Pennsylvania
Special Education Hearing Officer
DECISION
Child’s Name: T.E.
Date of Birth: [redacted]
Dates of Hearing: October 31, 2012 December 7, 2012 December 18, 2012
CLOSED HEARING
ODR Case # 3472-1213KE
Parties to the Hearing: Parents
Cumberland Valley School District 6746 Carlisle Pike Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Representative:
Vivian Narehood, Esq. Gibbel, Kraybill & Hess 41 East Orange Street Lancaster, PA 17602
Mark Walz, Esq.
Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams 331 East Butler Avenue
P.O. Box 5069
New Britain, PA 18901
Date Record Closed: January 14, 2013
Date of Decision: January 22, 2013
Hearing Officer: Jake McElligott, Esquire
INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Student is a [teenaged] student residing in the Cumberland Valley School District (“District”). The parties do not dispute whether the student qualifies as a student with a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Improvement Act of 2004 (“IDEIA”)1. Parents claim that the District owes the parents tuition reimbursement for a unilateral private placement undertaken for the 2012-2013 school year because the District’s proposed program and placement is not designed to provide a free appropriate public education (“FAPE”) to the student. The District counters that its 2012-2013 program and placement provide FAPE to the student and, as such, parents are not entitled to tuition reimbursement.
For the reasons set forth below, I find in favor of the District.
ISSUES
Are the parents entitled to tuition reimbursement for the unilateral private placement undertaken for the 2012-2013 school year?
T-E-Cumberland-Valley-ODRNo-3472-1213KE