School Officials May Face Contempt But Blame Politicians

All Headline News (Baltimore, MD): [Recent development from a story originally appearing on August 14, 2005 posting and featured in Podcast #2]: A federal judge says Baltimore city school officials could face penalties for contempt if they continue failing to provide special education services. According to the court order given by U. S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis, about 9,000 students were supposed to receive such services as speech therapy and counseling last school year, but an effort to make up the work during the summer helped only 300. Judge Garbis is presiding over a 1984 lawsuit that alleges the city and state have failed to adequately educate students with disabilities as mandated by federal law. Baltimore Governor Robert Ehrlich said he is outraged at the mounting legal fees over the lawsuit. However, school board chairman Brian Morris said politicians were "grandstanding" over the issue saying, "We're not going to run this school system based on some politicians' polling data."