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A new lawsuit claims Cumberland County Schools systematically violated federal disability law by delaying special education evaluations for children who showed clear signs of needing help.
Under federal law, when a parent or teacher refers a child for a possible disability, the district must complete an evaluation, often within a 90-day window. But the complaint, filed in the Eastern District of North Carolina, alleges the school district routinely stalled these evaluations by requiring students to first complete the “Multi-Tiered System of Support,” a schoolwide intervention program meant to help struggling students before they fall behind. MTSS is not a special education service, and federal law does not permit districts to use it to delay or deny an evaluation…