A recent investigation that came after a Fort Collins family filed a complaint with Colorado’s Department of Regulatory Agencies’ Division of Civil Rights has found there was not sufficient evidence to support their claims of discrimination.

Daniel Swearengin filed the complaint last spring claiming his 12-year-old son Ryan was discriminated against by the Poudre School District.

He filed a similar complaint with the federal Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. That investigation, which was completed in November, also found no violations.

A third group, The Legal Center for People with Disabilities and Older People also determined there wasn’t enough evidence to launch an investigation into the family’s claims, but found that two other PSD schools, Werner and Linton, failed to follow proper procedures in several instances involving restraint and seclusion. The federally-funded watchdog group has since launched a second investigation based on further complaints.

The district disagreed with many of The Legal Center’s findings, but has agreed to comply with its recommendations to improve its documentation of restraint and seclusion use.

Though he would not comment on the individual investigations, PSD Superintendent Jerry Wilson said the district uses all kinds of information to make improvements.

“My point is, whenever we have an outside investigation, that’s what we are looking for—how do we use these results to make improvements,” he said.

Jennifer McPherson, investigations manager for DORA, said the agency investigates between 800 and 1,000 complaints a year in the areas of employment, housing and accommodations. She said DORA doesn’t usually get many complaints against schools because most of those are filed through OCR.

According to DORA’s report, the Swearingens allege their son was put into time outs and holds without proper notification to the parents, that the school failed to follow appropriate evaluation and placement procedures, improperly used restraint and time out, failed to take into account the child’s disability when suspending him and failed to provide the parents notices of procedural safeguards.

According to DORA, the school “has attempted to accommodate the Charging Party’s son’s disability. They have taken extra steps in order to work with the Charging Party and his son in an effort to provide him an appropriate education taking into account his disability.”

DORA’s inquiry found that the school had held numerous meetings to assess the student’s needs and had provided reasonable accommodations.

However, Daniel Swearingen told DORA that his son can no longer attend public school because he is fearful of the way the school will handle any future incidents.

During a recent interview Daniel Swearingen said that even though DORA’s findings were a disappointing surprise, he and his wife intend to appeal the matter.

“As we went through what the results were, we saw several things that were not factual,” he said. “They make reference to medical diagnoses in several areas. There were no medical diagnoses for Ryan in those areas.”

McPherson said an appeal can be filed to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which is made up of seven members appointed by the governor.

“They could overturn the director’s decision, uphold the decision or send it back for further investigation,” she said.

Laura Richardson, PSD’s director of integrated services, said the staff is a well-qualified, well-trained and professional handing situations. She added that the district can always improve communication and policies.

“That’s what we are doing,” she said. “We are pleased there were no violations.”

Wilson said the district is updating policies and working to assure that proper notification is given to parents when students have temporary changes in placement.

“I think the district is addressing findings (from all of the investigations) and advising schools on how to better address the circumstances,” Wilson said.