Derby ? A south-central Kansas woman who was fined for practicing law without a license is accusing the Derby school district of not accommodating her 17-year-old son’s special needs and unjustly cutting him from the marching band, causing him to struggle in school.

Joan Heffington filed the federal lawsuit this week against the district, Superintendent Craig Wilford, band director Adam Devault, school attorney Jeff Griffiths and his law firm, The Wichita Eagle reported Friday.

In her lawsuit, Heffington said the district repeatedly refused to help her son, who has a mild form of Asperger’s syndrome. She said he struggled with math and playing trombone in the band helped his grades and self-esteem.

Heffington, who is representing herself, said the school’s refusal to help her son violated his right to receive a proper education and violated laws requiring special accommodations.

“The district has just received the lawsuit and is considering the appropriate response, and I am considering the appropriate response,” said Griffiths, who represented the school district in a similar suit filed by Heffington in 2007. A judge dismissed that lawsuit a year later.

The attorney general’s office sued Heffington in 2009, alleging she dispensed legal advice in exchange for donations to her nonprofit group, the Association for Honest Attorneys. A judge found 19 instances of violations of the state’s Consumer Protection Act and fined her $100,000 for practicing law without a license.

She ran unsuccessfully for governor last year, basing much of her platform on legal reform. She received 18 percent of the vote in the Aug. 3 primary against eventual Gov. Sam Brownback.