Access to Justice: Do Parents of Children with Disabilities Have Access to Full and Fair Hearings?

MA Appleseed is partnering with the Boston office of McDermott, Will & Emery to research why school districts prevail in the great majority of decisions reached by the Massachusetts Bureau of Special Education Appeals (BSEA). The goal of the project is to study BSEA decisions in order to determine the legal issues and/or key factors that allowed the prevailing party to win, and also those legal issues and/or key factors that caused the losing party to lose. Depending on the outcome of the study, MA Appleseed and McDermott, Will & Emery, will undertake whatever advocacy steps are deemed necessary to ensure equal access to justice.