Caldwell Independent School District v. L.P.

994 F. Supp. 2d 811, 2012 WL 10218711, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 189769
District Court, W.D. Texas·Decided September 28, 2012·No. Case No. A-11-CA-653-SS·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

ORDER

SAM SPARKS, District Judge.

BE IT REMEMBERED on this day the Court reviewed the file in the above-styled cause, and specifically Plaintiff Caldwell Independent School District (CISD)’s Motion for Summary Judgment [# 26], CISD’s Supplement to Motion for Summary Judgment [#29], Defendants Joe P. and Diana P.’s Response [# 32] thereto, and CISD’s Reply [# 43]; Defendants’ Motion to Strike Additional Evidence [# 33], CISD’s Response [# 41] thereto, and Defendants’ Reply [# 48]; Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment [# 38], CISD’s Response [# 45] thereto, and Defendants’ Reply [# 49]; and CISD’s Motion to Continue [# 40] and Defendants’ Response [# 44] thereto.1 Having considered the documents, the file as a whole, the arguments of counsel at a hearing regarding the foregoing motions, and the governing law, the Court now enters the following opinion and orders, granting summary judgment for Defendants.

Background

Plaintiff CISD brings this appeal from an adverse administrative hearing ruling, under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).2 The underlying issue is what type of accommodations and learning setting should be provided for L.P., a student at CISD. Defendants Joe P. and Diana P. are L.P.’s parents. L.P. has been diagnosed with cortical visual impairment (CVI),3 cerebral palsy (CP), and attention deficit disorder (ADD). [815] L.P.’s disabilities developed after birth, when a medication error caused a series of strokes, congestive heart failure, and loss of oxygen to the brain. Decision of the Hearing Officer Nunc Pro Tune, AR I at 3 [hereinafter Decision]. However, CVI was not diagnosed until 2008.

The parties dispute L.P.’s intellectual capacity: Defendants argue L.P.’s abilities have been masked by the vision impairment, and, with appropriate accommodations, L.P. can function in a normal classroom. CISD argues L.P. in fact lacks the mental capacity to function in a normal classroom, even with the proposed accommodation, and would prefer to place L.P. in a special education classroom, at least for science and social studies classes. When L.P.’s parents and CISD failed to agree on this point, L.P.’s parents sought a due process hearing pursuant to 20 U.S.C. § 1415(f)(1)(A).

Before the hearing officer, L.P.’s parents raised eleven reasons why CISD had denied L.P. a free appropriate public education, as guaranteed by IDEA. These were:

1. Failure to provide an appropriate educational program individualized to meet his needs during the 2009/2010 school year and the 2010/2011 school year;
2. Failure to provide Petitioner an appropriate educational program in the least restrictive environment ...;
3. Failure to provide Petitioner the appropriate supplementary aids and services necessary to be successful in the general education classroom;
4. Failure to provide Petitioner a one-on-one aide as an appropriate supplementary aid to enable him to be included in general education classes with his same age peers;
5. Failure to appropriately evaluate Petitioner’s educational and academic needs taking into account his visual impairment;
6. Failure to appropriately evaluate Petitioner’s visual impairment to address his academic needs in all classes;
7. Failure to provide an evidence based reading program appropriate to meet his needs that would address his reading deficits;
8. Failure to provide an evidence based math program appropriate to meet his needs that would address his math deficits;
9. Failure to implement recommended accommodations to enhance his ability to learn[;'j
10. Failure to train the student’s teachers on the student’s disabilities and on implementing his IEP appropriately; and
11. Reducing the student’s speech therapy services without evaluation data to justify the reduction and contrary to the student’s physician’s request for speech therapy and the student’s need to work on social skills.

Decision at 1.

The outcome of the due process hearing, which lasted three days, was a thirty-six page order, in favor of L.P.’s position. See Decision at 2, 33-36. The hearing officer found CISD had failed to provide L.P. with a free appropriate public education for the year in question, and had failed to educate L.P. in the least restrictive environment, but did not adopt in toto the various allegations and requests for relief brought by L.P.’s parents. Rather, the hearing officer, after careful and exhaustive consideration of the evidence, ordered (1) an education plan in line with the IEP of 2009-2010 (which the parties agree was a year in which L.P. showed the best progress), (2) instruction in mainstream classrooms, with appropriate modifications, (3) further [816] testing so that IEPs going forward would be made with L.P.’s CVI conditions in mind, as well as L.P.’s other impairments, particularly any cognitive deficiencies, and (4) limited compensatory services for the period in which L.P. was denied an appropriate education. Id. at 33-36. In short, the hearing officer supplied the common sense the parties should have had themselves. CISD, dissatisfied with this outcome, appealed the hearing officer’s determinations to this Court.

Presently, CISD has moved for summary judgment on the merits, while L.P. has moved for summary judgment on attorney’s fees, as a prevailing party under IDEA. L.P. has also moved to strike additional evidence from outside the administrative record. The Court will address the motion to strike, before turning to the summary judgment motions.

Discussion

I. Motion to Strike Additional Evidence

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Caldwell Independent School District v. L.P., 994 F. Supp. 2d 811, 2012 WL 10218711, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 189769 (W.D. Tex. 2012).

994 F. Supp. 2d 811 (Caldwell Independent School District v. L.P.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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