Cedar Law Survives Motion to Dismiss in Northwest School of Innovative Learning Case

Cedar Law, in partnership with Seattle Litigation Group, is proud to announce a significant legal win on behalf of students with disabilities harmed while attending the Northwest School of Innovative Learning (NW SOIL).

The court has allowed our clients’ claims under the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) to proceed against NW SOIL, Tacoma Public Schools, Bethel School District, Federal Way Public Schools, and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). While the court agreed that the Equal Education Opportunity Law (EEOL) does not apply against a private school like NW SOIL, our complaint survived NW SOIL’s motion to dismiss our claims on discrimination, negligence, assault, battery, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

You can read the operative pleading here: Third Amended Complaint

What Was NW SOIL?

Northwest School of Innovative Learning operated as an OSPI-approved “therapeutic day school” serving Washington public school students with disabilities at campuses in Tacoma, Tumwater, and Redmond. It was owned and operated by BHC Fairfax Hospital, Inc., a subsidiary of Universal Health Services (UHS) — a multibillion-dollar for-profit hospital corporation.

For years, NW SOIL collected millions in public tax dollars — more than $38 million over five school years — while failing to provide even a basic education. Instead of the individualized, therapeutic instruction it promised, students with complex disabilities experienced:

●      Excessive and illegal physical restraints, including staff twisting students’ arms, pinning them down, and putting them in chokeholds

●      Isolation in filthy “quiet rooms” whose walls were smeared with urine, feces, and blood

●      Physical assault by staff and older students, with incidents going uninvestigated for weeks

●      Near-total absence of academic instruction, with students watching YouTube videos or doing puzzles instead of learning

●      Grossly underqualified staffing, including people with no teaching degrees or credentials running classrooms

The school drew state scrutiny only after a landmark investigative series by The Seattle Times and ProPublica exposed what had been happening there for years. That reporting ultimately led to an enrollment ban by OSPI and, eventually, the school’s closure in 2024.

For a fuller picture of what happened at NW SOIL and how Washington’s oversight system failed these students, we encourage you to read the full ProPublica series:

1. At Washington State Special Education Schools, Years of Abuse Complaints and Lack of Academics

2. How One Mom Fought Washington’s Special Education System — and Won

3. Judge Orders Washington State Private Special Education School to Turn Over Records

4. The Corporation Exploiting Washington’s Special Education System

5. Washington School for Kids With Disabilities Closes Amid Scrutiny

6. Washington School for Kids With Disabilities Faces State Ban

7. Washington State Launches Investigation of Private Special Education Schools

8. Washington State Legislature Strengthens Oversight of Private Special Education Schools

9. Washington State Proposes Reforms for Special Education Schools

What Our Clients Experienced

Our clients are children with disabilities — diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, PTSD, and other conditions — who were placed at NW SOIL by their school districts as part of their special education programs. These placements were often made over parents’ objections, with districts assuring families that NW SOIL was the “only option.”

What these children encountered was not education. It was abuse.

They were restrained almost daily. They were locked in isolation rooms for hours. They were physically assaulted by staff and older students. They were denied their prescribed medications and their legally required behavior support plans. They emerged from NW SOIL with PTSD, academic delays, and a profound fear of school that continues to affect their daily lives.

The school districts that placed these children at NW SOIL knew, or should have known, what was happening there. OSPI received years of serious complaints about the school and continued to renew its authorization. But for their disabilities, none of these children would ever have been sent to NW SOIL in the first place.

What This Legal Victory Means

Our case alleges that placing disabled students in an environment that would never have been tolerated for non-disabled students constitutes discrimination under Washington law. The court’s ruling allows those claims to proceed.

This means the instant case will continue against:

●      Fairfax Behavioral Health d/b/a NW SOIL

●      Tacoma Public Schools

●      Bethel School District

●      Federal Way Public Schools

●      Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI)

Our legal team includes attorneys from Cedar Law —Lara Hruska, Whitney Hill, Sydney Bay, and Alex Hagel— and our co-counsel at Seattle Litigation Group —Seth Rosenberg, Joseph Gehrke, Ian Coleman, and Alexandre Gerard.

We are honored to represent over a hundred students and families in similar matters related to their enrollment at NW SOIL over the more than 20 years the school was operational, and will continue fighting until they receive the accountability and justice they deserve.

If your child attended NW SOIL and you believe they were harmed, please contact our office at 206-607-8277 or info@cedarlawllp.com to discuss your options.