Zachary Deal Case Study

Due Process and Parental Rights 1

Ashley Scott
Grand Canyon University: SPE-350
September 15, 2013

Due Process and Parental Rights 2

One court case that addressed parental rights and due process is Zachary Deal v. Hamilton Board of Education (6th Circuit 2004). This case involved a three year old little boy and his parents, Maureen and Phillip Deal. Zachary Deal began preschool comprehensive development class at Ooltewah Elementary School. In September of 1997 while he was attending preschool,
The school board was accused of predetermining not to offer Zachary ABA on any level, regardless of how beneficial it was which violated IDEA (United States Court of Appeals, 2009). Additionally, Zachary 's parents were not fully involved in the IEP process which deprived Zachary a FAPE. At one IEP meeting Zachary 's parents were informed that they were not allowed to ask any question which goes completely against parental rights (County Schools, 2005). The IEP meetings also failed to have a general education teacher present. The Deals began their administrative hearing in March of 2000. In October of 2001 they initiated a review of portions of the ALJ 's decision in district court. Finally in December of 2004 the courts decided a verdict. The decision had been made to reimburse the Deals 's with the money they had spent on private ABA and related services (United States Court of Appeals, 2009). Sadly, it took years in court and an estimated 2,2850,000 to defend a relatively small reimbursement claim (County Schools,
There are many different variables and angles which you can take. I agree with the ruling for a number of reasons, however, I also feel that the parents were not fully cooperating like they could have to achieve the best results possible. In the one article I read it actually addresses how many could “think” that the school district is the victim, but in all actuality if you read the full court transcripts you will see that is simply not the case. The article was written by the Deal 's attorney so it is biased, but it makes some very good points. I am not quite sure how to draw the line in how much should be expected from the school system and at what point a family is demanding too much. Obviously I am not the only one who thinks this is confusing or there would be more concrete federal laws. On one hand I feel that the most important thing to keep in mind is parental rights. Who else is going to fight for a child like their own parents? If parents are denied proper notification, proper time to plan to attend the meeting, supply the materials in the