M.P. ex rel. K. v. Independent School Dist. 721, 02-2608.

• Decision Date: 16 April 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-2608.,02-2608.
• Citation: 326 F.3d 975
• Parties: M.P., by and through his parents and natural guardians K. and D.P., Appellant, v. INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 721, New Prague; Arlene Pexa, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

326 F.3d 975

M.P., by and through his parents and natural guardians K. and D.P., Appellant, v. INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 721, New Prague; Arlene Pexa, Appellees.

No. 02-2608.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: February 14, 2003.

Filed: April 16, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Margaret O'Sullivan Kane, argued, St. Paul, MN (Amy Jane Goetz, on the brief), for appellant.

James R. Andreen, argued, Minneapolis, MN (Marie C. Skinner and Charles E. Long, on the brief), for appellee.

Before WOLLMAN, HEANEY, and MELLOY, Circuit Judges.

HEANEY, Circuit Judge.

M.P., a disabled student, appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment to the New Prague School District on his claim under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. We affirm the district court on his IDEA claim; remand his Section 504 claim; and find his § 1983 claim to be without merit, and therefore do not address it here.

I. Background

We review the facts of the case in a light most favorable to the appellant. M.P. is a sixteen-year-old student who is schizophrenic. He lives with his parents in New Prague, Minnesota, within the boundaries of the New Prague School District. He attended school in that district until the beginning of the 2000-01 school year, when his parents enrolled him in a public school in the Northfield School District through open enrollment. M.P.'s parents removed him from the New Prague School District because they believed it failed to enforce his rights as a disabled person, and because M.P. faced increased verbal and physical assaults and disability-related discrimination after the District's health para-professional, Arlene Pexa, disclosed M.P.'s schizophrenia to the school community.

During M.P.'s eighth-grade year, his family informed school administrators of his diagnosis. The District initiated a team meeting in February 1999 and developed a Section 504 Accommodation Plan, pursuant to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794, under which M.P.'s teachers were asked to monitor him for anxiety, hypervigilence, and anger management problems. As "modifications," M.P. was placed with other students with comparable abilities, given permission to meet with the school counselor or social worker when needed, and to access the school nurse as needed. As the Section 504 plan was being implemented, the District proposed evaluating M.P. for special education services. His parents consented to this course of action. During the course of the assessment, over a period of weeks, M.P. began taking medication for his schizophrenia, and there was noticeable improvement in his behavior. The assessment team decided that even though M.P. met the state eligibility criteria for emotional/behavioral disorder, special education services were unnecessary. The parents agreed with the assessment team that an individualized educational program (IEP)¹ was not necessary for M.P.

The team amended the Section 504 plan in February 1999, and again in August 1999 to reflect M.P.'s changing needs as a result of his positive response to his new medications. M.P. was provided with extra time to complete tests and access to a learning lab class, and it was determined that the school social worker, Katie Hennessy, would monitor M.P.'s progress and maintain contact with his parents.

On January 10, 2000, the day that Pexa disclosed M.P.'s condition, M.P.'s mother, K.P., reported Pexa's disclosure to Hennessy, who did not investigate the complaint; rather, she took a "wait-and-see" approach to her concern. Within a short period of time, M.P.'s medical information became common knowledge within the student body, and M.P. was verbally and physically harassed by other students. M.P. did not tell his parents he suffered from harassment until April 2000.

Once M.P.'s parents were aware of the abuse, his mother contacted Hennessy and Connie Nicholson, the school principal, about the harassment. K.P. and Nicholson spoke on the phone two to three times a week so that K.P. could report the harassment that M.P. endured. M.P. was called "druggie," "fag," "psycho," "weirdo," "mental kid," "special," "squealer," and "idiot," among other names. Students also shoved M.P.'s head into the drinking fountain, picked him up by his throat, slammed him into lockers, threw him to the floor, shoved, scratched, spit on, and cut him. M.P. never had experienced this treatment by classmates before Pexa's disclosure of his medical information.

No investigation or corrective actions were undertaken during the remainder of the school year to reduce the harassment. During the summer, M.P. was subjected to the same provocations by his peers. His mother made calls to the District throughout the summer to provide additional information to school administrators about the harassment, to express her concern for her son's safety upon his return to school, and to seek solutions for the upcoming year. Because the District did not return her calls, K.P. sent it a letter from M.P.'s treating psychiatrist, Dr. Lea Hogan, to clarify M.P.'s stress about his relations with his peers. On August 29, 2000, K.P. met with district administrators, who offered three solutions to remedy what K.P. perceived to be an intolerable situation, all of which were unacceptable to K.P.: 1) M.P. could arrive late and leave early from his classes; 2) M.P. could attend school half a day and be home-schooled the other half of the day; or 3) M.P. could attend an alternative learning center that catered to students with emotional/behavioral disorders within the district. K.P. discussed the possibility of enrolling M.P. in the Northfield School District with Principal Nicholson, who suggested that the New Prague School District would be able to pay M.P.'s transportation costs to the Northfield high school. K.P. decided to enroll M.P. in the Northfield School District for the 2000-01 school year, and drove M.P. to and from school because the New Prague School District refused to assist with his transportation costs because he was enrolled in a different jurisdiction.

Pursuant to the IDEA, M.P.'s parents filed a request for an administrative hearing on November 28, 2000 before the Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning for violations of M.P.'s rights as a disabled student in the New Prague School District. The District requested and received summary judgment because the independent hearing officer and the hearing review officer agreed that the responsibility for providing M.P. with appropriate educational services rested with his current school district, not the New Prague School District.

M.P.'s parents filed an action in district court against the District and Pexa, alleging that defendants discriminated against M.P. on the basis of his mental handicap in the education environment in violation of IDEA; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act; the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA); Section 1983; the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (MGDPA); and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The district court granted summary judgment in the defendants' favor because M.P.'s IDEA claim was moot since he was no longer enrolled in the New Prague School District; he failed to show the defendants acted with the requisite discriminatory intent to adequately state a claim under Section 504 and the MHRA; he failed to establish the existence of a continuing, widespread, persistent pattern of unconstitutional misconduct under § 1983; there was no connection between Pexa's disclosure and M.P.'s alleged damages to raise a valid claim under the MGDPA; and no private right of action exists under FERPA. M.P. appeals his claims related to IDEA, Section 504, and § 1983.

II. Discussion

We review a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Thompson v. Bd. of the Special Sch. Dist. No. 1, 144 F.3d 574, 578 (8th Cir.1998). After viewing the record in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party, summary judgment is appropriate only where there is no genuine issue of material fact, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id.

A. IDEA

First, this proceeding involves the application and construction of the IDEA, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400-1487. The IDEA provides federal money to state and local education agencies in order to assist them in educating handicapped children on the condition that the states and local agencies implement the substantive and procedural requirements of the Act. The IDEA assures "that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs." § 1400(d)(1)(A). Under the IDEA, a school district is required to provide an IEP for each disabled child. § 1414(d)(2)(A).

The IDEA provides procedural safeguards to permit parental involvement in all matters concerning the child's educational program and allows parents to obtain administrative and judicial review of decisions they deem unsatisfactory or inappropriate. Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 305, 311-12, 108 S.Ct. 592, 98 L.Ed.2d 686 (1988). For example, the IDEA requires that the parents of a disabled child be notified by the school district of any proposed change to their child's IEP. It also requires that the parents or guardian be permitted to participate in discussions relating to their disabled child's evaluation and education. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(b). If the parents or guardian are not satisfied with the IEP, they are entitled to request a due process hearing. § 1415(f). Under the Minnesota implementing statute of the IDEA, a parent may obtain a hearing when he or she objects to a proposed assessment; the transfer or placement of a child; and to the addition, provision, denial or removal of educational services. Minn Stat. § 125A.09 subd. 6. A due process hearing shall be "initiated and...