June 2005 – Case opened
January 2006 – Settlement agreement reached
Case closed

Clinic students Bridget Kerlin (‘06) and Ruth Barnes (‘07) opened the doors of F.P.’s public high school, after months of failed negotiations between the parent and the school. At that time, F.P. was a 16-year-old with Tourette’s syndrome who had been excluded from public high school for over a year because of his socially challenging and often misunderstood disability. Through formal mediation of a complaint filed with the Office of Administrative Hearings, YELP affirmed F.P.’s right under federal and state law to be educated with his non-disabled peers. Following the settlement, F.P. attended his preferred public high school and, to the delight of the family, himself and the clinic, graduated in spring 2006.