M.G. v. NYC DOE – Please Allow Access to Help Your Child

Dear Colleague:

I am writing to you regarding the class action suit, M.G. v. New York City Dep’t of Educ., No. 13 Civ. 4639.  The case involves two classes of New York City students concerning certain special education services and alleged policies in New York City: an Autism Services Class (and subclass) and an NPS Class (and subclass).  The Law Office of Elisa Hyman, P.C. and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP are representing the Classes.

As part of this lawsuit, Class counsel are seeking discovery of documents from the State and City that may contain FERPA-protected information – including IEPs, impartial hearing records and transcripts, special education assessments and evaluations, report cards and progress reports, and documents provided by a parent for a student’s file.  The Court ordered that, prior to the disclosure of these records for use in this lawsuit, notice be provided to the parents and students, advising them of the opportunity to object to the production of protected personal information contained in these records.

FERPA-protected information will not be available to the public, and will be accessible only to counsel for the parties and their experts and the Court.  Documents containing FERPA-protected information will be filed under seal and subject to a protective order that was endorsed by the court.

The court-ordered Notice plan directs Class Counsel to disseminate the notices contained therein to various groups representing and working with parents of potential class members, as well as the attorneys that represent some of the students in hearings.

As such, we are requesting that you post the Notice or a link to the Notice on your website and/or distribute the Notice electronically as you deem appropriate. If the Notice and objection form or a link to them is posted on your website, we ask that it remain there until May 10, 2019 and be removed after that date.  If a virtual link is posted to the Notice, please title the link with, or otherwise include, this caption: “Please See the Notice Regarding the Confidential Release of Student Records to Class Counsel in a Class Action Litigation Involving Students with Autism and Students Attending State-Approved Non-Public Schools.”

Attached to this email is the Notice and the Objection Form.  Electronic copies can also be downloaded from: https://www.specialedlawyer.com/new-page.  Translations of the Notice and Objection Form can be found at https://infohub.nyced.org/resources/translated-documents/notice-of-potential-disclosure-of-student-records-and-opt-out-form

The Court-ordered Notice plan directs us to request that, upon posting or dissemination of the Notice, you should not include any additional documents or add any language to the Notice or objection form.  However, if you are sending a group email, you may forward this email request with the following prefatory language: “We have been asked to distribute the attached Notice and Objection Form. Please see below.”

If you have questions, feel free to email me at elisahyman@gmail.com.

Thank you very much for your cooperation and assistance.

Best,

Elisa Hyman

Co-counsel for the M.G. Class Action

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