The sudden closure of Richmond-based Metropolitan Day School has left some disabled public schools students in the lurch.

In operation for more than two decades, the private school in North Side abruptly shut down Sept. 6 after a damaging rainstorm exposed serious problems with the building that made it unusable without major renovation.

The 13 students who were enrolled at Metropolitan were assigned there to gain access to its specialized services for students with severe emotional and behavioral problems.

At least 10 of the students were from Richmond Public Schools.

The Free Press has been told that most of the students have not seen the inside of a classroom since Metropolitan shut down, an apparent violation of federal and state laws requiring local school systems to provide a free and appropriate education, or FAPE, to students with disabilities.

The Free Press has sent a request for a response from RPS officials and members of the School Board. Most appear to have been unaware of the private school’s closing and indicated a response would be forthcoming after the situation was investigated.

One example of the students who are out of school is seventh-grader Shamar L. Muhammadali, the adopted son of Dr. Donna M. Robinson, who has been raising him since his parents died.

Now 12, Shamar was sent to Metropolitan two years ago after being diagnosed with ADD and ADHD, she said. Those initials are acronyms for children who cannot sit still in a classroom and have major difficulty staying focused.

“He needs to go to school, but he hasn’t had anywhere to go,” said Dr. Robinson, a Fulton-area resident.

She said she notified Shamar’s home school, Martin Luther King Jr. Middle, after being told that Metropolitan would not reopen.

Dr. Robinson said it took at least a week for a staff member to respond and another week before a potential solution was offered.

She said she was initially promised that Shamar would receive a laptop computer and would be able to get one hour of virtual learning a day while another placement was located.

“That was hardly enough,” she said. “But even that didn’t happen.”

She said she was finally told MLK lacked the staff to provide the virtual learning sessions via computer.

Two more weeks passed, she said, before she was contacted

by another private school in response to an RPS request. She said she was given an appointment for Shamar to be interviewed on Oct. 19 to see if he would be a fit with the program.

“There is no guarantee he will be allowed to attend,” Dr. Robinson said.

Since the closure, Shamar has accompanied her to work at a private residential Christian school in Chester.

Dr. Robinson said she creates worksheets for him to complete and also has him connect with virtual educational programming and games using his cell phone.

“But I’m too busy to serve as his teacher,” she said. “I’m doing the best I can, but he needs to be in a classroom,” she said. “RPS sent him to Metropolitan. When that school closed, they had a responsibility to make sure he was placed in a classroom setting at MLK or in another private school.

“I want to him to have an education, and I am upset that RPS does not seem to be taking their duty to serve Shamar seriously.”