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Interim Ruling Made on Student in State Care

Posted on: Thursday, 11 August 2005, 18:00 CDT

SOUTH KINGSTOWN - The School Department must pick up the bill for a student in state custody who attends a specialized school in Lincoln under an interim ruling by the state Department of Education.

The student, referred to as James B., has attended Spurwink School II, a nonprofit program for children with serious behavioral and emotional disorders, since October 2002.

The Department of Children, Youth and Families, which has legal guardianship of the boy, sought the ruling after the South Kingstown School Department informed it in October 2004 that it would no longer assume responsibility for the student's education. The district had previously approved the student's individualized education program and paid about $36,000 annually toward his schooling, said Supt. Robert Hicks.

According to the ruling, James B. was living with his father in South Kingstown and enrolled in the district when he entered into DCYF custody. His mother lived in Charlestown at that time.

The student's father became homeless after the student went into state custody. The father lived on the streets and at the Welcome House of South County before moving in with his mother in Exeter in September 2004.

James B.'s mother moved to Peace Dale that same month.

Both parents have since relinquished their parental rights to DCYF. Parental rights appear to have been terminated in March, the ruling says.

South Kingstown argued that the Exeter-West Greenwich school system should bear responsibility because the boy's father moved to Exeter in September 2004, according to the ruling.

"It's a straightforward residency issue," Hicks said. "The custodial parent moved to another community. We think that community becomes responsible."

Exeter-West Greenwich countered that South Kingstown was his district of residence when DCYF assumed custody. That district noted that the student's mother also moved back into South Kingstown in September 2004.

State law dictates that a child has the right to be educated in the town in which his residence has been established until his home is established elsewhere. The Department of Education rules in cases in which the residency comes into question.

"The intent of this law is to create a 'relay race' in which a school system is not allowed to 'drop the baton' until educational responsibility for the student is smoothly handed off to the next school system," hearing officer Forrest Avila wrote in the July 26 ruling.

In issuing its decision, the state noted that the student has not yet enrolled in another district and that at least one parent has consistently lived in South Kingstown.

Avila concluded that South Kingstown is responsible on an interim basis for preparing the student's education plan and paying a per- pupil special education cost toward James B.'s schooling to DCYF.

"Someone needed to take action on this child's education," said Department of Education spokesman Elliot Krieger.

That amounts to about $36,000 annually for South Kingstown and $25,000 to $30,000 retroactive to October 2004, Hicks said.

The district is requesting a full hearing before the state Department of Education about the case, according to Hicks. The state's order will stand unless it is overturned after a full hearing.

Source: Providence Journal

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