San Francisco Unified School Dist. v. State of California

• Citation: 131 Cal.App.3d 54,182 Cal.Rptr. 525
• Parties: , 3 Ed. Law Rep. 1057 SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. STATE of California, Defendant and Respondent. STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION et al. Real Parties in Interest and Appellants. Civ. 53319.
• Decision Date: 26 April 1982
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 525

182 Cal.Rptr. 525

131 Cal.App.3d 54, 3 Ed. Law Rep. 1057

SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. STATE of California, Defendant and Respondent STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION et al. Real Parties in Interest and Appellants.

Civ. 53319.

Court of Appeal, First District, Division 1, California.

April 26, 1982.

Hearing Denied July 7, 1982.

Patrick S. McGovern, Truckee, Corinne Lee, Asst. Legal Adv., S. F. Unified Sch. Dist., San Francisco, for S. F. Unified School Dist.

Shelia L. Brogna, Legal Services for Children, Inc., San Francisco, Marcia Robinson Lowry, George Kanner, American Civil Liberties U., Children's Rights Project, New York City, for real party in interest.

Marcia Rosen, S. F. Lawyers' Comm. for Urban Aff., San Francisco, for guardian ad litem.

NEWSOM, Associate Justice.

Appellant Christopher T. (real party in interest, hereinafter Christopher) is a minor resident of the City and County of San Francisco, and attends school in respondent school district (hereinafter district).

In May 1980, an individualized education program was prepared for Christopher by the district to accommodate his emotional handicap; it supplemented Christopher's regular classroom studies with certain special educational services. Through his guardian and representatives, Christopher claimed the individualized education program was insufficient to serve his educational needs, and requested a hearing before real party in interest State Department of Education (hereinafter Department) pursuant to Education Code section 56505, asserting inter alia, that his disability required the district to provide him with 24-hour a day residential care.

A hearing before the Department was held on June 17, 1980 and September 8, 1980. On October 6, 1980, the hearing officer issued his proposed decision, ruling that the program provided by the district did not meet Christopher's educational needs, and that the child required a full-time residential-educational program, funded by the district.

The decision was subsequently approved and adopted by the officer of the superintendent of public instruction.

On December 26, 1980, the district filed a petition for a writ of administrative mandamus (Code Civ.Proc., § 1094.5) in the Superior Court of the City and County of San Francisco, seeking review of the hearing officer's decision and an order commanding the Department to set it aside.

Christopher demurred to the petition and moved to stay the proceedings on the ground that a class action between the parties presenting the same issues was pending in federal court; the motions were denied because the federal action involved parties and issues which were not before the state court. ¹

On April 21, 1981, the superior court issued an intended decision setting aside the administrative decision. Judgment granting the district's peremptory writ of mandate was entered on June 10, 1981. Notices of appeals were filed by Christopher and the Department on July 9 and 13, 1981, respectively.

On September 2, 1981, this court issued a modified writ of supersedeas ordering the district to "place and maintain [Christopher] in Wide Horizons School or in any other appropriate twenty-four hour residential program selected by the [district]," and to implement the administrative decision pending appeal. Through counsel, however, Christopher refused placement in a residential school other than Wide Horizons, as offered by the district, and because Wide Horizons was unavailable, he is not presently attending any district-funded residential school.

During his early youth, Christopher lived with his mother and a series of stepfathers. His early family history was chaotic, marked by conflicts between his mother and his maternal grandmother. In April of 1976, Christopher's grandmother obtained legal and physical custody of him. His mother continued to visit him pursuant to a court order, and the conflict between the parties persisted.

Christopher exhibited a history of academic and behavioral problems between 1977 and 1980, including emotional difficulties, poor peer-relations, absenteeism and tardiness. In the fall of 1977, he was given a psychiatric evaluation and thereafter commenced a therapy program with a licensed clinical worker, Carolyn Fromm, which continued until October 1979. During 1979 and 1980, his school performance declined, until, at his grandmother's request, he sought a special education assessment in February 1980.

After testing conducted by respondent district, it was found that Christopher was functioning academically one or two years below his grade level, and had difficulty processing words visually and phonetically, even though he possessed higher than average intellectual potential. Following this testing, the district proposed an individualized education program (IEP) for Christopher, who was characterized as severely emotionally disturbed. The IEP placed Christopher in a learning-disabled group with special support services, with, however, at least 50 percent of his school day to be spent in a regular classroom.

Both Christopher's grandmother and Ms. Fromm felt that Christopher needed residential placement, which the district refused to recommend, and so Mrs. Howard, on Christopher's behalf, requested a state hearing to resolve the dispute. (Educ.Code, § 56501.)

At the hearing, Christopher offered the testimony of four witnesses, and his own.

Carolyn Fromm, a psychiatric social worker at Children's Hospital in San Francisco, and Christopher's therapist for nearly three years, testified that he had a "chronic diffuse anxiety" and emotional problems which interfered with his academic work. Although she had not seen Christopher since October 1979, Ms. Fromm recommended a "residential school" or a therapeutic "non-residential school" as the only educational setting which would allow him to perform academically. (She also issued an extensive written report which was made part of the record.)

Testimony was also offered by Robin Orme, an attorney of wide experience representing Christopher, as he had many other juveniles, by Mrs. Howard and Richard Capurro, a case worker at Legal Services for Children who had assisted in Christopher's representation. All essentially testified that, in order to resolve his emotional conflicts and realize his academic potential, Christopher needed to be separated from his existing family environment and placed in a neutral residential atmosphere. Also admitted were letters from family court services counselor Jeanne Ames, and Dr. Morton Nerril, Director of Child Psychiatry at Children's Hospital, both endorsing the idea of a residential school environment for Christopher.

The district offered the testimony of two witnesses: Jan Lauer, a social worker who had been instrumental in developing the IEP for Christopher, and Ms. White, Christopher's teacher. Ms. Lauer opined that the child had an "emotional disturbance" caused by his home environment which interfered with his full academic performance. It was her opinion that the IEP Program devised by the district, combining a learning disability group class with regular classroom placement, best suited his needs. Her testimony was that residential placement would probably not be helpful to Christopher, and might be counter-productive. Ms. White was of similar mind.

At the close of the hearing, due to the conflict in testimony, the hearing officer ordered a continuance for the purpose of obtaining an independent assessment of Christopher's educational needs and difficulties. By agreement of the parties, the independent assessment was conducted by the Child Study Unit at the University of California Hospital at San Francisco (CSU) during the summer of 1980. To implement the assessment, CSU requested and received (1) a summer program at the Wide Horizons residential school; and (2) testing reports submitted by Patricia Evans, a speech pathologist for the San Francisco Speech and Hearing Center. ²

The CSU assessment and report found significant learning disabilities. A neuro-developmental disorder was noted, which resulted in distractable behavior and significantly reduced academic performance under emotional stress. The report concluded that "underlying learning disabilities [associated with problems in perceptual-motor integration, fine motor control and language processes] interact with social-emotional issues [associated with his ability to maintain impulse and contain anxieties under conditions of stress]."

The CSU report recommended a school program which would focus upon neurodevelopmental irregularities and emotional-social factors to reduce the adverse impact of emotional problems upon academic progress. It did not specify that a residential program was unequivocally necessary, but noted that such placement would offer "respites from conflicts at home and a chance for a fresh start in a stable, consistent setting where he might get comprehensive intensive help with both his learning and behavior problems."

After receipt of the independent assessment report, the hearing officer determined that the district's IEP had inadequately addressed Christopher's special needs. ³ In conclusion, the hearing officer explained: "The composite picture of Petitioner's special needs from the various evaluations that have been conducted indicate that Petitioner has neurological impairments resulting in underlying learning disabilities, including problems in perceptual-motor integration, fine motor control, and language processes, that are compounded by social-emotional difficulties associated with Petitioner's problems maintaining impulse control and anxiousness under conditions of stress. [p] The evidence also indicates that Petitioner's home life is not providing him with the moral framework or emotional strength and stability for Petitioner to develop the psychological skills to compensate for his neurodevelopmental...