Georgia Ass'n of Retarded Citizens v. McDaniel, Civ. A. No. C78-1950A.

Decision Date03 April 1981
Docket NumberCiv. A. No. C78-1950A.
PartiesGEORGIA ASSOCIATION OF RETARDED CITIZENS, individually and in behalf of its members and class; Russell Caine, individually and in behalf of others similarly situated, by and through his parents and next friends, L. Douglas Caine and Virginia Caine; and L. Douglas Caine and Virginia Caine, individually and in behalf of others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Dr. Charles McDANIEL, in his official capacity as State Superintendent of Schools and individually; Roy A. Hendricks, A. J. McClung, Mrs. Saralyn Oberdorfer, James F. Smith, Hollis Lathem, Thomas K. Vann, Jr., Pat G. Kjorlaug, Larry A. Foster, Sr., Asbury Stembridge, and Carolyn Huseman, in their official capacities as State Board of Education members and individually; the State Board of Education, State of Georgia; Dr. Sylvester Rains, in his official capacity as Superintendent of the Savannah-Chatham County Board of Education and individually; Dr. Donald Knapp, Dr. Martha Fay, Rev. William F. Stokes, II, Emma Adler, Captain Robert Funk, Ester F. Garrison, Spencer Lawton, Jr., Betty McClenden, and Dr. Robert Moreland, Jr., in their official capacities as members of the Savannah-Chatham Board of Education and individually; and the Savannah-Chatham Board of Education, Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Jonathan A. Zimring, John L. Cromartie, Jr., Michael Morris, Atlanta, Ga., Lawrence Ringer and Rose Firestein, for plaintiffs.

Alfred L. Evans, Jr., Atlanta, Ga., Griffin B. Bell, Jr., Savannah, Ga., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

HORACE T. WARD, District Judge.

I. Introduction.
A. Description of the Case

This is a class action lawsuit to redress an alleged deprivation of rights under the Education for All Handicapped Children Act ("Handicapped Act"), 20 U.S.C. § 1401 et seq.; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ("Section 504"), as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 794; the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment; the Adequate Program for Education in Georgia Act, Ga.Code Ann. § 32-601a et seq.; and the Georgia Constitution. This court's jurisdiction is invoked pursuant to 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e) and 28 U.S.C. § 1343.

The named plaintiffs are the Georgia Association of Retarded Citizens ("GARC"), a nonprofit statewide organization created to promote the interests of mentally retarded citizens of all ages; Russell Caine, a profoundly mentally retarded child; and L. Douglas and Virginia Caine, Russell's parents. The defendants are the State Superintendent of Schools, the State Board of Education, and the individual members of the State Board of Education ("state defendants"). Also named as defendants are the Superintendent of the Savannah-Chatham School System, the Savannah-Chatham Board of Education, and the individual members of the Savannah-Chatham Board of Education ("local defendants").

In essence, plaintiffs contend that defendants have policies or practices of refusing to consider the needs of mentally retarded children for educational terms in excess of the traditional 180-day school year. They contend that Russell Caine and certain other identified members of the class have shown a need for such additional schooling but that defendants, pursuant to their policies and practices, have refused to provide it. It is plaintiffs' position that these policies and practices of the defendants violate the rights of the plaintiffs under the Handicapped Act, as well as violating their rights under Section 504, the United States Constitution, and state law. They seek injunctive relief against the continued application of the policy and a mandatory injunction requiring the provision of extended school years to the named plaintiffs and certain other members of the class. Plaintiffs also seek a declaratory judgment pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2201 that the policies of the defendants violate the above-cited statutory and constitutional provisions.

The defendants, on the other hand, contend that they have no policy or practice precluding consideration of a child's need for education beyond the traditional 180 days. They argue that the named plaintiffs and other identified members of the class have shown no need for an extended school year, and that in any event, the Handicapped Act does not require them to provide any more than 180 days of schooling. Defendants have filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings as to all of plaintiffs' claims other than the claim under the Handicapped Act. The local defendants have additionally filed a motion to dismiss the individually named defendants as parties to this action and, with the state defendants, motions to redefine the class.

B. History of the Case

This matter was initiated in early 1978 by Mr. and Mrs. Caine's appeal of a decision by the local school board denying their request that the school system provide Russell with a 12-month educational program. An administrative hearing was held before the Chatham County Hearing Review Board on April 18, 1978, and the Caines subsequently received an adverse decision. The parents timely appealed to the State Board of Education in May of 1978, and the State Board ruled against them in October, 1978. The Caines then filed this action for review pursuant to the Handicapped Act in November of 1978, joining other legal and factual issues. In June, 1979, an evidentiary hearing on plaintiffs' motion for preliminary relief and for class certification was held before the Honorable Harold Murphy of this court.

Judge Murphy denied the plaintiffs' motion for preliminary relief the following month on two grounds. The court found that plaintiffs had not demonstrated so substantial a threat of irreparable injury as to merit the entry of preliminary relief, and also that a preliminary injunction would disserve the public interest. In that same order, Judge Murphy certified this matter as a class action on behalf of two separate classes. The first class was defined as follows: "All handicapped children of school age in the state of Georgia who are mentally retarded, and who, because of their special needs, require more than 180 days of public school programming of special education and related services." Members of this class, whose parents testified at the trial, include — other than Russell CaineChristopher Hodgson, Keith Jenny, and Anthony Jackson, all severely mentally retarded children from Chatham County. The second class was composed of the parents or guardians of all children in the first class.

Following transfer of the case to this judge, it was tried without a jury in the summer of 1980. Requiring three (3) weeks of testimony, the trial produced approximately 30 witnesses, many of whom were experts, and thousands of pages of exhibits for the court's consideration. The matters in dispute are highly emotional and were hotly contested by both sides.

C. Issues Presented

The central issue raised by this action is whether Russell Caine, a profoundly mentally retarded child, and other members of the class he represents are entitled to be considered for or to receive more than 180 days of free public education in order for the state appropriately to meet its obligations under applicable federal and state statutes. In order to decide this question, the court must consider several more specific issues, the most important of which are the following: (1) whether the local and state defendants, or either of them, maintain a policy or practice of failing to consider or provide for the needs of mentally retarded children for education in excess of 180 days per school year; (2) whether, if the policy or practice is found to exist, it violates applicable federal or state statutes; and (3) whether the evidence shows that the named plaintiff or other members of the class suffered a sufficient degree of regression or other detrimental effects from the breaks in educational programming to demonstrate a need for an extended school year. The court must also determine whether the Handicapped Act and Section 504 can both be applied in this action, and consider the applicability of the other statutory and constitutional provisions alleged to have been violated.

II. Findings of Fact
A. Background

Mental retardation is a condition in which an individual's intellectual functioning skills are substantially below those of an average person of the same age. The degree of mental retardation can vary from the mildly or educably mentally retarded, whose intelligence quotients range between 70 and 50 and who may become independent, productive members of society, to the profoundly or severely mentally retarded ("PSMR") whose I.Q.'s are generally below 30 and who may have to be fully supervised for their entire lives. Many mentally retarded children lack basic living skills and have physical handicaps as well. This is more likely to be true the greater the degree of mental retardation, and particularly common with PSMR children. Plaintiff Russell Caine and the members of his class identified above are PSMR children.

Because of community fears and a belief that they could not be educated, mentally retarded children were historically excluded from the public schools in Georgia and the rest of the United States. Many were institutionalized for their entire lives. Even though the treatment of the mentally retarded improved with time, early school programs providing services for the mentally retarded still did not include the PSMR child. When school-like services were finally provided for PSMR children, it was in the form of year-round segregated training centers which fell below the standards of public schools in many respects. In Chatham County, the St. Johns Training Center was operated by the Chatham Association for Retarded Citizens with the financial support of the Georgia Department of Human Resources to provide services for PSMR children on a...

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