Law Ofc of Allison B. Vrolijk, Esq, Special Education Attorney

06/02/2026

Not sure who needs to hear this......but it keeps popping up in my professional life.

Just because you CAN sue, doesn't mean you SHOULD. There are often lower-level solutions that can, and should, be pursued. If you're consulting with an attorney, please make sure it's someone you've been told you can trust, someone who tells it like it is, and isn't going to rush to litigation just because they can. Oftentimes, in the end, the only winners are the attorneys who get paid..........

I have this quote on my law firm's website, and I stand by it:

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser -- in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.
-- Abe Lincoln

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04/23/2026

It's been a long time since I've made a post......but I recently compiled some information that some in Georgia might find interesting.

I've always said that, in Georgia, you shouldn't ever have to file for due process if you have a strong enough case -- that districts usually are willing to negotiate/mediate without litigation pending. That cases that do go all the way to hearing are usually losing propositions for parents. I often encourage parents to try stand-alone mediation first, saving the time and expense of all that comes along with a due process case. And FWIW, I've had a good amount of success for/with my clients going that route.

I recently decided to examine whether that proposition still holds true. Using absolutely no scientific method, I took a look at all due process hearing decisions that resulted in a published opinion for the years of 2023, 2024 and 2025. Realize that this does not capture how many due process hearing requests were filed and settled prior to going to the actual hearing (CADRE crunched those numbers a handful of years ago, but the most recent year I can find information on is 2020-21). Here is my summary:

2023:

10 hearing decisions
At least 9 cases pro se (parents represented themselves without an attorney, although one parent WAS an attorney)
Main complaint: 6 FAPE, 1 breach of settlement agreement, 1 child find, 1 FERPA, 1 MDR appeal
Results: parent 1 (unclear whether parent was represented), districts 9.

2024:

14 hearing decisions
12 cases pro se, 2 cases represented by attorneys
Main complaint: 5 FAPE, 4 MDR appeals, 3 LRE/enrollment/placement, 1 eligibility, 1 IEE request denial (brought by the district)
Results: parent 0, districts 14.

2025:

14 hearing decisions
9 cases pro se, 5 cases represented by attorneys
Main complaint: 9 FAPE, 4 MDR appeal, 1 brought by district due to parent behavior
Results: parent 5 (sort of, see * below), districts 9.

* Of the 5 parent "wins," 2 were true wins, 1 was a win on a technicality, and 2 were partial wins. Interestingly, all of these "wins" were by pro se parents.

So, over the past 3 years: 38 due process hearing decisions, 6 parent wins, 32 parent losses. That is, if we're counting partial and techincal parent wins - if we're not, then it's 3 parent wins, 35 parent losses.

01/05/2026

Taken from the files of "I Can't Make This Up"

Recently received a client's progress report with supporting data to review. Child has a goal for answering comprehension questions off of a cold read passage (divided into one objective for factual questions and one objective for inferential questions). Putting aside the fact that progress was reported on the overall goal ONLY rather than each objective separately, the three pieces of supporting data provided were:

1 - teacher read passage aloud to student; only factual questions asked;

2 - "passage" was three pictures that told a story; data sheet reflects that they spoke about the pictures before answering the questions.

3 - teacher read aloud to student and they discussed the passage before student answered the questions.

Despite this, the progress report itself says that Student read the passages independently.

Made for an interesting meeting..............

Lesson: ALWAYS ask for the data used to support the reported progress.

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