In response to an earlier post about the rocky beginning of the experiment in privatization in Muskegon Heights, Michigan, a reader sent this interesting observation:
Well, I hope they had a happy Friday afternoon, and the Michigan Department of Education, as well. For yesterday, I filed a written complaint against the Muskegon Public School Academy and Mosaica Education pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 and Michigan Mandatory Special Education Act. I caught wind that the district has not been providing related services (speech, OT, PT, Social Work) to students with IEPs as dictated by their plans. So I filed a systemic complaint alleging a failure to deliver “all” related services, teacher consultant services, consider each student for Extended School Year; and meet “initial” and 3-year reevaluation timelines. What a lovely way to end the week of MDE and for-profit charter administrators who care nothing about the kids. Here’s hoping the allegations are found valid and the students receive compensatory. Although no one can give any of the children in this for-profit-saken, emergency-dictator-manager-run charter that has now stolen an entire semester from children in desperate need of a public education.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Muskegon is about 15 minutes from where I grew up and this experiment has been a mysterious media centerpiece over the past year or so. For the sake of the students, I hope this charter can get things straightened out to meet ALL students’ needs. Thanks for sharing!
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Way to go!
A new version of “Law and Order,” it’s called:
Law and Order, For Profit Charter School Style!
It is time for the path to justice for our kids to travel to the courtrooms in pursuit of bringing legal action against the glaring violations of the Federal IDEA act for our special needs students across the country.
If there were transparency about the absence of comprehensive services in For Profit Charters for our IEP students by professionally trained and certified Intervention Specialists, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, Speech and Language Pathologists and Psychologists, the courts would have to shut them down.
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Do you have “standing” to file such a complaint? Good show, however. It may make an interesting test.
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Oh, I get it. A person in Muskegon, who may have standing, filed the complaint. That makes sense.
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thank you to the Michigan reader, for filing this complaint on behalf of the special ed. kids.
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Don’t they have a college/university provide their charter? They are supposed to be watchdogs in the process. Why haven’t they done their job? (They make about 3% of administrative fees supposedly for this very purpose). Good for you!! File the complaint. Come back and tell us how much the CEO made while having incompetent staff who have undermined the learning process of special education students. What an embarassment for the State of Michigan-but no surprise.
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No, the Muskegon Heights charter was imposed by an emergency manager appointed by Governor Snyder. The law permitting this extraordinary power was repealed in the last election, so there is Legal uncertainty here.
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