The Blog: Simply Said
Court Holds that Comp Ed and Tuition Reimbursement are not Mutually Exclusive Remedies
VW v. New York City Department of Education, No. 21 CIV. 6317, 2022 WL 3448096, 81 IDELR 194 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 17, 2022), is a significant case concerning remedies for denial of free, appropriate public education. It involved a 16-year-old student who was diagnosed with...
IHO Did Not Err In Using Analogy of “Serviceable Chevrolet” Despite Endrew F.
L.C. v. Arlington County School Board, No. 1:20-cv-1177, 2022 WL 1469394, 81 IDELR 65 (E.D. Va. June 24, 2022), addresses issues of free, appropriate public education and least restrictive environment in the case of a middle-schooler identified as having learning...
Failure to Provide Parents with Location of Services Resulted in Private School Reimbursement
V.A. v. City of New York, No. 20-CV-0989(EK)(RML), 2022 WL 1469394, 81 IDELR 46 (E.D.N.Y. May 10, 2022), addresses issues of notice of placement as well as appropriate education. Accordingly, it may be of guidance to impartial hearing officers. The parent sought...
Court Finds that Parents’ Move Out of District Is No Bar to Reimbursement Claim
In S.H. v. Issaquah School District, No. 2:21-CV-00137-DGE, 2022 WL 279139, 80 IDELR 134 (W.D. Wash. Jan. 31, 2022), the district court issued a ruling that may be instructive for impartial hearing officers as to the application of statutes of limitations, notice...
District Must Provide Comparable Services When Residential Program Shuts Down
K.K. v. William S. Hart Union High School District, No. CV 22-2398, 2022 WL 2162016, 80 IDELR 271 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 20, 2022), is a recent case of interest concerning the application of the maintenance of placement (“stay-put”) rule, 20 U.S.C. § 1515(j). The case...
Comp Ed Denied Because Deficiencies Mitigated Through Pendency Placement
Killoran v. Westhampton Beach School District, No. 20-CV-4763(JS)(SIL), 2022 WL 954851, 122 LRP 11347 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 30, 2022), is a decision in one of a number of cases that parents filed pro se concerning the education of their son who has Down Syndrome. The...
Fifth Circuit Looks to Overall Academic Progress, Not Just IEP Goals, to Decide Appropriateness of Gen Ed Placement
H.W. v. Comal Independent School District, 32 F.4th 454, 122 LRP 14177 (5th Cir. Apr. 27, 2022), illustrates some of the divisive issues that have emerged concerning the requirement to place students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment and furnish...
Change in Location Can Rise to a Change in Placement
H.R. v. District of Columbia, No. 21-CV-1856-TJK-RMM, 2022 WL 2110503 (D.D.C. Apr. 29, 2022) (magistrate judge recommendation), adopted, 2022 WL 2106245, 122 LRP 19952 (D.D.C. June 10, 2022), offers an instructive application of the maintenance of placement...
Agreement Thought to be Knowingly and Voluntarily Made Set Aside by Third Circuit
G.W. v. Ringwood Board of Education, 28 F.4th 465, 80 IDELR 209 (3d Cir. Mar. 16, 2022), is a decision turning on federal judicial jurisdiction that may nevertheless be of interest to impartial hearing officers. The case involved a due process hearing initiated by the...
Drafting IEP Prior to Meeting is not Predetermination When Draft is Modified at Meeting to Address Parent’s Concerns
A.P. v. School Board of Fairfax County No. 1:21-CV-504, 2022 WL 1105076, 80 IDELR 277 (E.D. Va. Apr. 13, 2022), affirmed a decision of a hearing officer in favor the school district in a case involving a student with severe dyslexia and other conditions. Along the...
OSEP Offers Guidance on Sufficiency, Expedited Hearings, and Summary Decisions
In Letter to Zirkel, 122 LRP 13029, https://sites.ed.gov/idea/files/osep-policy-letter-22-04-to-zyrkel-04-15-2022.pdf (OSEP Apr. 15, 2022), the Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Education offers guidance on a number of issues that may be...
Court Denies Stay-Put Remedy Despite District’s Failure to Identify a School for the Student
In L.B. v. New York City Department of Education, No. 1:21-CV-9356 (MKV), 2022 WL 220085, 80 IDELR 102 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 25, 2022), the court denied a request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to require the school system to pay for the...
Student’s Circumstances Explains Slow Progress
G.D. v. Swampscott Public Schools, No. 20-2114, 2022 WL 522035, --- F.4th ---, 80 IDELR 149 (1st Cir. Feb. 7, 2022), involved an eleven-year old with learning disabilities including dyslexia, dysgraphia, and a phonological processing disorder. The student was in...
Remedy Ordered Needs To Be Tied To The Violation
Capistrano Unified Sch. Dist. v. S.W., Nos. 20-55961, 20-55987, 2021 WL 6196698, 80 IDELR 63 (9th Cir. Dec. 30, 2021), is the unpublished counterpart to Capistrano Unified Sch. Dist. v. S.W., 21 F.4th 1125, 80 IDELR 31 (9th Cir. Dec. 30, 2021), the published opinion...
Placement Decision Does Not Extend to School Selection
J.T. v. District of Columbia, No. 20-7105, 2022 WL 126707, 80 IDELR 62 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 11, 2022) (unpublished), aff’ing 496 F. Supp. 3d 190, 77 IDELR 160 (D.D.C. 2020), is a case that concerned parental objections to the school (actually the choice of two schools)...
Second Circuit Upholds Comp Ed Escrow Account Award
Doe v. East Lyme Board of Education, 962 F.3d 649, 120 LRP 18693 (2d Cir. June 18, 2020) is the latest installment of a long-running litigation. The current decision was the appeal of a remand to the district court. The district court was to determine remedies for a...
Second Circuit: Entitlement to an IEE Only Available for Comprehensive Eval or Reevaluation
In D.S. v. Trumbull Board of Education, No. 19-644, 2020 WL 5552035, ___ F.3d ___, 77 IDELR 122 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2020), the court, by its own description, addressed two issues of first impression: “[W]hether an FBA is an ‘evaluation’ that triggers a parent’s right...
District’s Failure to File Hearing Forfeits Its Right to Argue Its Eval is Appropriate
C.P. v. Clifton Board of Education, Civ. No. 19-8469, 2020 WL 4530031, 77 IDELR 46 (D.N.J. Aug. 6, 2020), concerned what the court described as two independent educational evaluations of a child classified as “other health impaired.” The total charge was $5200, which...
Second Circuit’s de Paulino Holding Sinks Parents’ Request for Immediate Injunction Relief
Melendez v. New York City Department of Education., Nos. 19 Civ. 2928, et al., 2020 WL 4273907, 77 IDELR 8 (S.D.N.Y. July 24, 2020), is a follow-up to Ventura de Paulino v. New York City Department of Education, No. 19 Civ. 1662, 959 F.3d 519 (2d Cir. 2020). In...
Court Denies Parents’ Request to Supplement Record with IHO Photographs
In K.M. v. Katonah-Lewisboro Union Free School District, No. 19 CIV. 9671, 2020 WL 4038354, 120 LRP 21465 (S.D.N.Y. July 17, 2020), Magistrate Judge Judith C. McCarthy denied the parents’ motion to supplement the record in the appeal of a State Review Officer decision...