Family of Special Needs Student Files Suit Against Moon Area School District

First published at 9:50 a.m. Nov. 28. 

The Moon Area School District has been sued in federal court by the family of a former special needs student who was suspended in May 2011 after reports he threatened students and staff. 

Lora and Paul Schreiber, of Moon Township, and their 19-year-old son Colin filed the lawsuit on Nov. 21. 

In the complaint, the family claims the district failed to provide appropriate special needs education for their son, who has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Autism-spectrum and mood disorder. 

The complaint alleges that the district then ignored a state order to provide money for compensatory education. 

The Schreibers said district officials were delayed in providing an assessment of Colin's disabilities after they relocated to Moon from Oklahoma in 2010. 

The district must pay the Schriebers the amount it would have spent for professional employees for 424 hours of education, including the amount it would pay a special education teacher in salary and fringe benefits, according to the complaint. 

Colin was suspended in May 2011 after faculty discovered a notebook belonging to the student that contained graphic language, including racist and misogynistic slurs and violent imagery.

Colin was removed from school following the incident and police searched the Schreibers' township home.

The Schreibers said that notebook was a part of a weekly therapy session with a mental health clinician. Colin was held in the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center in Lincoln-Lemington for 35 days following the incident.

The family said in the complaint that Colin did not pose a threat to his classmates or district staff. 

The Schreibers also claim in the suit that the district moved to prevent Colin from attending the Parkway West Technical School and worked to "stigmatize and humiliate them." 

The family is requesting a jury trial, the payment of unspecified damages and reimbursement for attorney fees.