When public schools in Michigan were shuttered in March 2020 by the global pandemic, Rochester Hills parent Stephanie Onyx recalled the advice her son’s teacher gave her as she prepared to educate her two children, both of whom have multiple disabilities, at home by herself.

“His teacher met me and gave me a box of supplies and said here are some things that may help. And good luck,” Onyx said. The box contained laminated pictures as well as large plastic coins and dollar bills for a lesson on finance.

What Onyx needed for her two children, Drew and Alexa, who were 14 and 8 at the time, were their federally mandated special education services and assistive devices at home, including a “stander” for her son and a special chair for her daughter. She said she did not get them from her district, Troy Public Schools, for the remainder of the 2020 school year or the beginning of the 2020-21 school year.

“Both children have a one-on-one aide in the school environment and now we were doing this virtually,” Onyx said. “My son has visual impairments, and learning on a screen is not conducive. They both have aides and occupational and speech and physical therapy during the school day. I am not qualified to do any of those, but I was expected to.”

The stander, adaptive equipment that places a person in an upright position, was needed to aid her son with his health and stamina during the school day.

“I didn’t have access to any of that equipment. I asked and I was denied. … They just denied; no explanation,” Onyx said.

Oakland County special education advocate Marcie Lipsitt said she had been hearing hundreds of stories from parents with similar complaints, so on March 11, 2021, she filed a complaint with the federal Office for Civil Rights alleging the Michigan Department of Education had violated federal special education laws during the pandemic shutdown.

Lipsitt said it took the federal office 14 months to open her complaint and about two years to investigate it. The investigation determined many Michigan students with disabilities were not provided legally mandated educational services during the COVID pandemic by their local school districts. Students with a so-called 504 plan, a written document created for students with disabilities who require accommodations to be successful in the classroom, are entitled to those services under federal education laws.

As a result, the federal government plans to hold its first-ever administrative hearing with the Michigan Department of Education because it says state officials are failing to comply with federal laws for special needs students. State education officials are disputing whether federal officials have the jurisdiction to hold the hearing.

Michigan has 207,000 students with special education plans. Lipsitt said she filed the complaint on behalf of every single student ages 3-26 in Michigan with a disability.

What federal probe found

Specifically, the federal investigation found the Michigan Department of Education failed to ensure that students who were eligible for special education services got them during the pandemic, which denied their rights to a free and appropriate public education.

The investigation also found many Michigan students with disabilities went without the academic instruction and services required under federal education laws, as part of their 504 Plan or Individualized Education Plan (IEP), and some for “prolonged periods of time.”

The Office for Civil Rights also found the state education department did not inform school districts about what services they were obligated to provide during that time or what make-up services students were entitled to, according the complaint.

Multiple parents of Michigan students with disabilities directly contacted the state to report that their children were being denied services they needed and to which they were entitled, and to seek guidance and intervention, according to federal civil rights officials.

“For example, one parent told (the Michigan Department of Education) by email that their child’s school district was ‘not able to provide any speech services other than emailed handouts’ during the spring of 2020 and ‘offer[ed] nothing over the summer so that kids with IEPs will not obtain specialized help for about 6 months,’” the complaint said.

“Another parent emailed MDE to report that their daughter’s school was ‘saying they are unable to accommodate her IEP if she is in virtual learning,’ that she received no one-on-one time with her special education teacher, and that ‘[t]his is all against what she has in her IEP and the school is saying they can’t accommodate the IEP.’”

The federal Office for Civil Rights announced in May it is taking the state education department to an administrative hearing, the first of its kind in 27 years of the federal department’s history, because Michigan education officials refuse to come into compliance with the law and have failed to comply on its own, according to documents in the case. No date in the matter has been set for the hearing.

Michigan education department officials are asking an administrative judge to throw out the complaint. In a response filed in July, the department’s lawyers contended the federal civil rights office lacked jurisdiction in the matter and that the federal office “improperly” sought to hold the state accountable for actions by local school districts.

Education Department spokesman Bob Wheaton said last week the department will continue to respond to the Office of Civil Rights through the appropriate legal channels.

“The Michigan Department of Education is strongly committed to providing equal access to educational opportunities to all students in Michigan — including students with disabilities,” Wheaton said in an email to The News.

Compensatory services sought

Federal civil rights officials said the state could provide remedial action in the case by offering compensatory services, which are services required to remedy any educational or other deficits that result from a student with a disability not receiving the evaluations or services to which they were entitled under federal law. Compensatory services are sometimes referred to as compensatory education.

Troy school district spokeswoman Kendra Montante said the district followed the guidelines and recommendations provided by the county and the state for special education services during the pandemic. Contingency Learning Plans were developed for students with IEPs with parental input, she said.

“The CLP specified how the student would receive instruction in order to meet their IEP goals during the closure. All service providers … and special education program teachers provided students with IEPs with direct instruction and/or consultation to provide for progress in IEP goals and/or support in the general education environment,” Montante said.

Onyx filed a complaint against the district and the issue was later mediated. She received equipment and additional services from the district to make up for lost therapies for the last two years.

“I feel like we lost two years of potential progression,” Onyx said of her children. “I would try to work with (my son). He would scream or pretend to be sleeping or disengaged. My daughter would roam and do anything not to be on Zoom. She became very depressed. She would curl up into a ball. They regressed for sure in their skills, both of them.”

Onyx’s son is now 19 and her daughter is 13, and they both continue to receive special education services from the school district. She said all special education children still need more help recovering from the lost learning during the pandemic.

“I feel all the kids should get some compensatory services,” Onyx said. “I want (the Michigan Department of Education) to admit they were at fault and pay consequences for denying all the services they needed. Offer tutoring. We need, they need, extra supports to get them where they should be if they have not lost those two years.”

In an Aug. 9 filing, federal civil rights investigators said the state’s arguments in its legal findings “reflect fundamental misunderstandings about the scope of Section 504, which raise further compliance concerns.”

Lipsitt said she has been working on behalf of families like Onyx’s for decades. She is awaiting word on next steps for a hearing date and location. According to the federal government, students with disabilities are entitled to “remedial action as is necessary to overcome the effects of any violations” of federal education law.

“The outcome could be (the state) will lose federal money. Outside of that, they would be ordered to give compensatory education to all students. One of the two things will happen,” Lipsitt said.

In August, State Board of Education member Nikki Snyder asked state Superintendent Michael Rice to have his staff present information about the complaint at the Sept. 10 state board meeting and asked Rice to have the department come into compliance with federal requirements.

Wheaton said the matter was discussed at the State Board of Education meeting “to the extent that we could discuss it.” At the September board meeting, Rice said the board was provided a full explanation of its legal position on the matter on Aug. 30.

Snyder, a Republican from Dexter, accused the state education department of “playing games” with the compensatory services the state was paid for but didn’t provide during and after COVID. Democrats have controlled the State Board of Education that monitors the Michigan Department of Education for many years.

“The federal government is looking at Michigan’s education establishment and saying: Get it together,” Snyder said. “Every other state has come into compliance. It is shocking that our education leaders think they are exempt from admitting a need to come into compliance after having taken the dollars to provide services they didn’t.”