Y.B. v. Bd. of Educ. of Prince George's Cnty.

• Decision Date: 07 September 2012
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. DKC 12–0278.
• Citation: 895 F.Supp.2d 689
• Parties: Y.B. et al. v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

895 F.Supp.2d 689

Y.B. et al.

v.BOARD OF EDUCATION OF PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY et al.

Civil Action No. DKC 12–0278.

United States District Court,

D. Maryland.

Sept. 7, 2012.

Mark B. Martin, Law Offices of Mark B. Martin, Baltimore, MD, for Y.B. et al.

Abbey Gail Hairston, Thatcher Law Firm LLC, Greenbelt, MD, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

DEBORAH K. CHASANOW, District Judge.

Presently pending and ready for resolution in this action arising under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (“IDEA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1400 et seq., is the motion for summary judgment filed by Defendants Board of Education of Prince George's County (“the Board”) and Dr. William Hite (collectively, “Defendants”) (ECF No. 9). The relevant issues have been briefed, and the court now rules pursuant to Local Rule 105.6, no hearing being deemed necessary. For the reasons that follow, the motion will be granted.

I. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

The IDEA and its accompanying regulations, 34 C.F.R. §§ 300 et seq., require all states that receive federal funds for education to provide each child between the ages of three and twenty-one, who has a disability, with a free, appropriate public education (“FAPE”). 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(1)(A). Maryland's regulations governing the provision of a FAPE to children with disabilities in accordance with the IDEA are found in the Code of Maryland Regulations beginning at 13A § 05.01.

The FAPE guaranteed by the IDEA must provide a disabled child with meaningful access to the educational process. Bd. of Educ. of the Hendrick Hudson Cent. Sch. Dist. v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 192, 102 S.Ct. 3034, 73 L.Ed.2d 690 (1982). The FAPE must be reasonably calculated to confer “some educational benefit” on the disabled child. Sumter Cnty. Sch. Dist. 17 v. Heffernan ex rel. T.H., 642 F.3d 478, 484 (4th Cir.2011). The benefit must also be provided in the least restrictive environment (“LRE”) appropriate to the child's needs, with the disabled child participating to the “maximum extent appropriate” in the same activities as his or her non-disabled peers. 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(5)(A); see also34 C.F.R. § 300.114. The IDEA does not require that a school district provide a disabled child with the best possible education, Rowley, 458 U.S. at 192, 102 S.Ct. 3034, or that the education maximize each child's potential, Hartmann by Hartmann v. Loudoun Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 118 F.3d 996, 1001 (4th Cir.1997). The benefit conferred, however, must amount to more than trivial progress. See Reusch v. Fountain, 872 F.Supp. 1421, 1425 (D.Md.1994) (explaining that Rowley's “some educational benefit prong will not be met by the provision of de minimis, trivial learning opportunities.” (citing Hall v. Vance Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 774 F.2d 629, 635 (4th Cir.1985))).

To assure delivery of a FAPE, the IDEA requires a school district to provide an appropriate Individualized Education Program (“IEP”) for each child determined to be learning disabled. 20 U.S.C. § 1414(d). That IEP is formulated by a team (“IEP team”) consisting of the parents or guardian of the child, a representative of the school district, the student's regular and special education teachers, an individual who can interpret results of evaluations of the student, and, when appropriate, the student himself. 20 U.S.C. § 1414(d)(1)(B); Md.Code Regs. 13A § 05.01.07(A). The IEP must state the student's current educational status, annual goals for the student's education, which special educational services and other aids will be provided to the child to meet those goals, and the extent to which the child will be “mainstreamed,” i.e., spend time in regular school environments with non-disabled students. 20 U.S.C. § 1414(d)(1)(A).

The IDEA provides a series of procedural safeguards “designed to ensure that the parents or guardian of a child with a disability are both notified of decisions affecting their child and given an opportunity to object to those decisions.” MM ex rel. DM v. Sch. Dist. of Greenville Cnty., 303 F.3d 523, 527 (4th Cir.2002) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); see generally20 U.S.C. § 1415. Among those safeguards, a parent must be provided prior written notice of a decision to propose or change the educational placement of a student. Md.Code Regs. 13A § 05.01.13(B). A parent may also request a meeting at any time to review and, as appropriate, revise the student's IEP. Id. § 05.01.08(B)(3).

If the parents are not satisfied with the IEP, they may “present complaints with respect to any matter related to the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child, or the provision of a [FAPE] to such child.” 20 U.S.C. § 1415(b)(6). After such a complaint has been received, the parents also are entitled to request a due process hearing conducted by the state or local educational agency. Id. § 1415(f). In Maryland, the Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings (“OAH”) conducts the due process hearing. Md.Code Ann., Educ. § 8–413(d); Md.Code Regs. 13A § 05.01.15(C)(1). Any party can then appeal the administrative ruling to federal or state court. Md.Code Ann., Educ. § 8–413(j).

When a FAPE is not provided to a disabled student, the student's parents may seek an award of “compensatory education.” G. ex rel. R.G. v. Fort Bragg Dependent Schs., 324 F.3d 240, 253–54 (4th Cir.2003). These educational services are “ordered by the court to be provided prospectively to compensate for a past deficientprogram,” i.e., the school system's failure to provide the student with a FAPE. Id. at 253.

II. BackgroundA. Factual Background

Y.B. was born in Tver, Russia in 1992. After Russian authorities identified his parents as neglectful and they relinquished their parental rights, Y.B. lived briefly with relatives before being sent to live in various orphanages. In July 2003, when Y.B. was eleven years old, R.B. and G.B. (“Y.B.'s parents”) adopted him in what was considered a high-risk international adoption.¹

R.B. and G.B. initially enrolled Y.B. in a Catholic school, but they transferred him to the Prince George's County school system following his second semester of sixth grade. By his eighth grade year, Y.B. had begun receiving special education services based on his diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Subsequent evaluations also determined that Y.B. suffered from depressive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and reactive attachment disorder.

As a result of these evaluations, an IEP was developed for Y.B. in August 2007. Y.B. began his ninth grade year that fall at Gwynn Park High School (“Gwynn Park”). At the beginning of the spring semester, Y.B.'s grades slipped, and his parents decided to enroll him in the partial hospital program at Fort Belvoir's DeWitt Army Community Hospital beginning in March 2008. In this outpatient program, Y.B. attended school each weekday and received special education services pursuant to his IEP. He also received individual and group counseling and substance abuse counseling for alcohol and marijuana abuse as part of the program.²

A dispute subsequently arose between Y.B.'s parents and the Board regarding Y.B.'s placement for his tenth grade school year. At a due process hearing in August 2008, the parties agreed to place Y.B. at the Frost School, a non-public day school. Y.B.'s IEP for that year provided for twenty-nine hours and ten minutes of special education services from a special education teacher and three hours and twenty minutes of group therapy from a mental health counselor per week in a private day school. The IEP also identified Y.B.'s primary disability as emotional disturbance resulting from the disorders previously identified. During his first two quarters of the 2008–2009 school year, Y.B. attended school regularly and received A's and B's in all of his courses. He also continued to receive counseling from Dr. Berghman and was involved in family therapy.

Early in the third quarter of the school year, Y.B. began violating the Frost School's rules, running away from home, and he resumed his use of alcohol and marijuana.³ He missed eleven days of school during that quarter and his grades declined significantly. Indeed, during the last quarter of the year, Y.B. did not even receive grades because he missed thirty days of school. ⁴ In May 2009, the Frost School requested a manifest determination review (“MDR”) to determine whether Y.B.'s bad behavior was the result of his disability. At the meeting, which occurred on June 4, 2009, it was determined that Y.B. had received only nine suspensions during the year, instead of the ten suspensions that prompt an MDR. The meeting was then cancelled. That same day, however, a functional behavior assessment was conducted, and Y.B.'s IEP team implemented a behavior intervention plan shortly thereafter.⁵ Due to Y.B.'s repeated violation of school rules and lack of attendance, the Frost School discharged Y.B. at the end of the school year in June 2009. He received half credits for the coursework he had completed during the first two quarters of the school year.

A central IEP (“CIEP”) meeting was held on July 14, 2009. At that meeting, it was recommended that Y.B. continue to receive approximately twenty-nine hours of special education weekly, along with one hour of individual counseling services.⁶ Y.B.'s parents requested that Y.B. be placed in a full-time residential school, but the school system determined that the least restrictive environment for implementing his IEP was a private day school. It then suggested several schools that it believed would be appropriate, including the Leary School in Virginia.⁷ During the meeting, Y.B.'s parents also asked the team to have Y.B. evaluated by a psychologist to determine whether a non-public day school was adequate to meet his educational needs. On July 27, 2009, Y.B. met with Dr. William Young, a psychologist for Prince George's County. Dr. Young concluded that Y.B. was properly characterized...