Middleton v. Dist. of Columbia

• Citation: 312 F.Supp.3d 113
• Decision Date: 04 June 2018
• Docket Number: Civil Action No.: 17–88 (RC)
• Parties: Renee MIDDLETON, Plaintiff. v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

312 F.Supp.3d 113

Renee MIDDLETON, Plaintiff.

v.DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No.: 17–88 (RC)

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Signed June 4, 2018

Alana Michelle Hecht, D.C. Disability Law Group, P.C., Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Veronica A. Porter, Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Washington, DC, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT; GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT'S CROSS–MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

RUDOLPH CONTRERAS, United States District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Renee Middleton appeals from a final administrative decision that partly rejected her claim that District of Columbia Public Schools ("DCPS") violated the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA") by failing to provide her son A.T. with a free appropriate public education. Before the Court are the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment. Finding that DCPS fell short of meeting its obligations under the IDEA—primarily by virtue of its unilateral decision to place A.T. in programming inappropriate for his capabilities and needs, a root-deep error that marred other aspects of the formation and implementation of A.T.'s IEPs—the Court grants in part and denies in part both parties' motions and remands this case to the hearing officer for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Statutory Framework

By enacting the IDEA, Congress sought to protect the rights of children with disabilities and parents of such children and to "ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education." 20 U.S.C. § 1400(d)(1)(A), (B). A free appropriate public education, or FAPE, includes "special education" (defined by the Act as "specially designed instruction ... to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability") and "related services" (defined as "transportation, and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services ... as may be required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education"). Id. § 1401(9), (26), (29). Special education and related services must also "meet the standards of the State educational agency." Id. § 1401(9)(B).

Children determined eligible for special education and services under the IDEA receive an "individualized educational program," or IEP. Id. § 1401(9)(D), (14). "The IEP is the means by which special education and related services are ‘tailored to the unique needs’ of a particular child." Endrew F. ex rel. Joseph F. v. Douglas Cty. Sch. Dist., RE–1 , ––– U.S. ––––, 137 S.Ct. 988, 994, 197 L.Ed.2d 335 (2017) (quoting Bd. of Ed. of Hendrick Hudson Cent. Sch. Dist., Westchester Cty. v. Rowley , 458 U.S. 176, 181, 102 S.Ct. 3034, 73 L.Ed.2d 690 (1982) ). Prepared by an "IEP Team"—composed of the child's parents or guardians, the child's teacher, a representative of a local educational agency, and, whenever appropriate, the child, 20 U.S.C. § 1414(d)(1)(B) —the IEP sets out the child's present academic and functional performance, establishes measurable academic and functional goals for the child, and states the special education and related services that will be provided for the child. Id. § 1414(d)(1)(A). For children who are sixteen years old or older, the IEP must also include "appropriate measurable postsecondary goals based upon age appropriate transition assessments" and an explanation of the transition services necessary to assist the child in reaching those goals. Id. § 1414(d)(1)(A)(i)(VIII). The IEP Team reviews the child's IEP at least annually. Id. § 1414(d)(4)(A)(i). And the IEP Team may revise the IEP as appropriate to address the child's anticipated needs, any lack of expected progress toward annual goals, and other matters. Id. § 1414(d)(4)(A)(ii). At a minimum, the IEP must be "reasonably calculated to enable [the] child to make progress appropriate in light of the child's circumstances." Endrew F. , 137 S.Ct. at 999. Additionally, the IDEA requires that "to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities ... are educated with children who are not disabled." 20 U.S.C. § 1412 (a)(5)(A). Courts in this jurisdiction have concluded that an IEP Team is required to discuss a student's specific "Least Restrictive Environment" ("LRE") and that the IEP is required to include at least a brief description of the child's LRE. Brown v. District of Columbia , 179 F.Supp.3d 15, 26–28 (D.D.C. 2016).

"[A]ware that schools had all too often denied [children with disabilities] appropriate educations without in any way consulting their parents, Congress repeatedly emphasized throughout the Act the importance and indeed the necessity of parental participation in both the development of the IEP and any subsequent assessments of its effectiveness." Honig v. Doe , 484 U.S. 305, 311, 108 S.Ct. 592, 98 L.Ed.2d 686 (1988). To that end, the IDEA establishes procedural safeguards that provide parents with "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." Id. at 311–12, 108 S.Ct. 592. Furthermore, the IDEA provides only baseline standards. See Rowley , 458 U.S. at 200, 102 S.Ct. 3034. States may afford additional procedural and substantive protections, so long as those requirements are not inconsistent with the IDEA. See G. ex rel. Ssgt RG v. Fort Bragg Dependent Schs. , 324 F.3d 240, 249 (4th Cir. 2003). In that vein, the District of Columbia—which is a State for purposes of the IDEA, 20 U.S.C. § 1401(31) —offers some procedural safeguards that exceed the federal standards. See, e.g. , D.C. Code § 38–2571.03. Notably, "[i]f state legislation implementing IDEA creates a higher standard than the federal minimum, an individual may bring an action under the federal statute seeking to enforce the state standard." Gill v. Columbia 93 Sch. Dist. , 217 F.3d 1027, 1035 (8th Cir. 2000) ; see also 20 U.S.C. § 1401(9) (defining a FAPE as, among other things, special education and related services that "meet the standards of the State educational agency").

A parent may lodge a due process complaint to challenge the school district's provision of a FAPE based on either procedural or substantive violations of the IDEA and may demand an "impartial due process hearing." 20 U.S.C. § 1415 (b)(6), (f)(1). At that hearing, the parties may present evidence and elicit expert testimony about the child's educational and functional needs. Id. § 1415(f), (h). After the hearing, the independent hearing officer ("IHO") issues a decision (the "HOD"), evaluating whether the school district denied the student a FAPE and, if so, describing any appropriate remedy. See id. § 1415(f)(3)(E) ; see also B.D. v. District of Columbia , 817 F.3d 792, 798 (D.C. Cir. 2016). A parent aggrieved by the decision may seek review in the appropriate federal district court. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(2).

B. Factual Background

A.T., who was born in 2000 and who resides in the District of Columbia, is considered a "child with a disability" under the IDEA. Def.'s Statement of Material Facts Not in Dispute ("Def.'s SMFND") ¶¶ 1–11, ECF No. 13–2; Pl.'s Statement of Material Facts Not in Dispute ("Pl.'s SMFND") ¶ 1, ECF No. 10–2; see 20 U.S.C. § 1401(3)(A). For the 2014–2015 school year—A.T.'s eighth grade year—he was enrolled at Sousa Middle School ("Sousa"). Def.'s SMFND ¶ 19. At Sousa, A.T. was placed in a full-time, self-contained class of eleven students, where he participated in programming geared toward low functioning students with communication and other cognitive and achievement deficits. Pl.'s SMFND ¶¶ 2–6. The students in A.T.'s class had limited interactions with their non-disabled peers and traveled in a group with an aide any time that they needed to move to other locations in the building. Pl.'s SMFND ¶ 4.

When A.T.'s eighth grade year was coming to a close, some members of his IEP Team—specifically, a special education teacher, a school representative and assessment evaluator, a general education teacher, and a speech pathologist, see IEP 4/24/2015, Admin. R. at 343, ECF No. 7–4—convened to revise his IEP in anticipation of his transition to high school. See Pl.'s SMFND ¶¶ 8–10; Def.'s SMFND ¶ 20; IEP 4/24/2015, Admin. R. at 343–62. However, neither A.T.'s mother Renee Middleton nor the family's educational advocate Dr. Ida Jean Holman was notified of the meeting and neither attended it. See Pl.'s SMFND ¶¶ 9–10; Testimony of Ida Jean Holman ("Holman Tr."), Admin. R. at 1287–88, ECF No. 8–5. Indeed, on May 4, 2015, Dr. Holman requested a meeting to review A.T.'s progress, and received no indication that the school had already conducted its annual IEP review meeting. Holman Tr., Admin. R. at 1288; Email from Dr. Ida Jean Holman to Nicola Stewart, Admin. R. at 120. The record contains no notes from the April 2015 IEP meeting. See Hearing Officer Determination ("HOD"), Admin. R. at 10; Holman Tr., Admin. R. at 1288.

The IEP developed at the April 2015 meeting listed A.T. as having multiple disabilities, including Speech–Language Impairment. IEP 4/24/2015, Admin. R. at 343. Consistent with his past IEPs, it also documented A.T.'s struggles with mathematics, reading, and writing. At the time that the IEP was written, A.T.'s standardized test scores in all of those areas fell within the "very low range." IEP 4/24/2015, Admin. R. at 345–48. In mathematics, for example, A.T. performed at the 1.1 grade-level equivalent; in reading, A.T's assessment stated that "he is unable to read due to an inability to blend phonetic sounds along with severe memory retention problems." IEP 4/24/2015, Admin. R. at 347. Furthermore, various evaluations revealed that A.T. had low cognitive functioning. IEP 4/25/2015, Admin. R. at 349. The April 2015 IEP indicated that A.T.'s various "deficit[s] and his extreme struggles with...