Jerry Clark, 17, had pulled some pranks. He fell asleep in class on more than one occasion. He broke the school dress code by wearing slippers to school. Eventually, administration at Voorheesville High School had had enough and he was suspended for six weeks. A short time later on April 27, 2010, he hung himself.
Fast forward to Friday, June 22, and his family was waiting eagerly for the state legislature to wrap up its last day of session. In particular, they were waiting on the status of a bill they held dear to their hearts; a bill that they believe could have saved Jerry’s life had it existed two years and two months ago.
“If we had known we could have gone to the committee on special education (for an evaluation), we might have been able to save our grandson. We believe he would still be alive if we were given that information,” said Mary Clark, Jerry’s grandmother.
Clark has a home office set up in her living room. There, she’s spent countless hours reliving her family’s tragedy while working with Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, a Democrat representing the 20th District on Long Island, and Sen. John Flanagan, a Republican from the 2nd District in Smithtown, on a bill that would require school districts to provide information to parents regarding access to special education services upon enrollment.
Currently, a law exists that states a referral for special education evaluation can be made by a parent, school district employee, licensed physician or others “formally involved in the student’s education and care.” But, Weisenberg said many parents are unaware of those rights.
After hearing the Clarks’ story, Weisenberg said it appeared to him that the school system had failed them and Jerry — in a big way — and he wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again.
“It’s the school’s obligation and responsibility to look after their students and advocate,” said Weisenberg. “The purpose of this legislation is to prevent this happening to any other child.”
Jerry was on antidepressant and mood stabilizing medications. There was a history of mental illness in his family. One day, he was found crying in the hallway and the school psychologist wrote a letter to his father saying she “feared for Jerry’s life” if he was suspended and kicked off the wrestling team.
Clark believes those factors should have warranted a special education evaluation, which could have offered Jerry alternatives to suspension, like home schooling or tutoring.
An alternative to suspension meant Jerry wouldn’t have been kicked off the wrestling team, said Clark, which might have prevented his suicide.
“He said, ‘Please don’t take my life away from me. Wrestling is the only thing that’s going right in my life,’” said Clark. “(Voorheesville Superintendent Teresa Snyder) took his wrestling away and shortly after he hung himself.”
Snyder wouldn’t say much on the matter, calling it a violation of student privacy to talk about it. What she would say is that the situation has been misconstrued.
“It’s a blatant misrepresentation of the school district’s role. People are well aware of what their rights are,” said Snyder.
Snyder said Clark’s claim that the family was not provided information about access to special education services is inaccurate.
“Their information was not correct. People are made aware. That particular family, they were aware,” said Snyder.
Still, Clark maintains the family was not aware. Hence, the waiting game she was playing on Friday morning as she waited to see if the bill had passed. Sometime before noon she received word it had unanimously passed in the Assembly. She was “ecstatic.”
By the end of the day, she learned it failed to pass in the Senate, but vowed to continue fighting for it to be reintroduced in January.
“I’m not giving up the battle,” said Clark.
Weisenberg said he doesn’t know why the bill had such different results in both houses. Part of it, he said, could be that some people think the requirement would be an unfunded mandate. That’s ridiculous, he said.
“There’s no mandate here. … This doesn’t cost anything,” said Weisenberg. “They give out booklets to kids coming into school anyway, so just say something about kids with special needs.”
A former special ed teacher, Weisenberg said it would be simple for schools to let parents know what resources are available to them if they have a child with a disability. He said suggesting an evaluation should have been the obvious response to Jerry’s uncharacteristic behavior, not disciplinary action.
“If you have a change like this, you refer this child for special ed to get some kind of evaluation to understand what has caused or is causing the behavior change,” said Weisenberg. “Find out what resources are available to help him out.”
The bill won’t change the past and it won’t bring Jerry back, but it will help the Clarks find a sense of peace.
“It’ll go a long way to heal my family because it’s been devastating,” said Clark.
