SCHOOL SUITS DISCUSSED ON INTERNET

Legal issues involving two Bollinger County school districts are being discussed on the World Wide Web.

Internet Web sites that cater to parental or student discussion groups contain discussions on litigation in Meadow Heights and Woodland school districts. The issues could have national ramifications.

Parents of students with disabilities are discussing national effects of a recent settlement involving Meadow Heights School District at Patton. School officials settled out of court with Bonnie and Tom McCarter, the parents of a former Meadow Heights student, for more than $250,000.

The family accused the district and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education of failing to comply with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which requires school districts to provide an "appropriate educational program" for disabled students. The couple said the district placed their son in numerous situations with a nonhandicapped student that resulted in his being sexual molested.

Meadow Heights also failed to provide an alternative education for their son after the abuse was discovered, and DESE did not have policies or procedures in place to handle the situation, they said.

"This case is going to have a major effect for parents wanting to protect the rights of their children in school," said Cynthia Brown, one of the attorneys representing the McCarter family. "News of this case is getting around the nation because parents are spreading the word on the Internet."

The McCarters said they hope their story will empower families of handicapped students to be more alert to the challenges their children face.

"I will gladly share my story with anyone who feels they may be stumbling, needs help, has questions, doubts," said Bonnie McCarter. "I would dearly love to save, if just one family, the pain and torment we have gone through. I do not know everything, but I have learned a lot and am still learning."

Also receiving a lot of interest on the Web is Brandon Beussink's First Amendment lawsuit against Woodland School District at Marble Hill. Beussink recently accused the school district of violating his right to free speech after he was suspended earlier this year for posting a Web site that used explicit language to criticize school officials and the district's Web page. He is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. A federal judge has taken under advisement a request for a temporary injunction to lift Beussink's suspension.

"I think the school should practice what it teaches," Beussink said in a prepared statement in The Starnet Dispatches, an online newsletter. "We study history and we study the Constitution, but the school doesn't seem to think that it applies to them."

Numerous free-speech and student-rights organizations are following Beussink's legal process, which is taking place in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau.

The Starnet Dispatches site also includes opinions from legal representatives and other school officials from across the nation.

The site provides links to home pages developed by the Woodland School District, the ACLU, and the Student Press Law Center. It also solicits and archives e-mail comments from visitors to the site.

The Internet addresses:

-- Details regarding the McCarter settlement on The Special Ed Advocate online newsletter:

http://www/wrightslaw.com

-- Possible national effects of the settlement:

http://www.copaa@egroups.com

-- The Starnet Dispatches:

http://dispatches.azstarnet.com

-- A copy of the formal complaint filed in August in behalf of Beussink:

http:/www/aclu/org/court/beussinkvwoodlandsd.html