A Circle Of Injustice

To the Editor:

The article in this link, www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/opinion/nyregionopinions/01CTmeyer.html?_r=1, helps explain the situation that helps perpetuate the condition for possible corruption in the State of Connecticut.

It seems those of us concerned about the alleged rigged system in the educational cases in Connecticut (all types of hearings, including transportation, disciplinary, 504 and special ed) may need to skip Connecticut altogether and go to the Federal Courts for justice, since Connecticut’s system creates a trap for any chance at justice.

The author of the article above has, since 2008, served on the State of Connecticut Judicial Ethics Committee. Perhaps he can shed some more light on what we citizens can do to protect our children from such a vicious circle of injustice.

Hearing officers chosen by the CT BOEs by suggestion, perhaps, by the district’s attorneys, for the way they will side with the school district’s attorneys seems to be the pattern emerging to me now, but for many Connecticut families, this pattern has already negatively affected the lives of their children for years and their fair access to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE).

We will need to change the subpoena power, as Mr Meyer points out in his article, but until that happens, the Connecticut legal process is a big waste of time. Children aren’t children long enough to see justice for themselves in this state. If anyone has any (expeditious) guidance for me in this regard, please e-mail me what we can do next to get the subpoena power in this once great state. Policy, at present time, sides with the Boards of Education, not the children.

Most sadly and sincerely,

Susan McGuinness Getzinger

31 Little Brook Lane, Newtown                                                                      January 12, 2011