Denver attorney to get national award

A Denver attorney who represented a Douglas County family at the heart of a 2017 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that established the right of learning-disabled students to receive a higher standard of special education will be honored this week with a top honor from a national disabilities rights organization.

Nashville-based The Arc, which advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, will give Jack D. Robinson its 2018 Catalyst Award for legal advocate of the year on Friday. Robinson, a founding partner at Spies, Powers and Robinson, P.C., represented the family that sued the Douglas County School District claiming it didn’t provide their autistic son with an adequate education as is required by federal law.

In March 2017, the high court ruled that it is not enough for school districts to get by with minimal, or “de minimis,” instruction for special needs children, but must instead offer programs designed to let students make progress in light of their disabilities.

The parents of Endrew F., the boy at the center of the case, earlier this year received a $1.3 million settlement from the district. The couple had sought reimbursement from the district for their son’s education at a private school for students with autism.