KATU News aired the fourth part of its story on high school Student, Sequoia Chavez, and her Mother, Kelly Gutierrez’s, fight for Sequoia’s education. KATU News reports that the Lincoln County School District is currently on the hook for over $632,000 in legal fees. Those legal fees are only expected to increase, as the District has filed a lawsuit against…
In the Summer 2022 issue of SpectrumLife Magazine, Diane Wiscarson and Carly Cannon walk families through the process of statewide assessments and college entrance exams. The article discusses whether or not students have to participate in statewide assessments to graduate and what alternatives to statewide assessments are available in Oregon and Washington. Additionally, the article goes through how to arrange accommodations…
In the Spring 2022 issue of SpectrumLife Magazine, Diane Wiscarson and Taylar Lewis explain what obligations school districts have to students – even when they lack staff to provide services to students. The article offers a series of suggestions that parents can follow to obtain make-up services for students who were denied services as a result of the unavailability of staff.…
In the third part of its Project Education story, KATU News reports on additional information regarding Lincoln County School District’s separate school proposal to serve student Sequoia Chavez, who has Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) and her needs for a total-food secure environment. The report discusses the specific building proposed for the District’s “public separate school”, which was formerly Arcadia School in…
KATU News aired the second part of its story on student, Sequoia Chavez, and her mother, Kelly Gutierrez, regarding their ongoing legal process with the Lincoln County School District. To recap, the Lincoln City School District has been ordered by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to place Sequoia at a private placement that specializes in serving students with her…
On May 18th, 2022, KATU News aired its first of a three-part story about a mother and her daughter’s legal battle with the Lincoln County School District for a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). Sequoia Chavez is a high schooler with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS), which results in her having a constant sensation of insatiable hunger. Seeing, smelling, or even speaking…
In the Winter 2021 issue of SpectrumLife Magazine, Karen Krejcha wrote a feature article presenting Diane Wiscarson and Wiscarson Law’s story as a tribute to the articles the law firm has written and the impact the law firm has had on students with disabilities over the years. The article discusses why Diane Wiscarson started Wiscarson Law and what pressing issues…
In the Winter 2021 issue of SpectrumLife Magazine, Diane Wiscarson and Carly Cannon explain what parents and students should expect when accessing accommodations in college or university classroom settings. The article discusses what steps parents and students should take to arrange accommodations before students start their classes, as well as what accommodations are available in college and university classroom settings. …
Wiscarson Law filed a complaint with the Oregon Department of Education in August 2021 against Portland Public Schools (PPS) for failing to provide Student records in a timely manner as required by the Oregon Administrative Rules. ODE conducted an investigation and agreed that PPS did not provide the requested records, as required. PPS had not provided the records until 112…
Wiscarson Law prevailed in a complaint against Portland Pubic Schools (District), which was filed with the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) in August 2021. The complaint noted that the District failed to allow Parents the opportunity to participate in deciding whether or not to evaluate Student, and subsequently, failed to evaluate Student. As a result, ODE concluded that the District…