Pennsylvania
Special Education Hearing Officer

FINAL DECISION AND ORDER

Student’s Name: L.R.

Date of Birth: [redacted]

ODR No. 15236-1415KE

CLOSED HEARING

Parties to the Hearing: Parent[s]

Penn Manor School District 2950 Charlestown Road Lancaster, PA 17603

Representative:

Vivian Narehood, Esq. Gibbel, Kraybill & Hess, LLP 41 East Orange Street Lancaster, PA 17602

Kimberly Colonna, Esq. McNees, Wallace & Nurick, LLC 100 Pine Street, PO Box 1166 Harrisburg, PA 17108-1166

Dates of Hearing: 09/09/2014, 09/23/2014, 10/24/2014, 11/26/2014

Record Closed: 12/19/2014

Date of Decision: 01/05/2015

Hearing Officer: Brian Jason Ford

Introduction

This matter concerns the educational rights of a student with disabilities (Student). The Student’s parents (Parents) requested a due process hearing, alleging that the Penn Manor School District (District) did not give the Student a free appropriate public education (FAPE) during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years. The Parents demand compensatory education to remedy that denial. The Parents also allege that the District did not offer a FAPE to the Student for the 2014-15 school year. The Parents enrolled the Student in a private school for the 2014-15 school year, and seek tuition reimbursement from the District. Further, the Parents seek an order that would allow them to use any award of compensatory education to pay for the private school, in addition to the tuition reimbursement that they demand. This would enable the Parents to continue the Student’s enrollment in the private school at the District’s expense after any award of tuition reimbursement expired.

Conclusion

The District denied the Student a FAPE for the entirety of the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years. The District knew or had reason to know that the Student was not receiving a FAPE from the start of the 2012-13 school year. Full days of compensatory education are awarded to remedy that denial, but that compensatory education may not be applied to the cost of private school tuition except as ordered below.

Further, the District’s offered program and placement for the 2014-15 school year is not appropriate, [Private School] is appropriate, and equities do not mitigate against tuition reimbursement. Consequently, the Parents are entitled to tuition reimbursement for [Private School] during the 2014-15 school year.

L-R-Penn-Manor-ODRNo-15236-1415KE

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