Pennsylvania
Special Education Hearing Officer
DECISION
Child’s Name: JE
Date of Birth: XX/XX/XX
Dates of Hearing: 11/17/08, 12/9/08, 12/10/08, 2/3/09, 2/5/09, 2/6/09
CLOSED HEARING
ODR No. 9301/08-09 KE
Parties to the Hearing: Parents
Mr. & Mrs.
School District
Boyertown Area
911 Montgomery Avenue Boyertown, PA 19512-9699
Representative:
Parent Attorney
Frederick Stanczak, Esq. 179 North Broad Street Doylestown, PA 18901
School District Attorney
Mark Fitzgerald, Esq.
Fox, Rothschild, LL.P .
10 Sentry Parkway, Suite 200 P.O. Box 3001
Blue Bell, PA 19422-3001
Date Record Closed: March 4, 2009
Date of Decision: March 19, 2008
Hearing Officer: Anne L. Carroll, Esq.
INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Student , who is IDEA eligible due to Asperger’s Syndrome and learning disabilities, was educated at [REDACTED] School, an approved private school (APS), via a Boyertown Area School District placement from the time he and his Parents moved into the District through the end of the 2007/2008 school year. Contending that School had become inappropriate for Student by the end of Student’s 9th grade year, Parents sought an alternative placement from the District during the summer of 2008. When the parties could not agree upon a District-provided placement by the beginning of the 2008/2009 school year, Parents unilaterally enrolled Student at [REDACTED] Current School, a private college for students with leaning differences. Parents then filed a due process complaint seeking reimbursement for tuition and transportation costs.
The hearing was held over six sessions from mid-November 2008 through the first week of February 2009. For the reasons which follow, I find that Boyertown Area School District did not offer Student an appropriate special education program and placement for the 2008/2009 school year, and will award Parents reimbursement for tuition and for the cost of transporting Student to Current School.
ISSUES
Is the Boyertown Area School District required to reimburse Student’s Parents for the costs of tuition at Current School for the 2008/2009 school year, and for their transportation costs?
- Was the program offered for the 2008/2009 school year by Boyertown Area School District’s designee, School, appropriate for Student?
- Is Student’s program/placement at Current School appropriate for him?
- Are there any equitable reasons to deny or reduce reimbursement?