Suit against Bremerton district, state settled

For a while last year, it seemed to advocates for people with disabilities that Washington was moving not forward but backward.

Children were being sent to live in state institutions, reversing a decades-long trend. And at two of those institutions — the Fircrest School in Shoreline and the Frances Haddon Morgan Center in Bremerton — the kids were told they couldn't attend their local public schools as they had been doing, but instead would be educated on the institutions' campuses.

A lawsuit and federal civil-rights complaints soon followed. It was announced Wednesday, however, the lawsuit against the Morgan Center was settled, giving advocates hope.

"It shows that the agencies can work together to overcome obstacles so they can follow what federal and state law requires," said Regan Bailey, director of legal advocacy at Disability Rights Washington. The organization filed the suit against the Bremerton School District and the state on behalf of eight Morgan Center residents.

Bailey believes the settlement, which will allow children to go to public school, may also pave the way for a resolution at Fircrest, where students learned late last year they could no longer attend Shoreline schools because the district couldn't afford the extra staff and facilities they might need.

The dispute at the Morgan Center began last year, when the Bremerton School District decided to close the deteriorating building where the Morgan kids went to school. The district said it had no room to move those children to other classrooms. The district also noted that providing educational facilities for kids in institutions wasn't its job — under state law that's the responsibility of the Department of Social and Health Services. (The school district must provide the teachers.)

DSHS had been paying rent on Bremerton classrooms to cover its responsibility. Once the building was off-limits, the agency felt it was forced to provide a classroom at the Morgan Center.

"Moving the children out of the local public school was the result of a bureaucratic struggle between the district and the state agencies," court documents filed by the students' lawyers state.

That harmed the kids because they couldn't interact with typical peers, according to families and advocates. In addition, it violated state and federal laws against discrimination. It also treated the children as a group, rather than devising individualized plans tailored to each student's needs, another requirement.

Under the terms of the settlement, the school district and the state agreed to create individual plans for students.

In addition, DSHS agreed to pay for a large portable classroom on the Bremerton High School grounds. A district spokeswoman said it will be used for special-needs students.

"The Bremerton School District was in a hard place because they didn't have enough room," said Linda Rolfe, director of the state's Division of Developmental Disabilities. "I think we achieved a good settlement for everyone."

Brianna Littlefield is "elated," according to her aunt. The 20-year-old with autism and developmental delays has lived at the Morgan Center for about a year. Before that, she lived with her father and attended public school, where she loved helping with taking attendance.

"She's very outgoing," said Janet Littlefield, whose family was among those who filed suit. "I think she felt very isolated there [at the Morgan Center]."

In the Shoreline-Fircrest dispute, federal civil-rights complaints were filed on behalf of Fircrest students in April 2007, but those complaints have yet to be resolved.

Maureen O'Hagan: 206-464-2562 or mohagan@seattletimes.com