Montesa v. Schwartz

836 F.3d 176, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 16648, 2016 WL 4728000
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedSeptember 12, 2016
DocketDocket Nos. 14-3721-cv, 14-3771-cv, 14-3811-cv
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 836 F.3d 176 (Montesa v. Schwartz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Montesa v. Schwartz, 836 F.3d 176, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 16648, 2016 WL 4728000 (2d Cir. 2016).

Opinions

HALL, Circuit Judge:

I. BACKGROUND

This case is a part of a longstanding conflict within the East Ramapo School District (the “District”) in Rockland County, New York. The Plaintiffs-Appellees (“Student-Plaintiffs”) are students who are currently enrolled in the District’s public school system. They allege that a majority of the East Ramapo School District Board (“School Board”) are of the Orthodox/Ha-sidic Jewish faith or are sympathetic to the interests of the Orthodox/Hasidic Jewish community (“Board Defendants”).1 The Student-Plaintiffs claim that over the last decade the Board Defendants have siphoned money out of the public school system and into yeshivas and other religious organizations for the benefit of the Hasidic children’s religious education and the Board Defendants’ shared religious community. The Student-Plaintiffs allege that the Board Defendants have promoted the Hasidic Jewish faith in violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution by (1) systematically funding Hasidic schools with public monies by manipulating the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) settlement process, (2) providing preferential treatment to Hasidic Institutions when they attempted to sell and lease two school buildings, and (3) buying religious books with public money and loaning the books to Hasidic schools.

IDEA SETTLEMENT PROCESS

Pursuant to both .federal and state law, school districts are required to provide students with disabilities a free and appropriate public education. School districts are required to create an individualized education program (“IEP”) for each student with a disability. 20 U.S.C. § 1414(d). Each such student is entitled to receive an IEP that is individually tailored to meet the student’s specific needs. Each school district has a Committee on Special Education (“CSE”) that is tasked with comprehensively evaluating each student to identify the student’s individualized special education needs and annual goals. Parents may work with the CSE in order to facilitate a school placement and IEP that satisfies the school district and the family. If a parent disagrees with the CSE’s placement determination, the parent has the right to an Impartial Hearing. See 20 U.S.C. § 1415. If, however, parents choose unilaterally to send their child to private school without completing the Impartial Hearing process, the parent does not have a right to receive tuition reimbursement from the state or the school district. See 20 U.S.C. § 1412. In any case, the school district and parents may be reimbursed by the state and federal government for any special education placement in a private school that is approved by the CSE. See 20 U.S.C. § 1411.

The StudenL-Plaintiffs assert that over the past several years an increasing number of students purportedly eligible for special education services in the District have been placed in private religious schools for the ostensible purpose of providing those students with required services under the IDEA. The Student-Plaintiffs allege that the Board Defendants have an unwritten agreement with Hasidic parents by which any Hasidic student who is eligible for an IEP will be placed in a religious school if the Hasidic parents simply write a letter to the Board disagreeing [192]*192with the public school CSE placement and requesting a private school placement.2 The Board Defendants then pass a private placement resolution in lieu of an Impartial Hearing and reimburse the parents for the tuition of the private placement. Because the IDEA settlements occur prior to the Impartial Hearing, the district is not statutorily entitled to reimbursement from the state or federal government. The Student-Plaintiffs allege that the Board Defendants knew or should have known before affirming the IDEA settlement agreements that appropriate non-religious school placements were available and were or would have been proposed by the CSE. The Studenb-Plaintiffs allege that by manipulating the IDEA settlement process, the Board Defendants diverted funds away from the public schools in the District and into the Hasidic religious institutions.

In the spring of 2010, the Office of Special Education of the New York State Education Department (“NYSED”) conducted a monitoring review to ensure that the District’s policies, procedures, and practices regarding the placements of students with disabilities were consistent with the requirements of federal and state laws and regulations. NYSED determined that the District had violated a number of regulations and had engaged in a practice of placing students with disabilities in private schools when appropriate placements were available in public facilities. NYSED ordered the District to take remédial action that included ordering the CSE to reevaluate and revise the placement recommendations of the students placed in private schools that lacked the proper documentation.

In February 2012, after NYSED conducted a follow-up monitoring review of the District’s private school special education placements to ensure that the deficient practices had been successfully changed, NYSED determined that the District had failed to implement the recommended changes. As a result, NYSED withheld reimbursement, thereby costing the District millions of dollars.

REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS

In April 2009, the School Board closed Colton Elementary School. The School Board then leased Colton to the Hebrew Academy for Special Children (“HASC”) and Congregation Bais Malka, a synagogue, for a period of five years. For three of those five years, the School Board allegedly did not increase the rent and repeatedly allowed HASC to pay rent late.3 In preparing to sell the property, the School Board hired Valuation Plus, Inc. to appraise Colton. Valuation Plus valued the property at $6.6 million. The Town of Ra-mapo Real Property Assessment lists Col-ton’s market value at just under $12 million. On May 25, 2011, the School Board agreed to sell Colton to HASC and Bais Malka for $6.6 million.

In April 2009, the School Board also closed the Hillcrest School and hired Valuation Plus, Inc., to appraise the property. Valuation Plus appraised Hillcrest at $5.9 million. After issuing a Request for Proposals and .receiving a number of bids from local Hasidic institutions, the School Board received a second appraisal from Appraisal Group International that valued Hillcrest at $3.24 million. The Town of Clarkstown [193]*193estimated Hillcrest’s value at $11 million, and a separate third-party appraiser valued the property at $13.9 million. The District accepted Congregation Yeshiva Avir Yakov’s $3.1 million bid. On August 31, 2010, the New York State Commissioner of Education prohibited the sale from closing, and the Congregation began leasing the property instead. On June 6, 2011, the Commissioner officially set aside the sale.

TEXTBOOK PURCHASES

Beginning in 2011, the Studenh-Plain-tiffs allege, the Board Defendants ordered or condoned the ordering of non-secular books that reflected traditional values and stories rooted in the Jewish tradition.

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Bluebook (online)
836 F.3d 176, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 16648, 2016 WL 4728000, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/montesa-v-schwartz-ca2-2016.