J.L. ex rel. J.P. v. N.Y.C. Dep't of Educ.

324 F. Supp. 3d 455
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedAugust 28, 2018
Docket17cv7150
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 324 F. Supp. 3d 455 (J.L. ex rel. J.P. v. N.Y.C. Dep't of Educ.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
J.L. ex rel. J.P. v. N.Y.C. Dep't of Educ., 324 F. Supp. 3d 455 (S.D. Ill. 2018).

Opinion

WILLIAM H. PAULEY III, Senior United States District Judge:

Defendants New York City Department of Education ("DOE") and Richard A. Carranza,1 in his official capacity as Chancellor of the New York City School District, move to dismiss the Amended Complaint. For the reasons that follow, Defendants' motion to dismiss is granted in part and denied in part.

BACKGROUND

This case is about the special education needs of severely disabled children who rely on a variety of services to attend school. Plaintiffs are the parents of three students, aged eight to fifteen, who were born with serious medical conditions that have severely limited their cognitive and physical abilities. These disabilities present significant disadvantages for the students and their families, and constrain virtually every facet of their lives, including their ability to obtain an adequate education.

The claims in this action arise from a systemic breakdown in DOE's practices, policies, and procedures governing the services it must provide to medically fragile children. While DOE is responsible for providing every child with a "free and appropriate public education," its policies and procedures have hobbled the efforts of the disabled students in this case from securing the services they need. Instead of alleviating the burdens borne by disabled students and their families, the current policies spawn a cumbersome and counterintuitive bureaucracy that undermines the goal of educating these children. There is a glaring disconnect among the agencies within DOE tasked with providing nursing, transportation, and porter services. Because of these issues, the students were left with no other choice but to sit out significant periods of the school year.

After attempting to navigate through DOE's beadledom, one of the Plaintiffs commenced this action to compel DOE to take prompt action. With a preliminary injunction in place, Plaintiffs amended their complaint, asserting claims based on violations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"), New York State Education Law, the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), and federal civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Defendants move to dismiss the Amended Complaint (the "Complaint") in its entirety.

I. Allegations of the Amended Complaint

For purposes of this motion, the factual allegations of the Complaint are accepted *461as true. J.P., M.C., and O.A. are disabled children who suffer from severe medical conditions and require substantial assistance to attend school. They require individualized nursing services, transportation to and from school on a specialized bus outfitted to carry wheelchairs, a nurse to accompany them on the bus, and another nurse that is either with or near them in school throughout the day. (Compl. ¶¶ 6-9, 11.) Additionally, two of the students-J.P. and M.C.-require porter service transporting them up and down the stairs of their walk-up apartment buildings to and from the school bus. (Compl. ¶ 10.)

A. J.L on behalf of J.P.

J.P. is an eight-year-old-boy who suffers from ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency, a rare genetic disorder which causes muscle spasms, hydrocephaly (an abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain), and frequent severe seizures. J.P.'s medical condition requires him to use a nasal tube and a gastronomy tube. (Compl. ¶¶ 31-35.)

In May 2015, the DOE developed an Individualized Education Program ("IEP") to prepare J.P. for kindergarten. (Compl. ¶¶ 56-58.) Among other things, the IEP recommended a Bus Nurse to accompany J.P. on his commute to school. (Compl. ¶ 60.) Despite this recommendation, DOE failed to provide J.P. with a Bus Nurse from September 2015 to June 2016. (Compl. ¶ 67.) As a consequence, J.P. was unable to attend kindergarten for the entire 2015-16 academic year. (Compl. ¶ 68.) The same problems persisted the following school year, leaving J.P. no choice but to stay home from August 2016 to June 2017. (Compl. ¶¶ 79-116.) After experiencing similar roadblocks at the start of the 2017-18 school year, J.L. sought temporary injunctive relief from this Court. (Compl. ¶¶ 117-144.)

The Complaint details J.L.'s repeated attempts to secure IEP-sanctioned services for J.P. over three consecutive academic years. In 2015, after J.P.'s medical care providers submitted the necessary paperwork to secure a Bus Nurse, DOE inexplicably rejected the forms. (Compl. ¶¶ 76-78.) In 2016, with many of the same bureaucratic hurdles plaguing J.L.'s efforts to secure a Bus Nurse, J.L. sought legal assistance to expedite the process. (Compl. ¶ 90.) But DOE again lagged in its response and eventually rejected J.P.'s paperwork, explaining that the "forms required additional clarification" before J.P. could receive a Bus Nurse. (Compl. ¶ 94.) J.L. then worked with J.P.'s medical care providers to correct the various deficiencies, and resubmitted the forms only to have them rejected again, this time due to additional technical deficiencies. (Compl. ¶ 101.) The tug of war among J.L., J.P.'s legal representatives, J.P.'s medical staff, and DOE representatives spanned several months. (Compl. ¶¶ 76-111.) And just when it appeared that the parties were on the cusp of obtaining approval, DOE reported that the "school placement offered to J.L. in 2015 and 2016 was no longer available," further limiting J.P.'s chances of attending school. (Compl. ¶ 112.)

As the 2017-18 school year approached, J.L. again faced challenges in securing IEP-related services for J.P. From June to September 2017, J.P. could not attend school because DOE failed to provide the necessary porter and transportation services. On some days, for example, the school bus transporting J.P. did not have enough room for his wheelchair. On other days, DOE failed to provide porter service because it could not locate a wheelchair small enough to transport J.P. safely down the stairs of his apartment building. (Compl. ¶¶ 124-141.)

*462B. H.B. on behalf of M.C.

M.C. is an eight-year-old boy who suffers from cerebral palsy and Menkes disease, a terminal condition caused by copper deficiency. (Compl. ¶¶ 147-148.) Because of his condition, M.C. is non-ambulatory, quadriplegic, wheelchair bound, and non-verbal.

M.C. should have started kindergarten in the 2014-15 school year. According to the Complaint, however, M.C. spent the entirety of the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years at home. (Compl. ¶¶ 150-151.) In December 2016, DOE convened an IEP meeting for M.C. Although the parties discussed providing M.C. with a Bus Nurse and School Nurse, these services were not formally recommended. The DOE's district representative instead advised M.C.'s family that M.C. would receive a Bus Nurse and School Nurse only after the Office of School Health ("OSH") reviewed and approved the request. (Compl. ¶ 154.) Because no OSH representative was present at the IEP meeting, M.C.'s family had to contact OSH separately. (Compl. ¶ 155.)

By May 2017, although M.C.'s nursing forms were submitted to OSH at least four times, OSH did not approve any nursing services. (Compl.

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Bluebook (online)
324 F. Supp. 3d 455, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jl-ex-rel-jp-v-nyc-dept-of-educ-ilsd-2018.