Pennsylvania
Special Education Hearing Officer
DECISION
Child’s Name: I.H.
Date of Birth: [redacted]
Date of Hearing: June 24, 2010
CLOSED HEARING
ODR Case # 00908-0910KE
Parties to the Hearing: Parent[s]
Ms. Mary Anne King
Cumberland Valley School District 6746 Carlisle Pike Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Representative:
Philip Drumheiser, Esq. P.O. Box 890
Carlisle, PA 17013
Sharon Rogers, Esq. P.O. Box 126 Hershey, PA 17033
Mark Walz, Esq. Sweet, Stevens, et. al. 331 E. Butler Avenue New Britain, PA 18901
Date Record Closed: July 16, 2010
Date of Decision: July 31, 2010
Hearing Officer: Jake McElligott, Esquire
INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Student) is a pre-teen-aged student residing in the Cumberland Valley School District (“District”). The parties do not dispute whether the student is a student with a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Improvement Act of 2004 (“IDEIA”)1. The student’s grandmother, who acts as the student’s guardian, has requested an independent education evaluation (“IEE”) at public expense. The District defended the appropriateness of its evaluation and denied that the student is entitled to an IEE at public expense. For the reasons set forth below, the student’s guardian will prevail, and the District will be ordered to provide an IEE at public expense.
ISSUE
Must the District fund an IEE?