Litman for North Penn School Board

By Donald S. Litman, JD, MFS

The North Penn School Board needs experienced qualified members

If our school district cannot help the few students who are living with learning differences, it cannot truly teach the many students who are typical. So, let us not be blind to our differences - but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. Our district spends enormous amounts on legal fees just to challenge the rights of its special education students to a free, appropriate public education. Money spent in this endeavor not only depletes our financial means to help all students, but also it depletes the effectiveness of education towards our most fragile of students + those with learning differences. While it may seem correct to always fight to keep costs down, if those costs to fight create an expense greater than the costs which you are trying to fight, no one wins. Our district spends more than ever to deprive children with learning differences of their education, an education they are entitled to receive which is lower in cost than the expense of lawyers, staff and resources employed to fight these children. Even in the event the district succeeds in depriving school age children with learning differences of their special education, ultimately when the child becomes an adult they then fall upon our social security system for providing services for someone who could have been a self-supporting productive member of society enjoying a full life + a life with all the pleasures our democracy offers and the joys liberty guarantees. It is clear, the earlier a child with special needs gets help the more likely they will get on the path of self independence; however, a month or year lost to school district challenges of their access to an appropriate education cannot be made up with an extra month or year later on.

I think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation. For almost forty years the rights of children with learning differences to receive a public education have been secured, yet every year more is done to circumvent these laws by school district and school boards that follow a path of misguided dreams of human destiny, where saving costs can be found by incurring costs to fight. What they fail to have learned is that their ignorance impairs the security of a democracy + for the rights of the strong are only as great as the rights of the weakest among us. Over sixty years ago our Supreme Court declared as to education, that separate is not equal. The rights of all children in our school district are now being threatened both financially and in terms of implementation by manipulating funds for education, while simultaneously engaging in a fight with parents and children whom our school district should be helping.

The reason I seek election to our North Penn School Board is to be the voice of those who are too weak or unable to advocate for themselves + so that the rights of all school age children to a public education is preserved. I have served on a district wide parents group for over five years (North Penn Special Education Council), and as its president. I have practiced law for almost thirty years, and have an advanced law degree in forensic sciences, as well as being named by Philadelphia Magazine as a Super Lawyer in School and Education Law. I have served as Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania, and been corporate in-house counsel to a national corporation. I have handled matters in courts from Virginia to Pennsylvania, and practice law in numerous federal courts including the Supreme Court of the United States. I have taught lawyers in ethics, mediation, arbitration, and special education law. What our school district needs is someone with knowledge and experience in the important areas of public education which our board is lacking. If past is prologue, then we will continue to see higher taxes and less educational services for our students. Let us have a school board of those who are the most qualified living in our district, and that aspire to volunteer their time, energy and effort towards improving our schools for all its students.