DD vs. School District of Philadelphia

INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

<Student> (Student), an 11 year old child diagnosed with autism, was enrolled in and attended a Philadelphia School District elementary school during the 2009/2010 school year. Although a resident of the District at all times relevant to the period for which his Parents seek compensatory education, Student did not attend school at all during the 2008/2009 due to Parents’ conviction that the District’s proposed program and placement for that school year would place Student in the same type of inappropriate classroom setting in which his academic progress stalled and his behavior regressed during the 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 school years.

This case has had a long and difficult history, marked by a delay in scheduling the hearing to permit Parents to obtain counsel, followed by an amended complaint that re-set the timelines, and the parties’ waxing and waning conviction that all matters in dispute could be amicably resolved. Although the parties agreed to a program and placement for the 2009/2010 school year, they were ultimately unsuccessful in resolving any of the disputes relating to the 2008/2009 school year and the two school years preceding Parents’ October 2008 filing of their original due process complaint. The due process hearing was ultimately conducted over 8 sessions between March 2009 and March 2010.

For the reasons explained below, Student will be awarded full days of compensatory education for the 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 school years, as well as additional compensatory education for part of the 2006/2007 school year, for the District’s failure to offer an appropriate program and placement between the end of February 2007 and the beginning of the 2009/2010 school year, as well as ESY services for the summers of 2007 and 2009.