Falchenberg v. New York State Department of Education

567 F. Supp. 2d 513, 20 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 1814, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120323, 2008 WL 2595021
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJune 26, 2008
Docket04 Civ. 7598
StatusPublished

This text of 567 F. Supp. 2d 513 (Falchenberg v. New York State Department of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Falchenberg v. New York State Department of Education, 567 F. Supp. 2d 513, 20 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 1814, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120323, 2008 WL 2595021 (S.D.N.Y. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION

SWEET, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendant National Evaluation Systems, Inc., a business of NCS Pearson, Inc. (“NES”), the State of New York (the “State”) and New York State Education Department (“SED”) (s/h/a New York State Department of Education) (State of New York and SED, collectively, “State Defendants”) (NES and State Defendants, collectively, “Defendants”) have moved for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure against plaintiff Marsha Falchenberg (“Falchenberg” or the “Plaintiff’).

Falchenberg has cross-moved under the same rule to dismiss the fifth through twelfth affirmative defense of NES and the fifth, seventh and eighth defense of the State and SED. Falchenberg has also moved to amend her complaint to add a state official as an individual defendant. For the reasons set forth below, the Defendants’ motion is granted and Falchen-berg’s motions are denied.

In this hard fought and well-litigated action, Falchenberg, disabled by dyslexia, has sought to establish that Defendants have denied her accommodations which might have permitted her to continue as a New York City public school teacher. Sad to say, her efforts, like those of many test takers, have been defeated by the requirement to spell and punctuate.

II. PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

Falchenberg filed a complaint (the “Original Complaint”) against the New *516 York City Department of Education (“DOE”), the City of New York (the “City”), and Defendants on September 24, 2004, alleging that all the named entities discriminated against her in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq. (“ADA”), the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. 794 (“Rehab Act”), the New York State Human Rights Law, New York Executive Law § 296 (“SHRL”), and the New York City Human Rights Law, New York Administrative Code § 8-107 (“CHRL”), or were liable for aiding and abetting a violation of the aforementioned statutes.

The DOE and the City (collectively, the “City Defendants”) moved to dismiss the Original Complaint against them, and by opinion of July 1, 2005, Falchenberg v. New York City Dep’t of Educ., 375 F.Supp.2d 344 (S.D.N.Y.2005) (the “July 1 Opinion”), the motion was granted and all claims against the City Defendants were dismissed.

In her amended complaint (the “Amended Complaint”), filed on July 26, 2005, Falchenberg reasserted against the remaining Defendants all but one of the claims brought in the Original Complaint. The single claim that was not included in the Amended Complaint was an employment discrimination claim pursuant to Title I of the ADA.

Discovery has been completed. The cross-motions for summary judgment were heard and marked fully submitted on December 5, 2007, and the motion to amend on January 16, 2008.

III. FACTS

The facts are set forth in the parties’ Rule 56.1 Statements, the Defendants’ Counterstatement, attached affidavits and memoranda of law, and are not in dispute except as noted below.

Falchenberg was born and raised in New York City and had undiagnosed reading problems in elementary school and high school.

In 1986, 12 years after graduating from high school, Falchenberg started attending college classes at the University of Oslo in Norway. In 1992, she was diagnosed as dyslexic. In 1998, after taking college courses for over 10 years, Falchenberg graduated from the University of Oslo with a B.A. in English and History. After graduating, she continued her studies with post-graduate courses for one year in Education.

In 2000 Falchenberg returned to the United States. For the academic year of September 2001 to June 2002, she taught science to all grades at P.S. 106, a public school in Brooklyn. For the academic year of September 2002 to June 2003, she was the regular classroom teacher for a third grade class at P.S. 384, another Brooklyn Public School, providing instruction in English, Math, Science, and Social Studies. For both positions Falchenberg received satisfactory performance reviews.

SED is a statutory agency of the State of New York created pursuant to New York Education Law § 101 charged with the general management and supervision of all public schools and all of the educational work in the State of New York, including “the examination and certification of teachers employed in all public schools of the state.” N.Y. Educ. Law § 3004(1).

NES develops and administers customized teacher certification testing programs under contracts with a number of state education agencies and departments, including SED. NES receives no federal financial assistance and is not a public entity.

*517 Under a contract with SED, NES developed, administers and scores the New York State Teacher Certification Examinations (“NYSTCE”), which include approximately 58 different tests. The Liberal Arts and Sciences Test (“LAST”) is one of those tests. Candidates for public school teacher certification in the State of New York are required by New York law to pass the LAST (among other examinations and certification requirements) in order to become certified teachers. The explicit purpose of the NYSTCE tests (including the LAST) is to help identify for certification those candidates who have demonstrated the appropriate level of knowledge and skills that New York educators have determined to be important for performing the responsibilities of a teacher in New York State public schools.

The LAST is a multi-faceted examination designed to test primarily in five areas of knowledge and skills: (1) scientific, mathematical, and technological processes; (2) historical and social scientific awareness; (3) artistic expression and the humanities; (4) communication and research skills; and (5) written analysis and expression. Each test form for the LAST contains approximately 80 multiple-choice test questions and one constructed response (written) assignment.

The fifth part of the LAST, entitled “Written Analysis and Expression,” requires the examinee to “prepare an organized, developed composition in edited American English in response to instructions regarding audience, purpose,' and content.” Affidavit of Melissa C. Rodriguez (“Rodriguez Aff.”), Ex. 6 at 15. The written assignment is expected to be about 300-600 words in length, and represents approximately 20% of the test score on LAST.

The examinee’s response to the written assignment is evaluated on the basis of several criteria, among them the following:

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567 F. Supp. 2d 513, 20 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 1814, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120323, 2008 WL 2595021, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/falchenberg-v-new-york-state-department-of-education-nysd-2008.