June 14, 2021

Barr Foundation donates $150K to help Springfield, Holyoke special-needs students

BY Patrick JohnsonMassLive

Community Legal Aid has been selected to receive a $150,000 grant from the Barr Foundation of Boston that will allow its Hampden County Educational Law Project to provide legal assistance on education issues to students and their parents in the Holyoke and Springfield public schools.

Corrine P. Ryan, Community Legal Aid’s managing attorney for Springfield, said the grant will allow the agency to hire an additional staff attorney to help students and their families fight for learning-support services and programs they need to remain in school.

“At our current capacity, we are forced to turn away some of the applicants who need our legal assistance. Money from the Barr Foundation will enable us to expand our services and help additional students and families,” she said.

The money, distributed over three years, will mean the law project will be able to help an additional 100 students.

Ryan said parents often contact the Educational Law Project because they are having trouble negotiating their way through school bureaucracy to get their child assistance.

Some parents call because their child is either failing or falling behind, and has not been identified as having a disability that would require an individualized education program, or IEP. Others say their child is receiving specialized education but it is inadequate to the child’s needs,

Also, parents call because their child has been disciplined for misconduct that they feel is related to an undiagnosed disability, she said.

“We also receive calls from parents who are not receiving school notices or records in their primary language and therefore do not understand the services their child is receiving, parents who are having difficulty enrolling their student because they are homeless and lack proper documentation, for instance), and parents who simply do not know their rights,” she said.

The Educational Law Project focuses on Holyoke and Springfield because students there experience suspension and dropout rates at double the state averages.

As they assist individual students to enforce their legal rights, the Project’s attorneys will seek improved communication between schools and families to better support students.

In addition, Project staff will hold at least two training sessions per year to help parents, students, and staff at local social services agencies learn about the rights of students to a public education.

If a young person between the ages of 3 and 22 is experiencing any difficulties related to their education and would like to apply for help, please call Community Legal Aid’s intake line at 855-CLA-LEGAL (855-252-5342) or apply online at https://communitylegal.org/get-help/.

Community Legal Aid has been providing assistance to low-income students with education-related legal needs in Hampden County since 2017.

The Boston-based Barr Foundation works with regional nonprofits and foundations to elevate the arts, promote solutions for climate change, and promote academic success for high school students.