Massachusetts
Jailed students in Massachusetts sue Department of Elementary and Secondary Education over special ed access
A group of jailed men have sued the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education over special education access for incarcerated students.
The three men between 18 and 22 on Tuesday filed the class-action lawsuit against DESE for reportedly not providing special ed instruction and services in houses of correction — which they’re entitled to under state law.
“DESE’s failure to uphold its legal obligation to provide adequate education to incarcerated youth is unacceptable,” Phil Kassel of the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee said in a statement.
“Every student, regardless of their circumstances, deserves access to a quality education that meets their individual needs,” Kassel added. ““We are committed to fighting for the rights of these vulnerable individuals and holding DESE accountable for its failures.”
The three men are being represented by the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee and the EdLaw Project of the Committee for Public Counsel Services.
In the lawsuit, they’re arguing that DESE has failed to provide special ed services to incarcerated students with disabilities.
Instead of DESE directly providing services, the state department has reportedly delegated much of its responsibility to HOC staff and local school districts.
The plaintiffs are “being denied the full spectrum of instruction and services to which they are entitled under their IEP and/or state law,” reads the lawsuit filed in Middlesex Superior Court.
The three men who brought the suit are: a 21-year-old student incarcerated at the Norfolk County jail who attended Boston Public Schools; a 20-year-old student incarcerated at the Plymouth County HOC who attended Quincy Public Schools; and an 18-year-old student incarcerated at the Essex County jail, whose most recent IEP was developed by the Haverhill School District.
“We are very proud to be representing young people who are in incredibly difficult circumstances and are still fighting to access the education they’re entitled to and build their futures,” said Elizabeth Levitan of the EdLaw Project.
The plaintiffs in the suit are demanding that DESE implement an effective system for identifying and providing special ed services to incarcerated youth — and provide a minimum of 27.5 hours of weekly general curriculum instruction.
DESE did not immediately respond to comment on Tuesday.
We’re still on the good side of the forecast today. We’ll see a good supply of sun to start, then the clouds will increase and a few showers will sink down from the north in the afternoon. We still manage to make it near 70. (Yay.)
Tomorrow’s high temperatures, however, comes after midnight tonight — before falling toward Saturday morning. If you think that’s confusing, try explaining the snow that’ll be flying in the higher elevations across New England (with solid accumulation above 4k feet).
Yes, the weather is upside down for late May.
We can blame an intense, compact upper-level pool of cold air that broke loose from a larger pool near the Arctic Circle days ago.
The pattern across North America has dropped it in our laps for a day, with cold, rainy, windy consequences.
Rain, wind and… snow?
This will be a sneaky storm. Early on, there might even be a calm, bright sky (very) early Saturday morning. Then the clouds move in and the wind intensifies from the northeast. Gust will briefly peak at 50+ along the coast (40+ inland).
Rain will mix with snow in northern New England, and perhaps in the highest elevations of southern New Hampshire and central Massachusetts.
This also depends on the intensity of the precipitation. Heavier bursts of rain can drag down colder air aloft, helping the snowflakes make it from cloud base to your home place (if you live above 1k feet).
Ironically, we’re not expecting a deluge from this storm. Most spots keep near a half inch, with higher amounts near an inch in northeast Mass./southern NH.
And then just like that, it’s over. The storm pulls away Saturday evening, the skies clear and we’re back to sun Sunday. Highs recover to near 70 with the slightest chance for a shower late day.
Better chances – and cooler temps – come both Monday and Tuesday.
Will summer ever take hold? We know from past years that June can really struggle. It appears that the start of the month may not live up to expectations. Although we are at least climbing back to the 80s late next week.
Have a good weekend.
The head of the Massachusetts State Police can’t be sued for an alleged program that secretly recorded officers’ phone conversations with civilians and used them to bring criminal charges, the First Circuit said Thursday.
A group of Massachusetts residents filed a putative class against against Superintendent Geoffrey Noble, as well as Motorola and other companies, over the secret recordings, which were used to propose criminal charges in at least 181 cases without prosecutors’ knowledge, the three judge panel said.
The opinion by Circuit Judge Seth Aframe said the residents, led by Jason Courtemanche, failed to show how they’d be directly …
Massachusetts families are spending 8% of their monthly income on health care, according to a new study. That puts the Bay State toward the higher end of the scale, coming in at No. 12 in the country.
The analysis from personal finance website WalletHub examined where people are spending the most and the least on health care.
Alaska was No. 1 in the U.S., spending over 10% of their income on health care. On the other end of the scale, Utah residents spend 5% of their income on health care.
“Sharp increases in health care costs in recent years have made it difficult for some people to seek essential care,” WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo said. “Even in states with lower-than-average health care prices, residents’ incomes may not be enough to keep up with the cost, especially since virtually every part of Americans’ budgets have been impacted by inflation over the past few years.”
To determine how much families are spending, WalletHub analyzed the prices of five key health care components across all 50 states, then combined those costs and compared them with each state’s median household income.
Read more: 1 MA Town Among 250 Best Places To Live In US News Ranking
Massachusetts spends the most on health care compared to other states in the region, according to the study. Vermont is the next-highest state in the Northeast, ranking at No. 14 with residents spending 7.98% of their income on health care.
Here are the top 10 states where people are spending the most on health care:
- Alaska
- Oregon
- Maine
- Mississippi
- West Virginia
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- Montana
- South Dakota
- Louisiana
Check out the full study at WalletHub.
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