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Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Hundreds of former R.I. special needs students could be compensated for state cutting their education short
Advertisement It took another seven years for the damages for the affected students to be negotiated. Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up The tentative settlement was publicly disclosed for the first time by House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi on Tuesday night. While briefing reporters on the late-night agreement on a $14 billion state budget, he said the process had been delayed by a last-minute request by the Rhode Island Department of Education to include a nearly $2 million appropriation for the legal settlement. 'We literally worked until 15 minutes ago' to fill the unforeseen budget hole, Shekarchi said around 9:15 p.m. The House Finance Committee approved the budget proposal before midnight. The settlement, which still requires a judge's approval, has not yet been made public. RIDE Spokesperson Victor Morente said the students who will be eligible for compensation from the $1.86 million settlement are those who were 21 between Feb. 10, 2012 and July 1, 2019, did not get a regular high school diploma, and lost access to public school when they turned 21. Advertisement The number of former students in that group number roughly 300, according to Sonja Deyoe, the lawyer for the plaintiffs. Two plaintiffs, identified by their initials K.L. and K.S, represented the wider class in the suit. K.S., who was a 20-year-old student at Toll Gate High School in Warwick at the time the lawsuit was filed, was about to be cut off from high school despite having Asperger syndrome and ADHD. She was working toward a traditional high school diploma when she was told she would have to leave school on her 21st birthday, the lawsuit said. K.L. had been a student at Chariho High School and suffered from a genetic disorder and developmental delays that left her at the 'cognitive level of a toddler,' the lawsuit said. She was cut off from school when she turned 21. The suit noted a similar case in Hawaii resulted in courts ruling Hawaii had to provide education up to age 22. Deyoe said it was 'very difficult' to come to an agreement on damages, as the two sides debated whether all the individuals affected in the class were eligible for compensatory services. She said the $1.86 million could be used to reimburse students for GED classes, tutoring, assistive devices, or other services like speech therapy they may have sought to assist them in getting education in lieu of the extra year of public school. Advertisement She said she has spoken to one former student who is paraplegic and plans to use the funds to pay for a device that helps them communicate. Deyoe said cutting students off from high school at 21 had a serious impact. 'There are numerous people who we initially talked to who were very close to graduation, who, if they were given that additional period of time, would have been able to graduate,' Deyoe said. 'It's very sad.' Deyoe said the issue at hand in the case was the word 'inclusive' in the federal requirement that free public education be provided for those ages 3 to 21. The plaintiffs interpreted that to mean inclusive of the 21-year-olds, not ending on their 21st birthday. In its 2018 decision, the appeals court noted that some students without disabilities — such as those who went to prison in high school — had access to education up to age 22, but the special needs students were cut off at 21. Rhode Island now provides education to students with disabilities until age 22, Morente confirmed. Morna Murray, the executive director of Disability Rights Rhode Island, said while it's not ideal that students will be compensated a decade later, 'it's never too late' to right a wrong. She said for students who need it, staying in school an extra year can make a big difference in their futures. 'Having those extra years is golden, before they have to face the world,' Murray said. 'It's really significant.' Disability Rights Rhode Island was involved in the negotiations for damages. It is not yet clear when a judge will consider approving the settlement. After that, there will be an opportunity for affected students to seek reimbursement from the $1.86 million fund. Advertisement The pool of money will also be used to pay an administrator to manage the fund, Morente said, along with legal fees. Unspent funds would be returned to the state after 20 months. The Rhode Island House is slated to vote on the state budget on Tuesday. Steph Machado can be reached at
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Yahoo
25 Investigates: Sutton man turned to credit bureau for credit protection, it led to identity theft
An identity theft story with a frustrating twist. A Sutton man called 25 Investigates saying he took the right steps after learning he was a victim of identity fraud. But he says doing the right thing made led to an even bigger headache. For Anthony Deyoe, it started with a routine letter in the mail from a credit card company. It said they were working on a new credit card application that he had submitted, only he did submit it. Deyoe knew immediately he was a victim of identity theft. H says he called the credit card company to dispute the application and then contacted the three major credit reporting bureaus, including Experian. 'And all I did was open a can of worms and make it worse,' Deyoe told Boston 25′s Kerry Kavanaugh. He set up accounts with each bureau and froze his credit. 'So, I'm at soccer practice on a Saturday morning. It's 8:30 in the morning and I my phone dings with an email,' Deyoe said. The email from Experian said someone had changed his account information. His email, password, and security questions all new and he didn't know what they were now. Deyoe says he spent days trying to get someone from Experian on the phone. 'It just loops you around, loops you around. I even call their business line to try and, you know, just get to a person,' Deyoe said. 'The only way to fix it was to send a bunch of personal documents either to a P.O. Box in Texas or to fax them on some unsecure line.' Identity theft resolution is also costing consumers a lot of time. According to one fraud study, in 2022 consumers spent an average of 6 hours dealing with identity fraud incidents. In 2023 it jumped to a nearly 10-hour average. Deyoe says he just wasn't comfortable mailing or faxing those personal documents. Later, he got another alert. 'So, the people that got into my account use the information in my credit report and then opened up a digital checking account under my name,' Deyoe said. For months, he couldn't access his account until he called 25 Investigates. We reached out to Experian asking how Deyoe's information was compromised and if this happened to others. A spokesperson told us their protocols worked since Deyoe got that notification when his account was changed. In a written statement Experian said 'Protecting consumers' identities is among our highest priorities. We believe this is an incident of fraud using stolen consumer information.' Experian also contacted Deyoe directly helping him regain access to his account to close it. 'We call this an account takeover like this,' said Lisa Plaggemier, the executive director National Cybersecurity Alliance. The NCA educates people on best ways to keep their data secure as identity fraud is affecting millions of people and costs Americans about $43 billion dollars a year, according to a recent report. Plaggemier says despite stories like Deyoe's, contacting the credit bureaus and freezing your accounts is still best practice if you're a victim of fraud. 'That means you have to create accounts on the credit bureau sites. And you just you know, our recommendation is to create those in a way that they're secure,' said Plaggemier. So, the NCA suggests making the passwords tougher to crack. Use 15-16 characters, always use multi-factor authentication on sites where it's enabled, and don't repeat passwords from site to site. 'Maybe we were using a password that has been involved in another data breach in another company, so best practice is not to use the same password twice,' said Plaggemier. The NCA also recommends using password managers because it makes it easier to have completely unique long, random passwords on every account. Especially as large-scale breaches become all too common. In August we learned of a major data breach affecting nearly 3 billion social security numbers, and other personal information, which were then for sale on the dark web. But Deyoe says he had taken all those suggested steps. 'It's upsetting when you go to a company that's supposed to be protecting things and you make things worse,' he said. Experian added 'Our authentication processes go beyond requiring users to provide personally identifiable information (PII) and answering knowledge-based authentication (KBA) questions. We do not disclose those additional processes for obvious security reasons; however, our data and analytical capabilities verify identity elements across multiple data sources and are not visible to the consumer. " Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
