A Norfolk County Superior Court judge rebukes a Cohasset couple who battled their son’s teachers and administrators in court trying to pull the boy from special education

By JENNIFER MANN
The Patriot Ledger

COHASSET - A Norfolk County Superior Court judge has rebuked the Cohasset couple who battled their son’s teachers and administrators in court in an effort to pull the boy from special education.

Judge Patrick F. Brady ruled in mid-December that Cohasset public schools can keep the 13-year-old boy in special education against the wishes of his parents. In a follow-up to that decision, Brady took aim at the couple:

“The parents stubbornly insist that they know what is best for their child; and they have a right to withdraw their child from a special education program if they wish,” he wrote. “This is not the law.”

The Cohasset schools argued, and the judge ruled, that to satisfy both state and federal law, Peggy and Kevin Lewises’ son needed extra services, including one-on-one aides and time outside regular classes.

The Lewises argued in the two-day trial that the extra attention was hurting rather than helping their son.

Peggy Lewis, a secretary at Cohasset Middle School-High School, which her son attends, accused the director of student services of leading “a witch hunt” to keep the boy in special education.

“None of the witnesses who testified gave me the slightest reason to believe that the teachers and administrators were doing anything other than carrying out their responsibilities to the child to their best of their ability, and that they have the child’s best interest at heart,” Brady wrote in his Dec. 21 ruling.

“Unfortunately, the use by the parents of such intemperate, baseless, inflammatory, hurtful accusation, in court and to the press, does nothing but polarize the situation and harm the child’s prospects for continued progress in his eighth-grade year.”

Mary Ellen Sowyrda, a special-education lawyer for the school district, called the decision “a victory for the student.”

“We’re pleased the judge recognizes that the case is about the rights of the child ... and the obligation of the district to ensure that the child receives appropriate services,” she said. “Obviously, it speaks for itself in terms of the reprimand that the judge gave the parents.”

Peggy Lewis said the ruling only furthers her belief that she and her husband did not get a fair shot in the trial. They represented themselves after dismissing their attorney for financial reasons.

“I think (the judge’s) decision was made going in there,” she said. “He is very nasty in this ruling, and I think he should be ashamed of himself for treating parents, who are fighting for something that is in their rights as parents, as rudely as he did.”

The case garnered attention inside and outside the special-education field because of its unusual nature - in most special-education battles, parents fight the district for more services, not less.

The Lewises, who after the trial said they were contemplating an appeal, are now changing track since their son has only six months left at the middle school before he heads to a private high school.

Peggy Lewis said she and her husband are talking with a constitutional lawyer about pursuing changes to special-education law.

“I know it won’t benefit (him), and that’s fine. At this point (he) needs to be in school and out of the limelight,” she said. “But the law has to change. Parents have to be able to make the choices about their children.”

Jennifer Mann may be reached at jmann@ledger.com.