Lagares v. Camdenton R-III School Dist.

• Decision Date: 18 December 2001
• Docket Number: No. WD 59162.,WD 59162.
• Citation: 68 S.W.3d 518
• Parties: Dennis LAGARES, Sherry Lagares, and Dennis Lagares, Jr., a minor, by and through Dennis and Sherry Lagares, his parents and next friends, Appellant, v. CAMDENTON R-III SCHOOL DISTRICT, Respondent.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

68 S.W.3d 518

Dennis LAGARES, Sherry Lagares, and Dennis Lagares, Jr., a minor, by and through Dennis and Sherry Lagares, his parents and next friends, Appellant, v. CAMDENTON R-III SCHOOL DISTRICT, Respondent.

No. WD 59162.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.

December 18, 2001.

Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to Supreme Court Denied January 29, 2002.

Application for Transfer Denied March 19, 2002.

Michael H. Finkelstein, Jefferson City, for appellants.

James G. Thomeczek, for respondent.

Before SPINDEN, P.J./C.J., BRECKENRIDGE and NEWTON, JJ.

PATRICIA BRECKENRIDGE, Judge.

Dennis Lagares and Sherry Lagares, individually and as next friends for their minor son, Dennis Lagares, Jr., (Dennis), appeal the circuit court's judgment affirming the decision of a three-member due process hearing panel of the state board of education. The panel determined that Camdenton R-III School District (District) had provided Dennis a free appropriate public education as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C § 1400 et seq.¹ On appeal, the Lagareses claim that the panel erred in finding that a free appropriate public education had been provided to Dennis because the panel failed to apply Missouri's standard for making that determination, and instead applied a lower federal standard. Second, the Lagareses argue that even if the lower federal standard applied, the panel's finding that the District provided Dennis a free appropriate public education under that standard was against the weight of the evidence, because the education provided was "trivial and de minimis and did not provide him with an educational benefit." Because this court finds that the panel utilized the incorrect standard in deciding whether the District provided Dennis a free appropriate public education, the judgment of the circuit court affirming the panel's decision is reversed, and the cause is remanded.

Factual and Procedural Background

Dennis was born on October 31, 1985. He began attending school in the Camdenton R-III School District in 1991, when he started kindergarten. Dennis achieved satisfactory grades on the majority of his reading and math skills tested in kindergarten, and a standardized test Dennis took that year showed that his reading achievement was better than 89 percent of the national norm. After the first half of Dennis' first-grade year, however, Dennis' teacher reported that he was below his grade level in reading. Nevertheless, Dennis' report card at the end of his first-grade year indicated at least average achievement in all of his subjects except spelling and math, and Dennis was passed to the second grade.

In the second grade, Dennis was placed in Chapter I, a special reading program. Dennis' report card that year indicated at least average achievement in all of his subjects, and Dennis was passed to the third grade. Dennis remained in the Chapter I reading program in third grade. Dennis' third-grade report card indicated that he was at least progressing, if not meeting expectations, in all of his subjects, and he was passed on to the fourth grade.

Before the start of Dennis' fourth-grade year, Ms. Lagares met with the principal of Dennis' school, Richard Hodits. Ms. Lagares expressed concern to Mr. Hodits over low scores Dennis received in several areas on the Missouri Mastery and Achievement Test (MMAT), a standardized test Dennis took at the end of his second- and third-grade years. On the second-grade MMAT, Dennis received a low rating in the areas of reading, language arts, and interpretation and problem solving, and a medium rating in the area of numerical concepts. On the third-grade MMAT, Dennis received a medium rating only in the area of geometry and measurement, and a low rating in the remaining areas of reading, language arts, numerical concepts, and interpretation and problem solving. Mr. Hodits suggested that Dennis remain in the special reading program.

Instead of keeping Dennis in the special reading program, Ms. Lagares had a licensed psychologist, Jeanette A. Williams, Ph.D., evaluate Dennis to assess the educational problems he had been having, particularly with reading. Dr. Williams administered one test that measured Dennis' intellectual functioning. Dennis' scores on that test indicated that Dennis' intellectual functioning was within the average range. The other test Dr. Williams gave Dennis measured his reading skills. On that test, Dennis' scores indicated that his reading skills were over one grade level behind the average of others in his grade.

After receiving Dr. Williams' assessment, Ms. Lagares requested that the District evaluate Dennis. The District determined, and Ms. Lagares agreed, that Dennis needed to be evaluated in his social, emotional, and behavioral development, and in his academic performance. The District evaluated Dennis, and on November 13, 1995, concluded that Dennis had a learning disability in the areas of basic reading skills and written expression.

After Dennis was identified as having a learning disability, the District formulated an Individual Education Program (IEP) outlining modifications to be made to Dennis' education to improve his basic reading and written expression skills. The IEP detailed objectives for Dennis, and dates on which Dennis would be evaluated to determine if he was meeting those objectives. The IEP noted that the best placement for Dennis was to spend the majority of time in the regular education classroom, with supplementary services to aid him in the regular classroom. Dennis was also to have one-on-one time every day with a special education teacher.

The District and the Lagareses reviewed Dennis' IEP in January 1996, and again in March 1996. In April 1996, the Lagareses notified the District that they intended to place Dennis in a summer school program at Churchill School, a private school in St. Louis for the learning disabled. The Lagareses requested that the District reimburse them for Dennis' tuition for summer school at Churchill. After another IEP review meeting in May 1996, the District offered Dennis summer school through its Summer Academy program. The Lagareses sent Dennis to summer school at Churchill.

During the summer, the District notified the Lagareses that it wished to have Dennis reevaluated by an independent agency in all areas of concern. The Lagareses rejected the reevaluation, and instead demanded that Dennis' teachers at Churchill provide an evaluation to the District.

At the beginning of Dennis' fifth-grade year in September 1996, the District modified Dennis' IEP to incorporate many of Churchill's recommendations. In preparation for another IEP review meeting in October 1996, Ms. Lagares sent a letter containing 28 specific directives she desired to have included in the IEP. Prior to the October 1996 IEP review meeting, however, the Lagareses withdrew Dennis from the District. When the Lagareses withdrew Dennis, he was achieving passing grades. The Lagareses home schooled Dennis for the remainder of his fifth-grade year.

On November 6, 1997, the Lagareses requested a due process hearing pursuant to § 162.961, RSMo Cum.Supp.1997. Section 162.961, RSMo Cum.Supp.1997, allows a parent to "request a due process hearing by the state board of education with respect to any matter relating to identification, evaluation, educational placement, or the provision of a free appropriate public education of the child." One of the bases upon which the Lagareses requested the due process hearing was that the District had failed to provide a free appropriate public education for Dennis. Specifically, the Lagareses asserted:

[T]he District has failed to provide an appropriate educational program to [Dennis] including a course of systematic, direct, multisensory instruction daily by an instructor trained in that method in order to educate [Dennis] in the sound structure of the American English language. In so doing the District ignored or disregarded expert professional advice regarding teaching methods and adjustments to [Dennis'] educational program.

The due process hearing was held in the summer of 1998. Following the hearing, the panel issued its findings of fact and conclusions of law on August 14, 1998. In its findings of fact, the panel reviewed Dennis' educational history, beginning with first grade. The panel concluded that Dennis is a child with a disability under the IDEA, in that he has "a specific learning disability in basic reading skill and written expression," and that his disability also "comports with the specific learning disabilities delineated in Missouri law." Because of his disability, Dennis is entitled to a free appropriate public education pursuant to 20 U.S.C. § 1400(c). The panel noted that 20 U.S.C. § 1401(a)(18) defines a free appropriate public education as special education and services that "(1) are provided under public supervision and at public expense without cost to parents; (2) meet the standards of the state educational agency; (3) include an appropriate preschool, elementary, or secondary school education; and (4) are provided in conformity with the individualized education program required by § 1414(a)(5) of the act."

Relying on Foley v. Special School District, 927 F.Supp. 1214 (E.D.Mo.1996), the panel stated that the requirement of a free appropriate public education is met "when the school district provides personalized instruction with sufficient support services to enable the disabled child to benefit educationally from the instruction." The panel noted that "[t]he IDEA does not require that the educational program maximize a student's potential or provide the best education possible," and that "[t]he results need not be superior." The panel declined to consider whether the Missouri standard for determining whether a free appropriate public education has been provided is higher than the federal standard, or even whether the...