Manecke v. School Bd. of Pinellas County, Fla.
| Decision Date | 11 June 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-3507,84-3507 |
| Citation | 762 F.2d 912 |
| Parties | , 25 Ed. Law Rep. 119 Richard B. MANECKE, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. SCHOOL BOARD OF PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA, etc., Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
Gardner W. Beckett, Jr., St. Petersburg, Fla., for plaintiffs-appellants.
B. Edwin Johnson, Clearwater, Fla., for defendant-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Before FAY and JOHNSON, Circuit Judges, and DYER, Senior Circuit Judge.
Lauren Manecke, by and through her parents, legal guardians and next friends, Richard and Julia Manecke ("the Maneckes"), brought this action against the Pinellas County School Board ("the Board"). In their amended complaint, the plaintiffs alleged that the Board's failure to provide them with a timely, impartial due process hearing violated their rights under Sec. 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (the Rehabilitation Act), 29 U.S.C. Sec. 794, and 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, and thus entitled them to reimbursement of funds spent to place Lauren in a private residential educational setting. The district court dismissed the amended complaint, holding that damages were not recoverable under either Sec. 504 or Sec. 1983. Manecke v. School Board, 553 F.Supp. 787 (M.D.Fla.1982). Plaintiffs thereafter were granted leave to file their second amended complaint. They again sought tuition reimbursement, this time pursuant to the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA), 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1415. After a two day bench trial, the district court found in favor of the Board. This appeal followed. For the reasons which follow, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand this case to the district court.
Lauren Manecke had suffered brain damage at birth. As a result, she was epileptic and also exhibited other mental and emotional handicaps. Despite these problems, Lauren had been enrolled in "regular" school programs supplemented with special education classes until February, 1979, when her then current high school placement came to a halt.
Lauren left the high school with a thirty-two year old man with whom she was having a sexual relationship. She stayed with him away from her home for six days. Both before and after this episode, Lauren acted in a sexually provocative manner. It seems she employed sex as a means of asserting her independence and maturity.
When Lauren returned from her stay with the older man, her parents withdrew her from the high school she was attending and enrolled her in a small private school. Mrs. Manecke thereafter requested that the Board enroll Lauren in a county special education school. The Board agreed, and Lauren commenced attending classes at the Nina Harris School for exceptional children ("Nina Harris") in September, 1979. Lauren was evaluated and classified as emotionally handicapped and physically impaired. Before she began at Nina Harris, an individual education program ("IEP") for Lauren was developed by the Board in conjunction with her parents. See infra note 4 and accompanying text.
Lauren seemed to be adjusting well to Nina Harris: she was making adequate academic progress, appeared well-behaved, and participated in some extracurricular social activities. The quality of Lauren's homelife, however, was rapidly deteriorating. She fought incessantly with family members, especially her mother and younger brother.
On December 19, 1979, Mrs. Manecke wrote Dr. Howard J. Hinesley, the Board's Assistant Superintendent for Exceptional Student Education. In a two page typewritten letter, Mrs. Manecke expressed her concern over Lauren's emotionally charged behavior, and the Maneckes' desire to place Lauren in an out-of-state residential facility. 1 Mrs. Manecke attached to the typewritten letter a handwritten note requesting a due process hearing on the issue of Lauren's appropriate educational placement.
Dr. Hinesley forwarded copies of the letter and request for due process hearing to the school district's attorney. Dr. Hinesley assumed that the attorney's office would take any necessary action relative to the due process hearing.
Mrs. Manecke sent a copy of her December 19, 1979, correspondence to the Florida Commission of Education. In response, Diane Wells, an administrator with that agency, instructed Dr. Hinesley to mediate the dispute between the Board and the Maneckes; he was specifically advised to avoid resort to more formal procedures. The Maneckes, Dr. Hinesley and Mr. Delp met on February 13, 1980. The Maneckes stated that because of Lauren's intractability, they believed residential placement was necessary. Dr. Hinesley and Mr. Delp, however, expressed their belief that the Board was providing Lauren with an appropriate education at Nina Harris. Consequently, it was their position that the expense of residential placement need not be borne by the school board.
The Maneckes suggested that Dr. Hinesley and Mr. Delp meet with Dr. Andriola, Lauren's treating neurologist, and Dr. John Mann, an adolescent psychologist. Dr. Hinesley acceded to this request, and, on March 12, 1980, the meeting was held. The Maneckes asked if this meeting was their due process hearing and if their attorney should be present. Dr. Hinesley responded that the meeting was merely an informal effort to resolve the dispute over Lauren's placement. Although Dr. Hinesley did not waiver in his belief that the Board was not required to pay for Lauren's placement in a residential facility, he did end the meeting by promising to furnish the Maneckes with information concerning sundry residential facilities.
Immediately after this meeting, the Maneckes were contacted by the Devereux School for exceptional children. They were told that Devereux, which is located in Texas, had a rare residential placement vacancy which Lauren could fill if she were promptly enrolled. The Maneckes agreed to Devereux's terms and withdrew Lauren from Nina Harris on March 21, 1980. The Board was not informed why Lauren was removed from school. The Maneckes then enrolled Lauren in Devereux.
Mrs. Manecke later complained to the United States Office of Civil Rights (OCR) that the Board unlawfully refused to place Lauren in a residential facility because of her age. As a result of that agency's mediation efforts, the Board, in July of 1980, sent Lauren's parents a standard request for due process hearing form. Although the Maneckes received it, it was never returned to the Board. The OCR dropped the age discrimination charge in December, 1980. The OCR did, however, order the Board to hold a due process hearing. The hearing, scheduled for January 26, 1981, was cancelled by the Maneckes.
The gravamen of plaintiffs' two-count amended complaint, brought under Sec. 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 794, and the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, was that the board's failure to provide them with a due process hearing on the issue of Lauren's educational placement within 45 days of Mrs. Manecke's December 19, 1979 request, see 34 C.F.R. 300.512, necessitated their unilateral transfer of Lauren to a residential facility. The relief they sought was an order requiring the Board to reimburse them for Lauren's tuition at Devereux and other expenses.
The Board did not answer the amended complaint; instead, it filed a motion to dismiss. The Board argued that: (1) Sec. 504 did not authorize an award of damages to a private litigant; (2) even if it did, the Maneckes waived their rights under that statute; and (3) plaintiffs could not employ Sec. 1983 as a basis for recovery because doing so constituted an "end run" around the administrative process established in the EHA.
The district court accepted the Board's position on Sec. 504, concluding that there is no private right of action for damages under that statute. Manecke, 553 F.Supp. at 790. With respect to the Sec. 1983 count, the court essentially held that allowing plaintiffs to pursue that damage claim would be inconsistent with its ruling that a private plaintiff is entitled only to injunctive or declaratory relief under Sec. 504. Id. at 791. The district court therefore dismissed the amended complaint.
Because the court hinted that the plaintiffs could state a claim under the EHA, see id. at 790 n. 4, the plaintiffs moved for leave to amend the complaint to allege a violation of that Act. The court granted the motion, plaintiffs' second amended complaint was filed, and a two-day bench trial was held on the EHA claim.
The district court, relying on Powell v. Defore, 699 F.2d 1078 (11th Cir.1983), and Anderson v. Thompson, 658 F.2d 1205 (7th Cir.1981), held that plaintiffs were not entitled to relief under the EHA. 2 This appeal followed.
On appeal, the Maneckes essentially contend that: (1) the district court erred in dismissing the amended complaint brought alternatively under Sec. 504 and Sec. 1983; (2) the district court erred in applying the Powell-Anderson test for damages under the EHA to the facts of this case; and (3) the district court exceeded its authority under the EHA by effectively conducting its own impartial due process hearing. After a brief overview of the EHA, we will address these contentions seriatim.
The EHA provides public school districts with federal funding for the education of handicapped children so long as the 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1412(1). A "free appropriate public education" is defined as "special education and related services" which, inter alia, are provided in conformity with the IEP. 4 Id. Sec. 1401(18). The IEP serves to tailor the "free appropriate public education" mandated by the Act "to the unique needs of the handicapped child." Board of Education v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 181, 102 S.Ct ...
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