A judge this afternoon rejected the emergency injunction on behalf of the service provider catapult, at least temporarily.
The decision to allow the other service providers to continue servicing the children comes after the State Monitor Michael Azzara overrode the Board’s decision to award the contract to the service provider.
The attorney for the Board of Education, Marz Zitomer, argued that Azzara overstepped his boundaries.
But the judge announced today that there was no reason for an immediate injunction.
“Balancing the equities at this juncture, there is no indication that the two vendors approved by the selection committee and the Board cannot perform in accordance with the proposed contracts,” the judge stated.
If they fail to provide proper service, Catapult would then be allowed to re-apply for an injunction.
“If they cannot meet the demands of the contracts, then indeed, the matter may yet become emergent and the petitioner may then re-apply for emergent relief,” said the judge.
[TLS]
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how can this be? We had Mark, catapult had 5 on their side, Azzara with only one attorney. MI there also and we lose something isn’t kosher
What makes no sense now is all the services provided by Catapult teachers/therapists who have prepared and began their work for the school year need to be changed or they need to switch agencies in order to keep their jobs and provide stability to the students. This will poorly affect the students that are in need of help. Not a decision that should have been made in September…if this was going to be the case they should have decided this in the summer. Would public schools tolerate switching teachers or contracts after the students have already started the school year? Absolutely not. Why should our special education teachers & children be treated with less consideration?
The other two vendors are run by frum people- lets just get our kids serviced and stop wasting tax payers money in court fees.
#2 public school children don’t always get services they are entitled to. Many are without and classroom teachers are constantly fighting for the students services. Teachers are switched around. If I understand this correctly these students are receiving services just not from catapult.
To once again.
And you work for?…
The lawsuit was a waste of time. The state monitor has vast powers under state law. If you don’t like it, you can try to get the law changed but suing in court is not going to help or work. The judge is bound by the state law.
And here’s one more point to consider, right now we only have a state monitor. If the state wants, it can just fire the entire BOE and take control and there’s not a thing we can do about it. Of course, we can yell, sue and lose again.
#4, the students currently receiving services from Catapult is who I was referring to in my post.
There are many children who may now be faced with teachers who are not getting paid but continuing with their jobs while this mess gets worked out. Or they will be faced with getting new teachers from a different agency. Or they will need to have the current teachers hired on by a different agency. Bottom line is the teachers are now going to either be distracted from their jobs by this administrative issue or they are going to be replaced entirely with new teachers. Either way, it is the children who are going to suffer. Is that fair to them? They are special ed kids…they have ti hard enough!