This is a redacted version of the original hearing officer decision. Select details may have been removed from the decision to preserve anonymity of the student. The redactions do not affect the substance of the document.
Pennsylvania
Special Education Hearing Officer
DECISION
Child’s Name: AS
Date of Birth: xx/xx/xx
Dates of Hearing: 9/22/08, 10/29/08, 10/30/08
CLOSED HEARING
ODR No. 9131/08-09 LS
Parties to the Hearing: Parent
Ms.
School District Pottsville Area
Representative: Parent Attorney:
Phillip Drumheiser, Esq P.O. Box 890
Carlisle, PA 17013
School District Attorney
Jeffrey F. Champagne, Esq. McNees, Wallace & Nurick 100 Pine Street, PO Box 1166 Harrisburg, PA 17108-1166
Date Record Closed: November 4, 2008
Date of Decision: November 19, 2008
Hearing Officer: Anne L. Carroll, Esq.
INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Student , a teen aged student currently enrolled in a cyber charter school, is eligible for special education services under the categories of other health impairment (OHI) and specific learning disability (SLD).
Although Student has resided in the Pottsville Area School District since the middle of the 2001/2002 school year, for most of that time Student received educational services in therapeutic placements selected by Student’s Mother in consultation with community mental health organizations or Schuylkill County Children and Youth Services due to serious behavior issues/mental health concerns. The District had no role in either initiating or selecting those placements/programs.
Student re-enrolled in the District in August 2006 as an 8th grade middle school student upon returning home from a residential treatment and educational facility located in another county. Contending that the District failed to provide Student with sufficient supports and services to assure Student’s success in the District placement, Student’s Mother seeks two years of compensatory education, from July 2006 until the start of the 2008/2009 school year. The compensatory education claim includes the summers of 2007 and 2008, when Student’s Mother contends Student should have been provided with extended school year (ESY). She also seeks payment for an independent neuro- psychological evaluation.
The due process hearing in this matter was conducted over three sessions from the end of September to the end of October 2008.
ISSUES
1. Is the Pottsville Area School District required to provide Student with compensatory education for the 2006/2007 and/or 2007/2008 school years, including summers, and if so, for what period(s) and in what amount?
2. Should the Pottsville Area School District be required to fund an independent neuro-psychological evaluation of Student ?
AS-Pottsville-Area-ODRNo-9131-08-09-LS