HOUSTON – With a legal battle against the family of a special needs student deep in its third year it was assumed the Alief School Board was fully informed.
It appears the reality is the exact opposite.
Today Alief Trustee Nghat T. Ho told Fox 26 News not a single member of the board had a clue that the District has been bankrolling a potentially landmark Federal Lawsuit since 2007.
“I had no idea about this lawsuit against this family. The entire board had no idea. This is something the superintendent did on his own,” said Ho. “I am very upset. This is really disturbing. It is not acceptable to me. We are going to get to the bottom of this. I and a lot of citizens are upset about the legal expenses.”
The case centers around an autistic student named Chuka Chibuogwu. Chuka’s parents battled Alief ISD because they believed the district wasn’t giving their son the education he was legally entitled. The dispute was contentious and Chuka’s parents ultimately gave up and pulled their son out of school.
Instead of letting the case die, Alief and it’s lawyers went to Federal Court and sued the family for legal fees recently estimated to be more than $200,000. Earlier this year a U.S. District Judge ruled against the District saying it had no legal right to collect from the Chibuogwus.
The defeat didn’t stop Alief. The District invested even more taxpayer dollars in an appeal to the Federal 5th Circuit.
Alief critics have called the lawsuit both retaliatory and mean spirited. Others suggest the District is seeking to set a legal precedent in an effort to gain leverage over parents who advocate for their children. After weeks of refusing to tell its side of the story, Alief broke its silence with a written statement.
“AISD is very concerned with the allegations being made. This is a very unique and isolated case. Actions taken by the family contributed to the expense of this litigation and our efforts in this case are only to recoup taxpayer dollars.”
Advocates for the Chibuogwus say the family has no money to pay. That means even if the District wins the appeal it will have spent more than $200,000 tax dollars to collect nothing and will have bankrupted the parents of a disabled child in the process.
A District spokeswoman says Alief Superintendent Louis Stoerner is retiring next month. Stoerner was sanctioned earlier this year by the Texas Ethics Commission for inappropriately spending school district funds to support passage of an ad valorem tax rate increase in 2008.
The spokeswoman says the impending retirement is unrelated to the sanction.In the meantime, Ho says he and other trustees will be demanding answers at the next scheduled board meeting.
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