maui has an 11-year-old son who is autistic. He is being seen at home by a therapist who helps him with his communications skills.

As the state prepares for a major shift in philosophy in how it provides services to special-needs children, with the DOE taking the lead from the Health Department, Hill sees confusion in the planning process and is afraid that her son and other Felix children could get shortchanged and lose valuable professional assistance, like her son's therapist.

"Whether the school can fill the niche ... as it stands, they don't even know what they're supposed to be doing," Hill said. "They are trying to implement a program that they don't have any idea how it works."

Not so, state schools chief Paul LeMahieu told Star-Bulletin editors and reporters earlier yesterday.

He said that the schools, instead of contracting mental health professionals, should be providing the needed services to special-needs students because it falls within the educational perimeters of the law.

"It's not a mental health problem," LeMahieu said. "This is an education problem."

Beginning July 1, the Department of Education will begin the transition to becoming responsible for providing services to about 7,000 students who currently fall under the consent decree.

"We're the right place to solve this," LeMahieu said of the schools.

As part of the federal mandate, the DOE will take over from the Health Department's role of providing services to the 7,000 students.

The preparation for the transition to school-based services is being done by beefing up the infrastructure needed to provide these services, LeMahieu said.

Internally, the department will get more money in its budget for assuming the responsibility.

The department is also bringing on more school psychologists, social workers, educational assistants and counselors.

LeMahieu pointed out that the Department of Health budget to service the 7,000 students amounts to $34.5 million but that the DOE projects that the cost will be reduced to $28 million next year by the transition to school-based services.