The lawsuit alleges that MICDS knew our client, a minor student, had disabilities that affected her school experience. Rather than provide effective support, the lawsuit claims MICDS became increasingly punitive toward disability-related conduct and ultimately used a disciplinary incident as a basis to remove her from the school.

According to the complaint, our client was academically successful at MICDS and had received strong grades and honors. The complaint alleges, however, that she also experienced disability-related challenges at school, and that her parents repeatedly advocated for appropriate support.

The lawsuit further alleges that when our client became upset after learning that another student had bullied her friend, MICDS moved quickly toward expulsion and gave her parents less than 24 hours to withdraw her or face expulsion. The complaint alleges MICDS had already decided to remove her without a meaningful investigation.

The lawsuit also alleges that MICDS treated our client more harshly than non-disabled students who had engaged in more serious conduct, including physical altercations and threatening behavior, but were not expelled or similarly disciplined. The complaint further alleges that students involved in bullying were not meaningfully disciplined.

This case is ongoing. For more information, contact attorney Susannah “Susie” Lake at susie@kennedyhuntlaw.com. If you or someone you know has been a victim of discrimination, our skilled attorneys at Kennedy Hunt, P.C. may be able to help you. Fill out a questionnaire so we can understand your claim. 

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The report lays out the role of the dispute resolution system and due process available under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and comes at a time when certain rights and funding for students with disabilities are in jeopardy. 

The new report provides parents, caregivers, and students with a guide for how they can use the dispute resolution system and file for due process under current law. 

Due process can be used to resolve disputes between parents and caregivers and school districts as it relates to a child’s right to a Free Appropriate Public Education. Examples can include requesting a due process hearing for denied services or mediation to settle Individualized Education Program disputes. 

COPAA argues that recent inaccurate portrayals of due process suggest it is a system “spiraling into chaos – one in which families of children with disabilities frequently file for hearings, where due process is always lengthy and adversarial, and where the process rarely leads to meaningful change…” 

But, as COPAA points out, due process hearings are actually the backbone of protecting the rights of students with disabilities and must be preserved.

The COPAA report highlights that, while incredibly rare, due process serves as a “critical safeguard when disagreements arise between families and schools, but is not available to all families, especially for those with limited financial resources, whose first language is not English, and for those living in rural areas.”   

The COPAA report also lays out proposals that not only “maintain and advance student and parent protections under IDEA and other statutes” but also provide more IEP trainings for educators and create a cost-free dispute resolution option for families. 

The attorneys at Kennedy Hunt P.C. are experts in education law and champions for students and families. Our attorneys exclusively represent students and have filed many cases against school districts over alleged civil rights violations.  Read more about the education law cases we take on here. If you or someone you know has been a victim of discrimination, the skilled attorneys at Kennedy Hunt, P.C. can help. Fill out a questionnaire so we can understand your claim.   

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The shortage can severely impact students with disabilities, who may have reduced access to speech-language therapy, or no access at all, even if their Individualized Education Plan (IEP) requires it. This can cause delayed or missed therapies, thus hindering developmental milestones in communication, social skills, and academics. 

Missed interventions mean slower progress in speech, language, social skills, and cognitive growth, especially for children with autism, learning disabilities, and communication disorders. With needs going unmet, children are at academic and social risk. 

The bottom line is that the shortage threatens children’s potential to thrive in school and life. If you or your child’s needs are going unmet, the skilled attorneys at Kennedy Hunt P.C. may be able to help. Our firm exclusively represents the students in disability discrimination cases. The Education law cases brought by our office ensure children receive the education they are entitled to under state and federal laws. Our attorneys represent families throughout Illinois and Missouri who are accusing school districts of disability discrimination and not meeting their children’s needs as required by law.  

If you or someone you know has had their rights violated, the skilled attorneys at Kennedy Hunt, P.C. may be able to help you. Fill out a questionnaire so we can understand your claim. 

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The White House had previously threatened to withhold billions of dollars in funding for education in states that refused to sign a pledge to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in their schools or colleges. 

In August, Judge Stephanie Gallagher of the Federal District Court in Maryland halted the White House’s efforts, writing in a ruling that the administration had “initiated a sea change in how the Department of Education regulates educational practices and classroom conduct, causing millions of educators to reasonably fear that their lawful, and even beneficial, speech might cause them or their schools to be punished.”

At the time, the government appealed the judge’s decision. But now, the White House has withdrawn its case.

The president of the American Federation of Teachers wrote in a statement, “In this case, with the stroke of a pen, the administration tried to take a hatchet to 60 years of civil rights laws that were meant to create educational opportunity for all kids. They attempted to rewrite and redefine opportunity to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion, and threatened schools and districts with penalties if they failed to comply.” 

This one victory for civil rights protections in schools and colleges comes as the Trump administration is also pursuing many other avenues to upend diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Many of those efforts are being challenged in courts across the country. 

The attorneys at Kennedy Hunt PC are champions for students and experts in education law. 

You can read a select number of education law cases we take on here. If your education rights have been violated, we can help. Please complete a questionnaire so we can understand your claim. 

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According to the lawsuit, our client’s mother enrolled her daughter in the McLean County Unit School District in January 2024. She alleges that she worked with the school district to ensure the school would be a supportive environment for her transgender child. 

The lawsuit states that in January 2024, our client formally signed a document to amend her gender identity, name, and pronouns at a meeting with the school district. According to the lawsuit, the school district assured our client that her gender marker, name, and pronouns would be updated across all district records before her first day of school. 

The next day, according to the lawsuit, our client went to her first day of school and found that her gender marker, name, and pronouns were not updated across all district records as promised. The lawsuit claims that the school district assigned our client a student e-mail address that included her former name (“dead name”).

The lawsuit also alleges that on her first day: 

[Our client’s] teacher asked [her] for her e-mail address so he could add her to his Google Classroom. [Our client], though embarrassed, provided her school-issued e-mail address. [Our client’s] teacher then asked [our client], “Who is [dead name]?” in front of the class. Before class ended, one student told another, “Watch me bully them until they transfer.” After being dead-named in the presence of other students, [Our client’s] classmates started harassing her because of her sex and gender identity. The bullying included verbal harassment, derogatory comments about her gender identity, deliberate misgendering, social exclusion, and threats of physical harm.

According to the lawsuit, although the school district assured our client that her previous gender information would stay private, our client’s teachers repeatedly questioned her and other District staff about our client’s gender identity. 

The lawsuit alleges that our client’s mother then complained to the school district’s Director of Equity and Inclusion about the bullying, threats, and dead-naming incident. The director told our client’s mother that she’d “look into it.” Our client’s mother was allegedly later told by school district leaders, “Middle school girls are mean.” 

Our client’s mother then allegedly learned about a TikTok account in which her daughter’s classmates allegedly used the account to threaten and bully her. The lawsuit states that our client’s mother emailed the school district a screenshot of the TikTok account, but the district allegedly did not take any meaningful action. 

According to the lawsuit, our client’s mother repeatedly told the school district about instances in which our client’s classmates threatened our client. Our client’s mother and her partner then told the school district that our client was afraid to leave her home, ride the school bus, or attend school due to the escalating harassment. But, according to the lawsuit, the district did not take any meaningful action. 

The lawsuit continues:

On March 7, 2024, [our client] was attacked at school by another student (“Student R”). Student R approached [our client] from behind, pulled her hair, and forcefully and repeatedly slammed her head to the ground until [she] lost consciousness. Student R then punched [our client] in the face until someone pulled her off. After this attack, no one, including [school district’s] teachers or staff, helped [our client] or inquired about her well-being. Later, after [our client] began to have trouble seeing, she went to the nurse’s office, where the nurse and [the school’s principal] called [our client’s mother] and informed her that [our client] had been involved in “a fight” and had “hit” her head. [Our client’s mother] did not understand that [our client] had been attacked, rather than involved in a mutual fight, and that [our client’s] head had been forcibly slammed into the ground, rather than merely “hit” – until she requested and reviewed the video footage of the incident.

According to the lawsuit, our client was later diagnosed with a concussion, a potential traumatic brain injury (TBI), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The lawsuit alleges the trauma has left our client feeling unsafe, severely disrupting her education and overall well-being. 

The lawsuit states that she left traditional school and enrolled in homebound services from April 2024 to October 2025. 

According to the lawsuit:

Prior to the attack and harassment, [our client] had been enrolled in gifted programming since kindergarten and consistently tested in the top one percent of students nationally for her age. As a result of the concussion, potential traumatic brain injury, and PTSD caused by [the school district’s] conduct, [our client] now struggles with academic tasks that were previously well within her abilities. 

The lawsuit alleges that our client has suffered economic damage, pain and suffering, inconvenience, emotional distress, and impairment of her quality of life. According to the lawsuit, the school district’s actions and failures to act show a deliberate indifference and/or malice toward our client’s rights.

This case is ongoing. 

For more information, contact attorney Sarah Jane Hunt at sarahjane@kennedyhuntlaw.com. If you or someone you know has been a victim of discrimination, our skilled attorneys at Kennedy Hunt, P.C. may be able to help you. Fill out a questionnaire so we can understand your claim. 

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