LC vs. School District of Philadelphia

Background

Student is a xx-year-old young woman who graduated from a School District of Philadelphia (hereinafter District) high school in June 2004. From kindergarten on Student has been identified as an eligible student with learning disabilities in need of learning support. Ms. [redacted] Student’s mother (hereinafter Parent) asserts that Student has never been provided with a free appropriate public education (FAPE), specifically in the areas of reading and mathematics, during the entire time Student was a student in the District. The Parent also asserts that Student was not provided with an appropriate transition plan from the time Student turned 16 years old, and that this is a detriment to Student at the present time. The Parent requests compensatory education for the two-year period prior to her original filing for due process in April 2005, in accord with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA).

The District asserts that it provided Student with special education programs designed to meet Student’s needs and that Student made “steady progress although …not substantial progress” (NT 13). The District also asserts that it provided Student with a vocational program in high school to aid Student‘s transition. Should the hearing officer find that compensatory education is due, the District asks that a one-year limitation period back from April 2005 be imposed given that the District and the Parent agreed to honor that filing date, and the recovery period at that time under Montour School District v. S. T., 805 A.2d 29, 40 (Commw. Ct. 2002) was one year absent mitigating circumstances.