Pennsylvania
Gifted Education Hearing Officer
DECISION
Child’s Name: J. S.
Date of Birth: [redacted]
OPEN HEARING
ODR File No. 17229-15-16 KE
Parties to the Hearing:
Parents Parent[s]
Local Education Agency Mt. Lebanon School District 7 Horseman Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15228-1107
Representative: Parent Attorney
Kristen C. Weidus, Esquire Ruder Law Office
429 Forbes Avenue
Suite 450
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
LEA Attorney
Patricia R. Andrews, Esquire Andrews & Price
1500 Ardmore Boulevard Suite 506
Pittsburgh, PA 15221
Date of Hearing: April 22, 2016
Date Record Closed: April 27, 2016
Date of Decision: May 13, 2016
Hearing Officer: Cathy A. Skidmore, M.Ed., J.D. Certified Hearing Official
INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The student (hereafter Student)1 is an early teenaged student in the District (District) who has been identified as mentally gifted under Pennsylvania Chapter 16.2 Student’s Parents filed a due process complaint against the District asserting that it denied Student an appropriate education with respect to Student’s acceleration into a mathematics class. A due process hearing convened and concluded over a single session at which the parties presented evidence, four witnesses and a number of exhibits, on whether the District’s provision of Student’s mathematics acceleration was appropriate. After review of the record, and for the reasons set forth below, this hearing officer finds that the District’s gifted program is appropriate for Student, but that it is required to provide additional transportation services.
ISSUE
Whether the District’s manner of providing Student with an accelerated mathematics class is appropriate, or whether it should be directed to provide daily bus transportation to the building where that class is held?
J-S-Mt-Lebanon-ODRNo-17229-15-16-KE