by George Deabold
SchoolWatch Report

School Watch is engaged in a battle with the NY State Education Department to discover the names of staff and administrators that have been identified by the Sachem Central School Teachers' Association as endangering and abusing the districts children. The Office of Counsel, at the NYSED, is refusing to release the names as is required by the Freedom of Information Act.

On May 20, 2008, the Sachem Central School Teachers' Association (SCTA) filed a complaint with the New York State Education Department against administrators in the Sachem Central School District who were violating State and Federal law at the expense of disabled children. The allegations included administrators intimidating licensed and certified staff from fulfilling their legal obligations to children, administrators threatening teaching staff when they advocate for disabled children, administrators predetermining disabled children's placement in violation of the law and without the input of parent, administrators barring teachers from making referrals to special education in violation of the law, administrators refusing to implement children's Individualized Education Plans, and administrators illegally delaying special education placement and services, and discrimination against special education students.

SchoolWatch learned of this 132 page complaint and obtained a copy of the complaint through the Freedom of Information Act. However, the NYSED only provided a redacted copy of the complaint, removing all the names of those perpetrators of the crimes and the names of teachers included in the complaint. In attempting to resolve this issue, SchoolWatch contacted Robert Freeman of NY State's Office of Open Government. Mr. Freeman explained that SchoolWatch was entitled to receive this public document in an un-redacted form.

SchoolWatch immediately filed an appeal of the NYSED's decision not to provide the un-redacted document. That appeal went to the Commissioner of Education, who assigned decision-making to Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Cort. Cort informed SchoolWatch that she was redacting the information based on advise of the Office of Counsel, which is the legal office for the Commissioner of Education. Office of Counsel apparently is answering the appeal that SchoolWatch has filed, but has failed to provide the decision on that appeal within the statutory timeframe. As of the date of this report, their final determination is more than 10 days overdue.

SchoolWatch wants to remind readers that the Office of Counsel has been linked to other NYSED scandals that have recently broken in the press. Larry Reich, the attorney originally identified as receiving salaries from five school districts while at the same time billing those school districts by the hour, and who was found to have been illegally in the State pension program, was an attorney that began his career in the Office of Counsel. Reich's illegal activity and the attention it attracted caused a state-wide scandal when it was learned that over 90 attorneys across NY State were also engaged in this illegal conduct. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office investigated this scam, and many of those attorneys identified have paid huge penalties and forfeited retirement benefits as a result of Cuomo's efforts.

The Office of Counsel is also linked to the State Review Officer Scandal. The Office of State Review is supposed to be an independent office that hears appeals of impartial hearing officer decisions. These cases involve services for special education students. In 2004 an individual named Paul Kelly was named the State Review Officer, and since his appointment it has become nearly impossible for parents to prevail in cases before the Office of State Review. Court have commented on Kelly misrepresenting the facts and the law in his decisions. The Wall Street JournalI identified that Kelly has been given an agenda by the NYSED to protect school districts in his decisions. Kelly is linked directly to the Office of Counsel, where his paramour Kate Surgalla is a senior attorney and reportedly brought him in to the position for this attack on disabled children. Kelly's only apparent qualification for elevation to the State Review Officer was that he was bedding Kate Surgalla.

Kate Surgalla works directly for Kathy Ahern, who is the senior attorney in the Office of Counsel. Kathy Ahern is responsible for the redactions to the documents sought by SchoolWatch. Apparently, the Office of Counsel is engaging in this illegal withholding of information from the public to protect those in Sachem who are abusing disabled children. Why is the New York State Education Department protecting these individuals? Is a former Office of Counsel individual in Sachem? Ingerman & Smith is the law firm that represents Sachem, and that is the firm that Larry Reich was with when it was discovered that he was scamming the taxpayers with the attorney pension scheme.

SchoolWatch will be initiating action in the Supreme Court to secure this information as we believe it vital to the safety of the children in Sachem to identify these perpetrators. We will be seeking information from the New York State Education Department of why they are protecting these perps. Clearly, our SED should be taking action to remove individuals that are purposely violating the law and injuring children with disabilities. We have not identified the motive behind SED's illegal redaction of the documents, but will report on it once it is discovered.

George Deabold is founder of Independent Educational Advocate / SchoolWatch advocate411@optonline.net   schoolwatch4kids@yahoo.com