DECISION
Child’s Name: J.M.
Date of Birth: [redacted]
Date of Hearing: December 2, 2014
OPEN HEARING
ODR No. 15522 / 14-15 AS
Parties to the Hearing: Parent[s]
Bensalem Township School District 3000 Donallen Drive
Bensalem, PA 19020
Representative:
Janine Ehsani, Esq. 3041 Shepherd Road Bensalem, PA 19020
David Painter, Esq.
Sweet, Stevens, Katz, & Williams 331 East Butler Avenue
New Britain, PA 18901
Date Record Closed: December 9, 2014
Date of Decision: December 12, 2014
Hearing Officer: Shawn D. Lochinger, Esq.
INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Student currently resides in the Bensalem School District (the “District”). The Student is [early elementary school-aged] and entered the District for the first time in August of 2014. The Student’s Parents suspected the Student to be gifted and informed the District of such. The District issued a “Permission to Screen” form to the Parents so that a screening test could be performed. The Parents refused to sign it on the basis that they had requested a full evaluation, not just a screening. The District, as per its policy, appraised the Student on the rather limited information
it had (and without the standardized screening test) and declared that the Student was not eligible, under its policy, for a full evaluation and was also not eligible for gifted status at the District. The Parents then asked for a Due Process hearing in order to obtain a full evaluation for the Student.
ISSUE
Should the District be required to perform a full Gifted Multidisciplinary Evaluation (“GMDE”) on the Student?
J-M-Bensalem-Township-ODRNo-15522-14-15-AS