A Sweaty Guy - Homeless in Hawaii

3.

During those early months of 2004, I began to foster another relationship. This one with Mark Locke, a disability rights lawyer in Honolulu. I had known him for a couple of years. He represented many of the parents of children whose cases I’d been involved with. If Mark was there it usually meant that the parents wanted something that the school system was either not willing or not able to provide. It also meant that the parents would be filing for a due process hearing. Generally though, Mark didn't want a hearing, he preferred to use the threat of suit as leverage to force a settlement.

While my boss, John, was understanding of my difficulties with alcohol, I knew I was running out of chances. It wasn't impending, but I didn't want to risk getting fired. I was trying once again to stay sober. It occurred to me that I could make a lot more money in private practice working on behalf of parents and their children with disabilities. I think I also felt that in the private world the stakes would be much higher; I wouldn't have the security of a state job, so I would be less likely to relapse again. Clearly, I was not thinking clearly.

I think it was around February that I first approached Mark with the idea that I work with him. Mark's practice consists almost entirely of special education cases against the Hawaii DOE. As he told me early in our discussions, the DOE settles about 90% of the cases filed against them. Of those that go to hearing, he wins roughly 50%. The state is required to pay his fee in all cases that he wins or that are settled before the hearing is complete. Working for him, with the prospect of eventually becoming his partner, promised financial rewards and the prestige of finally practicing law (something I had not pursued since passing the Bar four years earlier).

During the years since law school I had stayed with the DOE but moved out of the classroom. Before I was a resource teacher I had been a Student Services Coordinator at a small elementary school. Like Muriel at Ala Wai Elementary, I was a key member of the team that would assess students for eligibility for special education and determine exactly what types of services a child might need. The team, consisting of parents, teachers, administrators, and other professionals, would develop an Individual Education Program (IEP), which would specify the student's strengths and weaknesses, and would specify goals and objectives for the student and the services needed to help the student reach those goals.

In some cases the parents and the schools have different ideas about what the child needs. A parent may believe that their child needs a particular form of therapy or placement in a specific school. The school administrator may disagree (or in some cases agree, but not have the budget to provide the school or the service) and offer the parent an IEP that does not include the therapy or the particular school.

When parents are dissatisfied with the placement or services (or any other aspect of the IEP) offered, they often approach Mark, or another lawyer, who then evaluates the case. If it seems strong enough, a small retainer is paid and a request for due process hearing is filed. It’s the disagreements between the parents and the schools over what should be included in an IEP that keep Mark in business.

Moving up from the school level to the district office gave me a chance to work with principals and other teachers all over the district. I helped schools and parents work together on some of our most contentious cases. I helped teachers to draft legally defensible (and educationally sound) IEPs. I counseled principals on how to protect the rights of their students, while not being bullied by parents, especially those parents who hired advocates or attorneys. I tried to model for teachers and administrators ways to work with difficult personalities and teach them to avoid traps that attorneys and advocates sometimes use to strengthen their case.

One of my responsibilities was to help with those cases where the parents had filed for a due process hearing against the school. In these cases I'd work with school staff and with the Deputy Attorney General assigned to defend the case. My special education background, combined with my legal education made me an ideal liaison between schools and their attorneys. I was able to explain the legal issues to teachers and principals and help our lawyers understand educational practices.

The knowledge and experience I'd gained while working for the DOE (and with their attorneys) would be valuable for a lawyer working on the other side. When I approached Mark with the proposal that I come to work for him, he told me that he had wanted to hire an associate, that he had more work than he could do himself, but that other young attorneys he had hired in the past had not worked out. We met a few times and exchanged emails over the next couple of months. Eventually it was decided that I would complete my current contract year with the DOE and begin working for him on a trial basis starting July 1.