IRVINE

Irvine Unified School District officials have asked for a state mediator to resolve a long-running dispute over how much extra help schools must give to special education students.

Joan Adams, whose 10-year-old son has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, filed a complaint with the state Department of Education in September 1998 saying that the district failed to provide adequate care for her son.

A state report sent to the district in April backed up her claim and found the district to be “out of compliance” for failing to consider the boy’s need for an extended school year.

At the center of the controversy stands a $987 bill from a private summer school. Adams said she had enrolled her son in Irvine’s Sylvan Learning Center after school officials told her that Anthony’s disability was not serious enough to reserve him a space in the special education classes.

But district officials are disputing the findings, arguing that special education classes in the 1998 summer program were reserved for severely disabled children.

The state’s investigation into the matter found that district officials did not properly assess the boy’s case, leading his family to spend $987 for private education.

Mediation proceedings are expected to begin within a few weeks.