COLORADO SPRINGS — The Broyles family filed a lawsuit against Academy School District 20, they said for denying their child's individual education program.
D20 offered $10,000 to settle this lawsuit. Along with specialized instruction at school, which includes speech and physical therapy.
"If they think I'm going away, they're wrong," said Ronnie Broyles.
The Broyles argue their child requires homebound schooling services.
At ten years old, Victoria is severely disabled, non-verbal and needs a ventilator to breathe.
Her dad, Ronnie, said sending Victoria to school puts her at a high risk for illness. "A minor cold that would give us the sniffles could put her in the hospital with pneumonia."
Ronnie said the district denied his request for one hour, three days a week with an individual teacher at home.
"It got to the point where we had no choice, we had to file a lawsuit to make the district comply, she is entitled to an education that is individualized to her based on her individual needs," said Ronnie.
A D20 spokesperson told me they will not comment on pending or ongoing litigation.
This family's attorney, Igor Raykin, said he has sued D20 at least a dozen times over the last five years for not complying with special needs accommodations.
"District 20 only has about 1/10th the students of the three biggest school districts that I sue, yet I sue District 20 more often than those other three school districts combined," said Raykin.
Because of her health risks, Ronnie has been keeping her out of school since May 2023, when they moved into the school district.
"ABA therapy, she gets speech and occupational and physical therapy that comes into the home and we try to incorporate little educational things to that, I do what I can, but I'm not a teacher," said Ronnie.
A state Office of Administrative Courts judge is set to hear this trial on Monday and expected to last five days.
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