The federal government is investigating alleged discrimination by Albuquerque Public Schools against a student with a disability.

The claim involves Michael Bruening, a 16-year-old autistic student who last saw an APS classroom in May 2015, according to his mother, Laura Gutierrez. The school district placed Bruening on homebound instruction, or education at home, but according to Gutierrez hasn’t done enough to support his educational development.

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“Generally speaking, it’s not common,” Bill Koski, an attorney and director of the Youth and Education Law Project at Stanford Law School, told NM Political Report in an interview. “It’s not that usual for OCR to get directly involved in investigating a claim.”

Part of this, Koski emphasized, is because parents of special needs students aren’t always aware of their rights. Or, if they are aware, they are unwilling to go through the long, uncertain and potentially draining process of opposing a school district.

“It takes a fair amount of courage, frankly, to rock the boat,” Koski said.