The Galesburg District 205 school board authorized an appeal in a federal lawsuit over disability education rights.
The vote was 6-0, with Pamella Bess-Tabb abstaining.
Bess-Tab is the mother of the child identified only by initials in the lawsuit.
The parents argued the school district’s plan to send the child to a therapeutic day school in Peoria violated federal education law that stipulates a child with a disability has the right to be educated in the “least restrictive environment.
The court sided with the parents in a December judgment, but the district denies the child’s rights are being violated.
The judgment reversed an administrative ruling and Individualized Educational Program that had the child going to the Peoria school.
According to court documents, the school district’s brief in the appeal is due Feb. 18, and the plaintiffs’ brief is due March 20.
