Grandview District Must Pay Yakima Deaf Student $1 Million

Two judges agreed the Grandview School District woefully failed to educate a student. The neglect and lies were so bad the superior court judge ordered the district to offer remedial education for four years and pay the family $1 million.

The boy, now almost a man, is Jose Garcia. He is severely hearing impaired. Instead of assigning him teachers who knew sign language, they inaccurately diagnosed him with a severe mental disability and put him in classes with children with Down Syndrome. His mother was illiterate and did not fully understand the district's treatment of her child.

A deaf learning expert identified Garcia was not disabled, but just needed deaf teaching. That got the ball rolling for a lawsuit.

Research identified some of his teachers did not even know he was deaf. Some teachers signed off on attending progress conferences they were never at. In general, the findings reveal a lack of concern for the student and his development.