Boy’s Father, School District Again at Odds

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  Jimmy Peters, the 8-year-old who has become an unwitting symbol in the ongoing battle over mainstreaming special education students, is out of school again--this time over a conflict about where he lives.

The boy’s father, Jim Peters, on Thursday asked a judge to issue a temporary restraining order against the Ocean View School District for banning his son from regular second-grade classes at Circle View Elementary since April 16. The request was filed at the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

The state Department of Education also is conducting an investigation to see if the district acted properly, said Robert Evans, an administrator in the department’s special education division.

“It’s totally ridiculous,” Peters said. “You don’t take children, pull them from class and deny them an appropriate education, especially a child with special needs.”

Ocean View Supt. James R. Tarwater would not comment about the matter because of confidentiality laws, but he said the district routinely checks for residency when there are doubts that a student lives within district boundaries.

“If we do checks, and we have witnesses saying the family lives somewhere else and there is not adequate proof of residency, the child is excused from the district,” Tarwater said.

In early April, district officials informed Peters that his son would not be allowed at school unless he submitted adequate proof that he lives in the school district by April 15.

Peters said he has provided ample evidence that he resides in Huntington Beach. But he believes administrators won’t accept his documentation because they want to retaliate against him for entangling the district in long legal battles.

In a highly publicized case in 1994, the district went to court to move Jimmy into a special class for disabled students because of behavior problems. A federal judge sent Jimmy back to class, but protesting parents were waiting at the school. Peters agreed to have his son receive one-on-one instruction at home.

Jimmy, who has a communication disability, returned to school last fall, but his father and school officials continued to wrangle over his education, often times in court.

Now, Jimmy sits at home.

“The district has spent three years and $200,000 trying to get rid of Jimmy Peters,” Peters said. “Now, they’re disrupting Jimmy’s program. Jimmy really wants to go to school. He asks everyday if he can go play with friends.”

Peters said district officials have copies of canceled rent checks and his apartment lease agreement, which includes both his name and his son’s. He said school police officers visited his home on various occasions, questioning his roommate and searching his apartment and closets when he was not there.

Additionally, Peters said his apartment management company confirmed to district officials that he and Jimmy live at the complex.

Peters said he and Jimmy sometimes spend the night at his girlfriend’s home, but that they don’t live there.

“They’re suggesting that a parent who dates outside the district is subject to have their child eliminated from school,” Peters said.

Tarwater said the district does not accept lease agreements as valid proof of residency because “anyone could put their name on them.” He said the district accepts utility bills and driver’s licenses as proof of residency, neither of which Peters provided.

“Where a child stays--that’s the key,” Tarwater said, adding that the district follows state guidelines to determine a student’s residency. “It’s common for the district to send security officers to students’ homes to see if they live there. We have an obligation to serve kids within our boundaries first.”

A legal advisory from the state Department of Education said schools districts “may accept a wide range of documents” when verifying a student’s residency.

“There is no particular list of documents that may be accepted; any reasonable evidence of residence is sufficient,” the document states.

Tarwater said students who live outside the district can apply for an inter-district transfer, but that the district can deny the request if it proves to be too costly to educate the student.

Meanwhile, Peters said he is confident Jimmy will return to Circle View Elementary.

“I don’t believe this community will support this kind of discrimination,” Peters said. “This is simply retaliation. The district is doing anything to disrupt Jimmy’s program and his life. But we just won’t be run out of town.”