IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

  LYDIA GASKIN, et al.,                                          
  Plaintiffs,                                                                                                                                                  
  v.                                                                           NO. 94-CV-4048 (E.D.Pa.)
                                                               
  COMMONWEALTH OF                                    (JUDGE ROBRENO)
  PENNSYLVANIA,                                
  DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION,      
  et al.,                                                                                        

                                                                
                    Defendants.                         

  NOTICE OF PROPOSED SETTLEMENT OF CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT

TO:  

The parents of all students who are eligible for special education and who have been
denied the opportunity to receive a free appropriate education in regular
classrooms with individualized supportive services OR have been placed in regular
education classrooms without the supportive services, individualized instruction and
accommodations they need to succeed in the regular classroom.

This Notice describes a proposed Settlement Agreement between students with
disabilities and the Pennsylvania Department of Education and all other defendants.

This Notice tells you what the parties have agreed to do, how to get more information, and how to object to the proposed Settlement Agreement if you think it is not fair.

PROPOSED SETTLEMENT

  1.    This case was filed on June 30, 1994 by twelve students with disabilities and
  eleven disability organizations, collectively known as the plaintiffs, against officials of the
  Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) and the State Board of Education. The plaintiffs’
  claims arose under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and related federal statutes. The
  plaintiffs alleged that PDE had failed to assure that students with disabilities are included in
  regular education classroom to the maximum extent appropriate and that students receive
  appropriate supplementary aids and services in regular classrooms. The settlement obligates
  PDE to undertake a series of reforms of its systems for exercising general supervision over
  special education throughout Pennsylvania. The goal of those reforms is that local school
  districts increase their capacity to provide the supplementary aids and services in regular
  education classrooms that students with disabilities need to receive a meaningful benefit from
  education. The parties have agreed to the following undertakings:

  1.    PDE policies will require IEP teams to consider, and school districts to provide,
  the full range of supplementary aids and services in regular classrooms to all students with
  disabilities, including those with significant disabilities, who can benefit from education in
  regular education classes with such services.
  2.    PDE will establish the Special Education Bureau Director’s Advisory Panel on
  Least Restrictive Environment (“Panel”) to review system wide progress in the delivery of
  individualized specially designed instruction in regular education classrooms, to report on the
  status of implementation of this agreement and advise PDE on implementation. Nine of the
  Panel’s 15 members will be parents of children with disabilities; twelve will be selected by the
  organizational plaintiffs in this case.
  3.    PDE will modify its IEP format to assure that IEP teams consider the provision
  of supplementary aids and services in regular education classes before removing students from
  the regular education environment.
  4.   PDE will conduct a new form of compliance monitoring called LRE monitoring,
  in which PDE will identify the school districts most in need of systemic LRE-related changes,
  provide appropriate intervention to bring about those changes, and exercise continued oversight,
  including sanctions if needed, to determine whether intervention is effective. Each year, school
  districts will be assigned a data-based LRE Index Score according to which the districts will be
  identified for intervention. These scores will be included in publicly available school district
  report cards. In the districts most in need of intervention, PDE will examine a representative
  sample of Individualized Education Programs to determine whether the district is satisfying its
  obligation to provide a free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment.
  PDE will require specific staff training for district personnel to target the particular violations
  found.
  5.   PDE will investigate all complaints submitted by a parent or student, without
  exception, and each time a violation of a student’s right to receive supplementary aids and
  services in a regular education classroom is identified in a complaint resolution or due process
  hearing, will monitor whether the school district has corrected the violation for all similarly
  situated students.
  6.   PDE will synchronize the special education planning cycle with its compliance
  monitoring cycle and will require school districts’ special education plans to include
  appropriate corrective action when monitoring finds a failure to provide meaningful educational
  benefit to students with disabilities in regular education classes and neighborhood schools.
  7.   PDE will provide on-site training and technical assistance to school districts to
  build capacity in the provision of supplementary aids and services in regular education
  classrooms. Training and technical assistance will be based on a needs assessment to identify
  the assistance needed to implement research-based practices.
  8.   PDE will support a grant proposal submitted by the plaintiffs to an external
  funding source to support advocacy and advocacy training on issues relating to the provision of
  supplementary aids and services in regular education classrooms.
  9.   PDE will provide a total of $350,000 to the individual plaintiffs to resolve their
  claims for compensatory education and other relief. PDE will pay the plaintiffs’ counsel the
  sum of $1,825,000 for attorney fees and costs.
  10.   The Settlement Agreement will be enforceable for five years from the date of its
  approval by the Court. Throughout the life of the agreement, PDE will send regular written
  certifications concerning its compliance with the agreement. The parties will seek to resolve
  disputes by informal means and mediation before petitioning the Court for enforcement.

HOW TO OBJECT TO THIS SETTLEMENT
AGREEMENT IF YOU THINK IT IS UNFAIR

  If you do not want to object to this proposed Settlement Agreement, it is not
  necessary for you to take any action. If, however, you want to comment on the proposed
  Settlement Agreement or object to it as not being fair, you or your attorney on your behalf may
  file written comments or objections on or before _________, 2005. Written comments and
  objections should be submitted to the Court at this address: Office of the Clerk, United States
  District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 601 Market St., Philadelphia, PA 19106.
  You should send a copy of your comments to one of the attorneys for each party at the
  addresses contained below.
 

HOW TO OBTAIN MORE INFORMATION

  You can get a complete copy of the proposed Settlement Agreement by writing to
  Plaintiffs’ attorneys. You may also examine the Court papers filed in this case, which can be
  viewed at the Office of the Clerk for the United States District Court in Philadelphia. If you
  have any questions or would like more information about this Notice, you may contact your
  own lawyer or the lawyers for the class.

  FOR THE PENNSYLVANIA
  DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
  Lawrence White
  Chief Counsel
  333 Market Street, 9th Floor
  Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333
 

  FOR THE PLAINTIFF CLASS:
  Judith A. Gran
  Public Interest Law Center
  of Philadelphia
  125 S. 9th Street, Suite 700
  Philadelphia, PA 19107