Behavioral services provider Spurwink has filed suit against the state over a dispute involving a student at its Lewiston day treatment program.
In the complaint filed in U.S. District Court earlier this month, Spurwink says it discharged the 19-year-old student in November because he regularly harmed himself and also staff members.
The student's parents tried to invoke so-called 'stay put' rights under federal law to keep him in the program until he could be placed elsewhere.
But Spurwink argues that those rights don't apply to private schools. The suit names the family, Lewiston Public Schools, and the state Department of Education as defendants, and alleges that they are misinterpreting federal law.
