CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV/Gray News) – A former student is suing a school system after he says he graduated with a 3.4 GPA but is unable to read or even spell his own name.
The student, who is referred to as “William A.” in the lawsuit, did not receive a “compensatory education” from the Clarksville Montgomery County School System, according to a ruling by the judge.
“William A. is dyslexic and graduated from high school with a 3.4 grade-point average. Yet even then he could not read. The school now challenges an order that it provides him with compensatory education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. We affirm the order,” the ruling states.
In 2023, the parents of the student said that the school system failed to provide their son with a free appropriate public education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
In the complaint filed on Aug. 25, 2023, it stated that in June of 2023, Judge Phillip Hilliard awarded a substantial compensatory education to William A. due to the school system’s long-standing denial of FAPE.
William A. was awarded, “888 hours of compensatory education in the form of 5 sessions per week, at 1 hour per session, of Dyslexia tutoring from a reading interventionist trained to provide Dyslexia tutoring through the Wilson Reading and Language System.”
The parents wanted the Clarksville Montgomery County School System to pay for William A.’s contained education services.
In the complaint, it was stated that the Clarksville Montgomery County School System provided an individualized education plan for William A., but he showed no improvement in his reading ability throughout his middle and high school education. In the complaint, his parents said that through private tutoring, William A. was able to progress.
Following an appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit filed its judgment on Feb. 3, 2025, against the Clarksville Montgomery County School System. The court ruled that the school system did not provide the student with a FAPE, as his IEP did not help him overcome his particular obstacles to learning.
“Apart from his dyslexia itself, William’s most salient ‘circumstance’ for our purposes was that—with proper instruction—he can learn to read. See L.H., 900 F.3d at 795-96. The school has not even tried to prove that finding wrong, yet William graduated from high school without being able to read or even to spell his own name,” the ruling reads.
It was found that the student often used AI software to write papers.
“To write a paper, for example—as the ALJ described—William would first dictate his topic into a document using speech-to-text software. He then would paste the written words into an AI software like ChatGPT. Next, the AI software would generate a paper on that topic, which William would paste back into his own document. Finally, William would run that paper through another software program like Grammarly, so that it reflected an appropriate writing style,” the ruling states.
The judges ruled that William A.’s accommodations helped him learn the regular curriculum, but the workarounds given “simply did the work for him.”
The appellate court ruled that the Clarksville Montgomery County School System failed to provide an education tailored to the student’s needs as required by the IDEA.
“There is still pending litigation, and we cannot comment on pending litigation. Additionally, I would not be able to discuss specifics of the allegations due to state and federal student privacy laws,” Clarksville Montgomery County School System said in a statement to WSMV.
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