Pennsylvania
Special Education Hearing Officer
DECISION
Child’s Name: J.C.
Date of Birth: [redacted]
Date of Hearing: January 27, 2016
CLOSED HEARING
ODR Case # 17254-1516AS
Parties to the Hearing: Parent[s]
Upper Dublin School District 1580 Fort Washington Avenue Maple Glen, PA 19002
Representative:
Jonathan Corchnoy, Esquire 1515 Market Street/Suite 1510 Philadelphia, PA 19102
Claudia Huot, Esquire
Blue Bell Executive Campus 460 Norristown Road/Suite 110 Blue Bell, PA 19422
Date Record Closed: February 5, 2016
Date of Decision: February 10, 2016
Hearing Officer: Jake McElligott, Esquire
INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
[The student] (“student”)1 is a [mid-teenaged] student who has been identified as a student with a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Improvement Act of 2004 (“IDEA”)2. The student has been identified with an emotional disturbance.
The student began to attend the Upper Dublin School District (“District”) in the current 2015-2016 school year. Over the course of the first half of the school year, the student was involved in a series of behavior incidents.
The District held a manifestation determination meeting to determine if the student’s behavior was a manifestation of the student’s disability. The meeting resulted in a finding that the student’s behavior was a manifestation of the student’s disability.
Thereafter, the District filed the due process complaint which led to these proceedings, requesting an expedited hearing pursuant to 34 C.F.R. §300.532(a),(b)(2)(ii), seeking a hearing officer-ordered interim placement because it believes that maintaining the current placement of the student is substantially likely to result in injury to the student or to others.
For the reasons set forth below, I find in favor of the District. The student’s placement will be changed, on an interim basis, under the terms of this order.
ISSUE
Should the student’s placement be changed,
on an interim basis,
because maintaining the current placement of the student
is substantially likely to result in injury to the student or to others?