Independent School District No. 192 v. Minnesota Department of Education

742 N.W.2d 713, 2007 Minn. App. LEXIS 168
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedDecember 24, 2007
DocketNo. A06-1905
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 742 N.W.2d 713 (Independent School District No. 192 v. Minnesota Department of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Independent School District No. 192 v. Minnesota Department of Education, 742 N.W.2d 713, 2007 Minn. App. LEXIS 168 (Mich. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

HUDSON, Judge.

This is a certiorari appeal from a decision by respondent the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) concerning the provision of special-education and related services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act [716]*716(IDEA). Relator school district argues that (a) the MDE erred in awarding partial reimbursement for private academic tutoring when the findings showed that the student received appropriate academic instruction from his school; (b) the decision was based on a flawed investigation; and (c) the decision was arbitrary. Because the MDE’s investigation was inadequate, and because partial reimbursement for the cost of private tutoring was inappropriate in this case, we reverse.

FACTS

This appeal concerns a young boy (student) who attended school in Independent School District 192 (school district) in Farmington, Minnesota, from 2004 to 2006. When student was in kindergarten in 2004, the school district conducted an initial investigation and found student to be eligible for, and in need of, special-education services. Student’s primary disability was in the area of emotional or behavioral disorders, characterized chiefly by his “remarkably aggressive, assaultive behavior.” Accordingly, the school district developed an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for student in January 2005.

The January 2005 IEP placed student at federal setting I.1 The IEP listed five goals for student, including to improve his interaction with others; improve his hand and arm control; reduce the number of physical altercations with his peers; improve his ability to follow directions and participate in classroom activities; and improve his academic skills.

In September 2005, another IEP was filed because student had physical altercations with peers. The IEP included changes for “service minutes” and a plan for student “to make use of the resource room for verbal and physical altercations.”

Although student’s November 2005 progress report indicated that he made adequate progress toward his goals, from September 2005 through November 2005, student’s special-education teacher sent several e-mails to student’s father (father) advising him of student’s academic difficulties and requesting that father work with student at home. Two e-mails from the teacher, dated September 21, 2005, and September 28, 2005, are representative. The September 21, 2005 e-mail stated: “I noticed that [student] has a very hard time with letter sounds and the .high frequency words that the class is working on this week. They are included in his take home folder. He also had trouble with the math work. Anything you can do at home to help him would be appreciated.” The September 28, 2005 e-mail stated: “Today [student] really struggled with words that have a short ‘a’ and short T sound. If you could go over these words with [student] it would be helpful.”

Following a similar e-mail on November 7, 2005, which discussed student’s difficulties with counting money, father replied to the teacher: “I don’t know if I told you but I hired a tutor for [student].” That same day, the teacher responded as follows: “Sounds like a good plan to have [student] get more help with academies. I’d be happy to fill [the tutor] in on the kinds of things I’ve been working on with [student] as he isn’t doing all the regular first grade curriculum.”

In December 2005, student was at a federal setting II.2 Student’s December [717]*7172005 IEP listed three goals for student: (1) “to increase his ability to make positive choices in his behavior and words with peers and adults through all interactions he has during the school day”; (2) to “be able to follow directions, complete work, and otherwise attend to activities and discussions within the classroom in order to be more successful in the school environment”; and (3) to “increase his basic reading and math skills from a kindergarten level to a level that is more at the current grade level.”

Student’s January 2006 progress report showed that he continued to make adequate progress toward his goals, but it also indicated that from November 7, 2005, through January 20, 2006, student had ten physical altercations with other students and one physical altercation with an adult in which he threatened a teaching assistant with a pair of scissors. The report also stated that there were days “when he is physically appropriate throughout the entire school day.”

In February 2006, school officials filed a document noting that student “has randomly pushed, poked, pulled, choked, grabbed, thrown ice, kicked, etc. other students which causes him to need to leave the classroom environment or other general areas and spend time in the special education resource room or school office.” The document also noted that student “threatened a teaching assistant with scissors towards her neck.” As a result of student’s behavior, the IEP team decided to make some “significant changes” to student’s program:

Beginning February 6, [student] will be changed to the Level III setting.[3] He will remain in the EBD classroom for the entire day. He will not attend specialists but will be given the opportunity to visit the library to check out books, will have opportunities to use the student computer in the classroom, and will have opportunities for art activities in the resource room. He will continue to receive OT services. He will continue with a separate recess time and will eat lunch in the cafeteria but will not be with his regular first grade peers. He will have a teaching assistant with him during the lunch period.

The portion of the document reserved for “Parent Action” indicated that father agreed with the decision to change student’s IEP and that a team member had “[cjonversation with parents via telephone (1-19, 1-20) and also with [father] in person, 2-6-06” regarding the changes. But father maintained that he was not notified in advance that these changes would be made and that no one sought his approval.

In March 2006, father approached the principal of student’s school to express his concerns that student had not yet been returned to the general-education first-grade classroom. An April 2006 progress report showed that student made “adequate progress” on his three goals, and student’s April 2006 IEP showed a decrease in student’s special-education-service minutes and a change from federal setting level III to level I.

Throughout his first-grade year, student was involved in more than 50 behavioral [718]*718incidents and was disciplined many times. These incidents included numerous confrontations where student hit, choked, pushed, kicked, spat at, threatened, yelled at, and tripped other members of his first-grade class. He was suspended from school on March 17, 2006, for threatening to kill a student. Student was disciplined for his behavior in various ways, including being “curbed”; out-of-school suspensions; in-school suspensions; and recessing separate from the other students.

On May 15, 2006, father filed a complaint against the school district using the MDE’s complaint process.

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Related

Independent Sch. Dist. v. DEPT. OF EDUC.
742 N.W.2d 713 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2007)

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Bluebook (online)
742 N.W.2d 713, 2007 Minn. App. LEXIS 168, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/independent-school-district-no-192-v-minnesota-department-of-education-minnctapp-2007.