Legal battle over special education in Warren Co. takes ODEW to federal court

The advocacy group Disability Rights Ohio (DRO) has filed a federal lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (ODEW) over its handling of its investigation into special education at the Warren County Education Service Center.

The legal dispute began in 2021 when DRO filed a complaint with ODEW on behalf of two students enrolled in the education service center. DRO alleged that the center violated state law by failing to provide adequate special education services to the students it served.

An investigation by the department (then known as the Ohio Department of Education) found numerous violations related to the Warren County Education Service Center’s lack of non-academic and extracurricular activities, and the way it served students with suspected disabilities evaluated.

RELATED: Investigation into Warren County ESC reveals inadequate services for students with disabilities

As a result, the state ordered the service center to implement a corrective action plan by providing compensatory education services to students enrolled in the center. However, the deadline to meet these standards was suspended indefinitely by ODEW, which reconsidered its findings in early 2023. Later, the Warren County Center obtained an order halting the corrective action.

The Warren County Education Service Center maintains that it is – and currently is – providing adequate education to students in need of disability services.

Yet DRO’s recently filed federal lawsuit alleges that ODEW’s decision not to enforce the corrective action plan violated its obligation to ensure that students with disabilities receive an education that meets state standards. The lawsuit also alleges that the public was not properly notified of the Department of Education and Manpower’s reconsideration process and that parents of students awarded compensatory education were not informed that they would not receive it.

DRO’s senior attorney Kristin Hildebrant says ODEW’s delay in action and reconsideration has negatively affected a growing number of students with special needs in southwest Ohio.

“Children who attend that school and have been there, or who are recently attending, are not receiving appropriate services and support,” Hildebrant told WVXU. “Any students who were there at the time we did our investigation who were not receiving appropriate services and were receiving makeup services in return will not receive them.”

RELATED: Warren County ESC granted an injunction in a lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Education

Although local courts have allowed ODEW and Warren County Education Services to drop the plan previously required by the state, DRO is seeking a different outcome in a higher court.

“We’re asking a federal judge to say, ‘Yes, the Department of Education had jurisdiction to do what they did and when it was overturned, it was a violation of federal law,’” Hildebrant said.

ODEW told WVXU it does not comment on pending litigation, and the lead attorney representing the Department of Education and Workforce in the lawsuit did not respond to a request for comment.

The Warren County Educational Service Center also declined to comment.

“That’s not my fight,” service center superintendent Tom Isaacs told WVXU in an email earlier this week.

DRO and ODEW will meet with the judge hearing the lawsuit on October 31 for a status conference to discuss the case and set future court dates.