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Developments in Special Education Law
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Necessary vs. Appropriate in Reimbursement Case
SRO 13-078: Parents disagreed with the placement and program offered by the NYC DOE for their autistic child. The parents developed a home based program and put the DOE on notice of their intent to hold the DOE financially responsible. There was no disagreement as to the need for ABA services, but the DOE…
SRO dismisses DOE petition for filing administrative record 9 days late
SRO 13-170: Parent prevailed at hearing. The NYC DOE appealed to the SRO. The SRO dismissed the appeal sua sponte finding that the DOE’s nine day delay in filing the administrative record “impeded his ability to issue a timely and thorough decision.”
3rd Circuit issues interesting pendency decision
R.B. v. MASTERY CHARTER SCHOOL, 11-1009 (3rd Cir. 7-25-2013): In response to events that displeased the parent, she stopped sending her child to school. The school dis-enrolled the child after she had not attended for awhile. The parent filed a complaint and sought pendency. The school argued, inter alia, that the parent had no right…
SDNY reverses the SRO on reimbursement case
In a case decided on June 4, 2013, the SDNY once again reversed an SRO denial of tuition reimbursement. This case, M.F. v. NYC Bd. of Educ., made it to the Court in a fairly typical posture. The parent prevailed at hearing; the SRO reversed. The NYC DOE conceded that it had failed to provide…
May 2013: NY State Ed proposes significant changes to special education laws
The following is a summary of proposed changes being pushed by the NYS Education Department. Note that the bill (Assembly bill A-7060; Senate bill S-5557) was referred to the education committee on 5/20/13:
1. 3602-c:
-moving notice date from June 1 to April 1 for students who already have an IEP
-no entitlement to special class
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OSEP says IHO can find violation of code of conduct
In a recent memo, OSEP stated that hearing officers determining a student’s placement in the wake of a purported disciplinary infraction may decide not only the appropriateness of the district’s manifestation determination and the appropriate placement of the student, they may also consider whether the student’s conduct actually amounted to a code of conduct…
11th Cir. affirms parent’s right to independent evaluation at district expense
PHILLIP C. v. JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION (11th Cir., decided 11/21/12): The Court rejected the district’s argument that the federal regulation authorizing a parent’s right to an independent evaluation at district expense exceeded the scope of the IDEA. The District argued that the IDEA did not specify that state and local agencies must finance
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Right to evaluation under §504
A school can not condition the right to an evaluation under §504 on allegations by the parent of discrimination based upon disability. OCR stated that: “ [t]he regulation implementing Section 504 requires a school district to conduct an evaluation of any student it has reason to believe needs or may need special education and/or related…
Important new 2nd Circuit cases: G.B. v. Tuxedo
The 2nd Circuit has decided at least 6 special education cases of importance in recent months. I will be writing about these cases over the course of the next few days. The most recently decided of these cases is G.B. v. Tuxedo. There is nothing much interesting about this 2nd Circuit decision on its
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