D.M. v. Seattle School District

170 F. Supp. 3d 1328, 2016 WL 1089897, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36378
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedMarch 21, 2016
DocketCASE NO. C15-1390-MAT
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 170 F. Supp. 3d 1328 (D.M. v. Seattle School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
D.M. v. Seattle School District, 170 F. Supp. 3d 1328, 2016 WL 1089897, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36378 (W.D. Wash. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR LEAVE TO SUPPLEMENT RECORD AND DENYING MOTION FOR PARTIAL DISMISSAL

Mary Alice Theiler, United States Magistrate Judge

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs (“Parents”) brought this action under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. § 1400, et seq., to appeal an administrative proceeding related to their child’s education in the Seattle School District (“District”). Now pending before the Court is defendant’s Motion for Partial Dismissal pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) (Dkt. 10), and plaintiffs Motion for Leave to Supplement the Record (Dkt. 12). Both motions are opposed. (Dkts. 14 & 16; see also Dkts. 17 & 18.) Having considered the motions and the papers filed in support and opposition, along with the remainder of the record, the Court herein GRANTS the Motion for Leave to Supplement the record (Dkt. 12) and DENIES the Motion for Partial Dismissal (Dkt. 10).

BACKGROUND

M.M. is a fifth grade student eligible to receive special education services under the IDEA. (See Dkt. 11, Ex. 1 at 7.) M.M. attended schools in the District through the first grade. (Id.) Believing he had not received the free and appropriate public education (“FAPE”) ensured by the IDEA, see 20 U.S.C. § 1400(d)(1)(A), the Parents moved M.M. to the Academy for Precision Learning (APL), a private school, for the 2011-2012 school year, where he repeated the first grade and where he continues to attend school to this day. (Dkt. 11, Ex. 1 at 7.) The District has never placed M.M. at APL and, throughout his time there, developed a series of individualized education programs (IEPs) proposing to place him in public school settings. (Id.) Until the events at issue in the current lawsuit, the parties’ disputes about placement were settled without a hearing. (Id.)

On October 3, 2014, the District completed an IEP for M.M. for the 2014-2015 school year proposing he transition from APL to Thornton Creek Elementary School on January 5, 2015. (Id. at 7, 13) A [1331]*1331settlement agreement provided for the District to pay the APL tuition through January 5, 2015 and settled all other claims through March 14, 2014. (Id. at 7-8.)

The Parents requested an administrative hearing under the IDEA on December 9, 2014. (Id. at 5.) They challenged the appropriateness of the District’s evaluations, IEPs, and placement of M.M. at Thornton Creek Elementary for the 2014-2015 school year, challenged the failure to provide him with needed speech-language pathology (SLP) and occupational therapy (OT) services beginning March 15, 2014, and asked whether APL was an appropriate placement for M.M. (Id. at 6.) They sought as remedies: (1) reimbursement for APL tuition for the 2014-2015 school year in the amount exceeding that already paid by the District, for private OT services beginning March 15, 2014, and for all related transportation costs-; (2) the provision of SLP services to compensate for lost benefit beginning March 15, 2014 and continuing through the date such services are provided or paid for by the District; (8) an order directing the District to develop an IEP correcting the alleged deficiencies; (4) prospective placement at APL; and (5) prospective provision of transportation to and from APL and OT and SLP services. (Id. at 6-7.)

An administrative law judge (ALJ) held a hearing between March 30 and April 7, 2015, taking testimony from a number of witnesses, including APL Clinical Director Alison Moors Lipshin. (Id. at 5.) The ALJ issued a decision on June 10, 2015, finding the District violated the IDEA and denied M.M. a FAPE on some, but not all of the Parents’ claims, and ordering some, but not all of the remedies sought. (See id. at 51.) The ALJ, for example, determined the District offered inappropriate OT services beginning March 15, 2014 and found the Parents entitled to reimbursement for OT expenses incurred from that date through the end of the 2014-2015 school year, and determined the IEP for the 2015-2016 school year should account for needed OT services. (Id. at 48-49, 51.) The ALJ otherwise found the October 2014 IEP appropriate and did not award reimbursement for private school tuition. (Id. at 48-51.)

On or about August 5, 2015, the District proposed an IEP for the 2015-2016 school year placing M.M. at Sacajawea Elementary School. (See Dkt. 1 at 15-16 and Dkt. 5 at 11-12.) The Parents, on August 31, 2015, filed the current action. (Dkt. 1.) The Parents include allegations based on the administrative decision and relating to subsequent events, including the District’s proposed 2015-2016 IEP. (See id. at 15-17.) They seek the same relief sought in the administrative hearing, and specifically request, inter alia, relief for the 2014-2015 school year and through the present, including an appropriate IEP and tuition expenses at APL, and an order requiring the District to prospectively place M.M. at APL at the District’s expense. (Id. at 17-18.)

DISCUSSION

The Parents seek leave to supplement the record with evidence of events occurring since the administrative hearing. The evidence relates to M.M.’s school program, performance, and needs, the IEP and placement proposed by the District for the 2015-2016 school year, and the District’s provision of services for M.M. It would include records from APL, the District’s proposed IEP, and the parties’ communications regarding the 2015-2016 school year, and testimony regarding these matters from both the Parents and Ms. Moors Lipshin. The Parents argue this supplementation of the record is permissible under the IDEA and pursuant to Ninth Circuit authority, and that the evidence is [1332]*1332relevant to their compensatory and prospective claims.

The District opposes the proposed supplementation of the record as impermissible and insufficiently specific. The District seeks dismissal of any post-hearing claims not adjudicated in the underlying administrative action. It argues the IDEA does not authorize the Parents to advance such unexhausted claims and that the Parents fail to demonstrate they should be excused from exhaustion based on futility. The District seeks to limit the substantive legal issues in this appeal to those adjudicated in the administrative action, that is, the appropriateness of the District’s IEP for the 2014-2015 school year.1

A. Motion to Supplement the Record

A party aggrieved by the findings and decision in an IDEA administrative proceeding may appeal by bringing a civil action in district court. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(2)(A). A district court reviewing an administrative decision “shall hear additional evidence at the request of a party.” § 1415(i)(2)(C)(ii). “Thus, judicial review in IDEA cases differs substantially from judicial review of other agency actions, in which courts generally are confined to the administrative record and are held to a highly deferential standard of review.” Ojai Unified Sch. Dist. v. Jackson, 4 F.3d 1467, 1471 (9th Cir.1993).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
170 F. Supp. 3d 1328, 2016 WL 1089897, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36378, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dm-v-seattle-school-district-wawd-2016.