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Feb
26
I’ve written about Winkelman, et al. versus Parma Schools here and here.
Oral argument in the Supreme Court of the United States will occur tomorrow. In anticipation of the case, the Plain Dealer ran this article over the weekend.
Both the issue to be presented to the court (can parents represent their children’s interests in a court, without a lawyer) and the underlying issue (should Parma have to pay for the educational arrangements desired and determined by the parents as the best) involve strong arguments for and against the possible outcomes. That’s why SCOTUS got it and is hearing it.
I’m not a betting person so I won’t say which I way I expect the court to rule. I also don’t know the specifics well enough to say which way I believe the courts should rule.
What do you think?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:44 pm February 26th, 2007 in Politics
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2 Responses to “SCOTUS to hear oral argument tomorrow re: can Parma parents represent special ed child in court”
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If no one is stepping up to speak on their behalf, then I guess it falls on them to do it for themselves.
No one knows a child better than a parent. No disability is more challenging than autism.
I hope the courts decide to listen to them. It gets tiring being the lone voice all the time.
I agree – in this case and in many otehrs, the aprents are far better equipped than lawyers might be, especially because many parents usher their kids’ education plans through IEPs without any formal legal assistance at all.
Of course there are the fears that parents who cannot traverse the legal ins and outs and whose kids won’t get what they need or deserve because of the overwhelming nature of the IDEA is who the people, with good souls, harbor. And there’s reason for that too – the problem is mixing that fear up with making lawyers wealthy (although these aren’t usually families through him lawyers will become wealthy).
This is why I feel it’s such a delcate matter and I hope the Sup. Crt. can craft a really good opinion.