{"id":4074,"date":"2011-03-03T10:00:18","date_gmt":"2011-03-03T14:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=4074"},"modified":"2011-02-10T12:46:38","modified_gmt":"2011-02-10T16:46:38","slug":"class-actions-not-a-primary-vehicle-for-accomplishing-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/class-actions-not-a-primary-vehicle-for-accomplishing-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Class Actions &#8211; Not a Primary Vehicle for Accomplishing Change"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Class%20Actions%20-%20Not%20a%20Primary%20Vehicle%20for%20Accomplishing%20Change\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><blockquote><p>We think the school system continues to prey on parents in I.E.P. meetings. Having good information is valuable but does no good when the school preys on parents knowing full well these parents\u00a0 cannot challenge them. You should start pushing class actions and parents sticking together in a unified action.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Class actions can cost many thousands of dollars, 50K to 100k+. Sometimes these costs are not reimbursable to either attorney or parent.<\/p>\n<p>Are you proffering to fund one or more? If so, I can direct you to some law firms that might be willing to jump in. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>One Case Can Make a Difference&#8230;<!--more--><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>A single case can also turn everything around for a large number of families.<\/p>\n<p>An example: My US Supreme Court case (9-0 decision),\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/law\/caselaw\/ussupct.carter.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Shannon Carter v. Florence County School District<\/span><\/a>. The legal issue in the Carter case involved a child with dyslexia in a  private school taught by educators who were not state certified,  licensed, or endorsed.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, the Carter case became the legal basis for parents of children with autism receiving reimbursement for ABA \/ Lovaas therapy, even when provided by someone not licensed\/certified as a special educator, which was the standard prior to Carter.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Self-Empowered Parents Can Challenge Successfully<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Parents are prey, just as animals in the animal kingdom are prey, when they are viewed as weak, and are in fact, weak, without knowledge of the law and their rights.<\/p>\n<p>If parents are unwilling or unable to take the steps to empower themselves, they will remain weak and their children will suffer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Parents can challenge, and do so successfully all of the time. But first they have to do their homework and get their ducks in a row.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Parent who views themselves as victims and feel sorry for their child, are often unable or unwilling to take the steps to self-empowerment.<\/p>\n<p>As an attorney, I have never believed in class actions as a primary vehicle to accomplish change through the courtroom. Instead &#8211; one case, at a time, on a targeted issue.<\/p>\n<p>Good examples:<\/p>\n<p>1954 &#8211; (9-0 decision)<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/law\/caselaw\/ussupct.brown.bd.ed.htm\"> <span style=\"color: #000080;\">Brown v. Bd of Education<\/span><\/a>, 347 U. S. 483<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/law\/caselaw\/ussupct.brown.bd.ed.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/law\/caselaw\/ussupct.brown.bd.ed.htm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>1967 &#8211; (9-0 decision)\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.oyez.org\/cases\/1960-1969\/1966\/1966_395\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Loving v. Virginia<\/span><\/a> (permitting marriages between the races)<span style=\"color: #000080;\"> <\/span><span style=\"color: #000080;\"> <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.oyez.org\/cases\/1960-1969\/1966\/1966_395\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">http:\/\/www.oyez.org\/cases\/1960-1969\/1966\/1966_395<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>1993 &#8211; (9-0 decision)<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/law\/caselaw\/ussupct.carter.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"> Florence Co. Sch Dist Four v. Shannon Carter<\/span><\/a>, 510 U.S. 7\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/law\/caselaw\/ussupct.carter.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/law\/caselaw\/ussupct.carter.htm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We think the school system continues to prey on parents in I.E.P. meetings. Having good information is valuable but does no good when the school preys on parents knowing full <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/class-actions-not-a-primary-vehicle-for-accomplishing-change\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1372,6,529,1364],"tags":[731,732,421,353],"class_list":["post-4074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education-reform","category-legal-decisions","category-parent-rights-responsibilities","category-school-administration-school-culture","tag-brown-v-bd-of-education","tag-loving-v-virginia","tag-parent-advocacy","tag-shannon-carter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4074"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4823,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4074\/revisions\/4823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}