In re Dontrell H.

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In re Dontrell H.

State: Illinois

Court: 1st District Appellate

Docket No: 1-07-1368 Rel

Case Date: 05/06/2008

Preview:SECOND DIVISION May 6, 2008

No. 1-07-1368 ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

In re DONTRELL H., Minor,

(Matthew D. Cohen, Petitioner-Appellee, v. The Board of Education of the City of Chicago, Respondent-Appellant).

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County No. 05 JD 5917 Honorable Noreen Daly, Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE KARNEZIS delivered the opinion of the court: Respondent Board of Education of the City of Chicago (the Board) appeals from an order awarding petitioner, Matthew D. Cohen (Cohen) attorney fees. On appeal, the Board argues: (1) the trial court exceeded its subject matter jurisdiction by granting Cohen attorney fees because Cohen is not authorized to file a supplemental petition in this delinquency matter; and (2) the trial court violated the defendant's right to due

process by refusing to allow it to present any evidence on the issues of willful disregard or the reasonableness of attorney fees. Background This appeal arises out of a delinquency proceeding commenced on October 26, 2005, in which D.H. was charged with theft of property valued at $300 or less on the grounds of a Chicago public school. At the time of the charge, D.H. was 12 years old and a seventh grade student in a special education classroom at Emmett Till School. At an October 2005 hearing, the judge entered an order finding D.H. "guilty as to count(s) 1, supervision." On January 9, 2006, the judge entered a sentencing order which stated "no finding of guilty entered. The minor is placed on supervision of a period of 12 months." As part of the court ordered supervision, D.H. was ordered to remain in school and to perform community service. To assist D.H. with his educational needs, he was referred to probation officer Kevin Hickey, who was an educational advocate. On April 10, 2006, the court found that D.H. was attending school and had completed his 15 hours of community service. In May of 2006, D.H. was evaluated by Dr. Pasulka, a private psychologist, who recommended that D.H. attend a therapeutic day school and receive individual assistance and services to address his behavioral and emotional needs. On June 8, 2006, the Board held an annual meeting to review D.H.'s "Individual Education Program" (IEP), including consideration of therapeutic day school. During the meeting, D.H.'s mother, Theresa Boswell, expressed concerns that her son was not

receiving adequate instruction in reading and math, that his behavior had become significantly worse and that a therapeutic setting was necessary for D.H. to receive a free appropriate public education. The Board denied Boswell's request for therapeutic day school because a behavior intervention plan needed to be implemented. However, the Board indicated that D.H. would remain in his current full-time special education classroom at Emmett Till School and continue to receive one-on-one direct services with the social worker privately due to confidentiality issues. The Board did admit that D.H.'s special education services were interrupted because there was no behavior intervention plan in place and that the decision regarding compensatory services would be "deferred pending completion of FIE--referred for summer assessment." In June and July of 2006, progress reports were made to the court. The court found that D.H.'s IEP was not done, stating that "the Bd. of Ed. not in compliance

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