In her March 2 letter, Judy Hannigan, president, Learning Disabilities Association of Illinois, wrote that the Corey H. lawsuit is a “suit nicknamed for a Chicago child whose family fought his placement in a special-education classroom.” “Corey H.” is not a pseudonym and is certainly not a nickname. “Corey” is the real first name and “H” is the first initial of the real last name of a real person. Corey’s mother did not fight his placement in a special-education classroom. Rather, she fought to obtain a special-education classroom for her son, a self-contained classroom for youngsters with severe communication disorders.
At the time, such a classroom was available in the Chicago Public Schools for children through the age of 11. Corey was enrolled in that classroom at Agassiz School. When Corey turned 12 he was no longer eligible to continue in this class because of his age. There was no self-contained, special-education classroom in the Chicago Public Schools at that time for children 12 and older with communication disorders. As a result, in the early 1990s Corey received tuition reimbursement to attend a communication development classroom through South Metropolitan Association (SMA). Corey traveled from his home on the Northwest Side of Chicago to the far south suburbs–more than an hour each way. He was usually the only child on that bus.
Corey H. versus the Chicago Board of Education is a class-action lawsuit. One of the reasons it was filed is because the special-education needs of Corey and other Chicago students like him were not being met by the Chicago Board of Education either in the least-restrictive or more-restrictive environments.
How do I know all of this? I first met Corey in the mid-1980s, when he was 6 years old and I was his speech-language pathologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center. I became an advocate for Corey and his mother.
It deeply troubles me that the name “Corey H.” has become a pariah for many special-education teachers. He suffered through an educational system that failed him. His mother and I had hoped that the class-action lawsuit that bears his name would result in equity, justice and an appropriate education for all students challenged with disabilities in the Chicago Public Schools. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guarantees Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), and that the first placement option is the child’s neighborhood school and general education classroom, with appropriate supplementary aids and services to support such placement.
It is too late for Corey, now a young adult, to receive such an education. He was victimized by the educational system when he was in it. Let’s not continue to victimize him by using his name in vain.
