Pennsylvania
Special Education Hearing Officer

DECISION

Student’s Name: L.P.

Date of Birth: [redacted]

ODR No. 1729-10-11-KE

CLOSED HEARING

Parties to the Hearing: Parent[s]

Lower Merion School District 301 East Montgomery Avenue Ardmore, PA 19003-3338

Representative:

Sandra Wang, Esquire
1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, 2d Floor Philadelphia, PA 19103

Gail A. Weilheimer, Esquire Wisler Pearlstine LLP
Blue Bell Executive Campus 460 Norristown Road, Suite 110 Blue Bell, PA 19422

Date of Hearing: June 7, 2011

Record Closed: June 21, 2011

Date of Decision: July 6, 2011

Hearing Officer: William F. Culleton, Jr., Esquire

INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Student is an eligible resident of the Lower Merion School District (District), and attended elementary school within the District at all relevant times. (1NT 80-82.)1 Student is identified with Specific Learning Disability and Speech and Language Impairment, pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. §1401 et seq. (IDEA). (1NT 81-83.) The District filed the present due process request under the IDEA to defend its evaluation after the Parents2 requested an independent educational evaluation (IEE). The District asserts that it has evaluated Student appropriately, and Parents assert that the evaluation was not appropriate. In addition, the District asserts that Parents did not disagree with the District’s evaluation and thus are not entitled to an IEE.

The hearing was conducted in one session and the record closed upon receipt of written summations.3 I conclude that the District’s evaluation was appropriate and that Parents are not entitled to an IEE at public expense.

ISSUES

1. Was the District’s evaluation of the Student appropriate?

2. Should the hearing officer order the District to provide an independent educational evaluation at public expense?

L-P-Lower-Merion-ODRNo-1729-10-11-KE

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