Levine Associates
We have decades of experience in special education advocacy. We are committed to seeing that every student gets an appropriate education, regardless of your child’s strengths and weaknesses.
We represent parents of disabled students in any special education law matter. Whether your child is having a challenging time at school and you believe he or she may require special treatment or your child has an individual education plan (IEP) or section 504 plan that you feel is insufficient or has not been implemented, we can help. Our lawyers have the experience, ability and insight to help you get what is right for your child.
We will take the time to learn about your child. We will educate you about the options available. Our goal is to empower you with information. We will not only stand by your side, but also give you the tools you need to see that your child gets appropriate treatment as he or she makes their way through the education system.
Why Levine Associates Should Be Sitting With You At Your Next IEP Meeting.
Experience Is The Answer
Dr. Levine Knows How to Get Children the Education to Which They're Entitled.
Principal ( 20 years) NJ Public Schools.
Assistant Superintendent, Special Education
Certified Reading Specialist(NJ)
Orton Gillingham Master Teacher
DUE PROCESS
I work hand in hand with attorneys whose area of practice is special education law Our attorneys are experienced special education litigators. They have a very successful track
record prevailing in due process cases at both the administrative and
federal levels, and also have been successful in achieving favorable
settlements where it is feasible and appropriate to do so.
Will I need to go to a Due Process Hearing?
A.
That depends.
I always try to resolve problems with the school district.
But sometimes, there is no other way. After I have reviewed your child's records and have represented you at meetings such as eligibility, classification, IEP meeting etc. we will be able to discuss your legal options and make recommendations, including due process, if indicated.
Ex-principal: 'Never really told the truth' to special ed parents
Ex-principal: I lied to parents of special-needs kids
Sha’Quan Peace-Doldren, 12, who is blind and nearly deaf, walks with his sister Qua’Aisha Doldren, 17. The Asbury Park Press has learned that Sha’Quan was one of the children who former Lakewood principal Sheldon T. Boxer and the district kept in public school instead of sending to a specialized school.Saying he feels “ashamed and embarrassed,” a former Lakewood principal admitted he lied to the parents of disabled children because he was afraid he’d lose his job if he didn’t keep a lid on special-education expenditures.
“This is not a proud moment,” said Sheldon T. Boxer, who retired in June 2011 after serving 20 years as principal of Oak Street Elementary School. “I don’t absolve myself. I chose the easy way out … surviving, like everybody else does in Lakewood, for fear of retribution.”
Sha’Quan Peace-Doldren was one child who was failed by the Lakewood School District, his parents claim. Sha’Quan, now 12, is blind, nearly deaf and has developmental delays that limits his speech to a few garbled words. The Asbury Park Press has learned that Sha’Quan was one of the children Boxer and the district kept in public school instead of sending to a specialized school. Sha’Quan, who now lives in a different district, is attending a school for handicapped children in Jackson.
Boxer said he and others involved in crafting students’ individualized education plans, or IEPs, were afraid to run afoul of Michael I. Inzelbuch, Lakewood’s longtime school board attorney who is also employed as the district’s nonpublic special-education coordinator at a salary of $122,655 per year.
“His job was to save the district money,” Boxer said.
Boxer said Inzelbuch, who was replaced as board attorney last week, was an “intimidating” figure at IEP meetings who often “mistreated” and “humiliated” those who disagreed with him.
“Eventually, you didn’t talk at those meetings unless you were asked to talk, and you never really told the truth anymore, and then a lot of kids didn’t get the services that they needed,” Boxer said.
“It’s not that he ever said out of his mouth, ‘Don’t spend money.’ This is a lawyer. This is a shrewd man,” Boxer said of Inzelbuch.
“But word filtered down,” he said. “Everything was geared to that thing that you knew: Limit the services, just do the minimum you had to for the kids, don’t give them everything they need, whether it was a personal aide, out-of-district placement, special medical stuff.
Read the rest of the story Under the heading of "Anger Management" a local school district just emailed the following lesson overview.
which is excerpted below:
Most adults would find this lesson challenging and more than a little off-putting.
I am thinking of using this paragraph above, however, as a script at the next IEP when my advocacy gets the special education director's nostrils flaring.
"Now remember, that raising your voice at me did not help the last time we met and you got mad at me. You made really damaging admissions that we used against you at hearing and your attorney got mad at you too. When you went home that night how did that make your body feel." If this part of the script worked, I would go on to say "OK now that you are calm, you can readily see that no matter how much you scream and holler and bluster, this student is not literate at all and he/she is in high school. You see confession is not just good for the soul, your body feels better too." Next time, we will use a hypothetical like controlling your anger when "the teacher tells the truth when he/she has been expressely been told to lie." My body feels better just thinking about it.
I am thinking of using this paragraph above, however, as a script at the next IEP when my advocacy gets the special education director's nostrils flaring.
"Now remember, that raising your voice at me did not help the last time we met and you got mad at me. You made really damaging admissions that we used against you at hearing and your attorney got mad at you too. When you went home that night how did that make your body feel." If this part of the script worked, I would go on to say "OK now that you are calm, you can readily see that no matter how much you scream and holler and bluster, this student is not literate at all and he/she is in high school. You see confession is not just good for the soul, your body feels better too." Next time, we will use a hypothetical like controlling your anger when "the teacher tells the truth when he/she has been expressely been told to lie." My body feels better just thinking about it.