Pennsylvania
Special Education Due Process Hearing Officer
Re: ODR No. 8706/07-08 KE
JR
Bethlehem Area School District
CLOSED HEARING
For the Student:
Angela Uliana-Murphy
Murphy and Murphy
106 North Franklin Street, Suite 2 P.O. Box 97
Pen Argyl, PA 18072
For the School District:
Bethlehem Area School District 1516 Sycamore Street Bethlehem, PA 18017
Rebecca A. Young, Esq.
King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul 1 West Broad Street, Suite 700 Bethlehem, PA 18018
Date of Due Process Hearing Complaint: April 8, 2008
Date of Resolution Meeting: May 8, 2008
Dates of Hearing: June 4, 2008 and June 10, 2008
Date Record Closed: July 7, 2008
Date of Decision July 15, 2008
Hearing Officer: Daniel J. Myers
BACKGROUND
Student is a nonverbal, low-functioning child with autism in the process of transitioning from a partial hospitalization program to a program and placement within the School District. The parties disagree over whether or not Student’s one-to-one assistance must be provided by a single, particular individual dedicated to serving only Student throughout the day or may be provided by one or more different individuals over the course of the day. The parties also disagree over whether Student has been denied a free appropriate public education (FAPE) since April 2006. For the reasons described below, I find that Student’s one-to-one assistance need not be provided by a single, particular individual dedicated to serving only Student throughout the day, and I find that Student was denied FAPE for the 2006-2007 school year and 1⁄2 of the 2007-2008 school year.
ISSUES
- Whether Student’s one-to-one assistance must be provided by a single, particular individual dedicated to serving only Student throughout the day or may be provided by one or more individuals over the course of the day?
- Whether Student has been denied a free appropriate public education since April 2006?