D.B. v. Ocean Tp. Bd. of Educ.
| Decision Date | 21 November 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV. A. 96-2361(MLP).,CIV. A. 96-2361(MLP). |
| Citation | 985 F.Supp. 457 |
| Parties | D.B., individually and as Guardian ad litem of R.H., Plaintiff, v. OCEAN TOWNSHIP BOARD OF EDUCATION, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey |
Theodore A. Sussan, Staci Greenwald, Sussan & Greenwald, Spotswood, NJ, for Plaintiff.
Honora O'Brien Kilgallen, Kramer, Kramer & Kilgallen, P.A., Hazlet, NJ, for Defendant.
This case arises under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA" or "the Act"), 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400-1485, and its implementing statute in New Jersey, N.J. Stat. Ann. §§ 18A:46-1 to :46-46.1 The underlying administrative proceeding against the Ocean Township Board of Education ("the school district" or "the district") was commenced on behalf of R.H., a mentally retarded sixteen-year-old girl, by her mother, D.B. ("plaintiff"). Plaintiff claimed that the school district had not fulfilled its statutory obligations to R.H. under IDEA because it declined to place her in a full-time residential facility, and because the format of the proposed Individual Education Program ("IEP") for the 1995-96 school year lacked certain required components. The Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") ordered residential placement and related relief, and the school district appealed to this Court.
Currently before us are: (1) plaintiffs motion for judgment affirming the ALJ's ruling; (2) plaintiffs motion for attorneys' fees; and (3) the school district's motion for judgment in its favor.2 Having reviewed the entire administrative record, the parties having presented no additional evidence at the district court level, we now render our decision on the issues presented.
We conclude that the district has met its burden of demonstrating that the current educational placement and program are appropriate, and that residential placement is not necessary in order to provide R.H. with a free appropriate public education under IDEA. We further find that although the proposed written IEP was procedurally deficient in format, the school district took timely action to address that deficiency under the circumstances, and no declaratory relief should be entered by the Court on that issue. We have also considered whether to make an award of attorneys' fees limited to that issue, and have concluded that in the sound exercise of discretion conferred upon the Court under the Act, no such award should be granted.3
The IDEA, originally known as the Education of the Handicapped Act,4 ("EHA") "represents an ambitious federal effort to promote the education of handicapped children." Board of Educ. of Hendrick Hudson Central School District Westchester County v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 179, 102 S.Ct. 3034, 3037, 73 L.Ed.2d 690 (1982). The Act was passed in order "to assure that all children with disabilities have available to them ... a free appropriate public education which emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs." 20 U.S.C. § 1400(c).
States receiving federal funding under IDEA are required to comply with federal guidelines and regulations established to assure the availability of a "free appropriate public education" (sometimes referred to as FAPE) for all of their disabled children. Id. § 1412(1). They must develop a plan containing the policies and procedures which insure the provision of that right for all children "regardless of the severity of their handicap." Id. § 1412(2)(C).
The Act also requires participating states to educate handicapped children with non-handicapped children whenever possible. Id. § 1412(5); Rowley, 458 U.S. at 202-03, 102 S.Ct. at 3048-49. This congressional mandate, also embodied in federal and state regulations, is known as the "mainstreaming," "inclusion," or "least restrictive environment" requirement of IDEA. See Oberti v. Board of Educ., 995 F.2d 1204, 1206-07, 1213-15 (3d Cir.1993). "The use of `appropriate' in the language of the Act, although by no means definitive, suggests that Congress used the word as much to describe the settings in which handicapped children should be educated as to prescribe the substantive content or supportive services of their education." Rowley, 458 U.S. at 197 n. 21, 102 S.Ct. at 3036 n. 21.
Special education and related services must be tailored to the unique needs of the handicapped child by means of an individualized education program. Id. § 1401(a)(18). The IEP must be reviewed and revised by the local educational agency at least annually. Id. § 1414(a)(5).
New Jersey participates in the federal funding program established by IDEA. That participation is reflected in state statutes, N.J.S.A. §§ 18A:46-1 to :46-46, and regulations, N.J.A.C. §§ 6:28-1 to -11. See Lascari v. Board of Educ., 116 N.J. 30, 34, 560 A.2d 1180, 1182 (1989). The New Jersey statutory scheme provides for the initial evaluation and classification of a child by a "child-study team," consisting of a school psychologist, a learning disabilities teacher-consultant, and a school social worker. Id. at 35, 560 A.2d at 1183 (citing N.J.A.C. § 6:21-3.1(b)). The child-study team determines whether a child is eligible for special education, then develops, monitors, and evaluates the child's IEP. Id. (citing N.J.A.C. § 6:28-3.1(a)). Parents have the right to be involved in the formation of the IEP, and the team must meet with the parents in developing the IEP for the child. Id. (citing N.J.A.C. § 6:28-3.6(b)).
The Act creates significant procedural safeguards for handicapped children and their parents. Whenever the local agency proposes to change, or refuses to change, the identification or evaluation of a child, or the provision of a free appropriate public education to a child, the child's parents or guardian must be notified and must be given the opportunity to present complaints about any such matter. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(b)(1). Parents dissatisfied with their child's IEP are entitled to an "impartial due process hearing," featuring numerous procedural protections. Id. § 1415(b), (d).
These safeguards are meant to "guarantee parents both an opportunity for meaningful input into all decisions affecting their child's education and the right to seek review of any decisions they think inappropriate." Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 305, 311-12, 108 S.Ct. 592, 598, 98 L.Ed.2d 686 (1988). Id. at 311, 108 S.Ct. at 598; see also Rowley, 458 U.S. at 208, 102 S.Ct. at 3052 (...
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