Letter to the editor: Item needs to dig into attorneys' fees related to special education

Posted

I see that today's headline features the amount of money that the school district has paid to Dave Duff related to the superintendent fiasco.

Has The Item dug into how much the district spends on attorneys' fees related to special education? Dave Duff is on retainer, I suspect, and I also suspect that $36,000 is a drop in the bucket compared to what the district pays Duff to defend the district on due process complaints.

The district also pays Dave Duff's firm to prepare responses to complaints filed by parents/guardians with the S.C. Department of Education. These complaints are coming from people in the district who are primary caregivers of children with disabilities.

Due process complaints and state complaints are two procedures that parents/guardians have when the district fails to provide a free and appropriate public education in accordance with the IDEA.

The district uses taxpayers' money to pay an attorney to fight parents.

WANDA LITTLE FENIMORE, PH.D.

Sumter