A nearly 30-year-old lawsuit over special education services in Baltimore has finally been settled.
Vaughn G., et al. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore was filed in 1984 by the Maryland Disability Law Center as a way to address delayed evaluations for students with disabilities under the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act.
In response, the 84,000-student Baltimore district agreed to find ways to eliminate the delays and improve special education overall. But for years, the district failed to meet any of the deadlines agreed to in the original consent decree.
In March 2010, Baltimore entered into a settlement agreement in the suit, which the district called a probationary period. The city had to continue providing special-needs students with services, give them support in obtaining a regular education, and work to reduce the numbers of such students suspended each year during that time.
“The probationary period is now over,” the district announced in a statement Sept. 20. The case “is officially closed.”
