P.J. ex rel. W.J. v. State of Connecticut Board of Education

788 F. Supp. 673, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12049
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedFebruary 18, 1992
DocketNo. 2:91CV00180 (TEC)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 788 F. Supp. 673 (P.J. ex rel. W.J. v. State of Connecticut Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
P.J. ex rel. W.J. v. State of Connecticut Board of Education, 788 F. Supp. 673, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12049 (D. Conn. 1992).

Opinion

[675]*675RULING ON APPEAL FROM ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING IN THE MATTER OF L.G.

EAGAN, United States Magistrate Judge.

This action consists of several challenges to the manner in which the State of Connecticut and certain of its municipal boards of education implement and oversee the mandates of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder which, broadly stated, require state and local education agencies to provide all handicapped students a free appropriate public education. This memorandum of decision addresses the challenges of one named plaintiff, L.G., by and through her parents and next friends, Mr. and Mrs. L.G. (hereinafter “Lauren”), to the educational program offered by her local educational agency, the Wethersfield Board of Education (hereinafter “the Board”).

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The procedural posture of the present dispute between Lauren and the Board is that of an appeal from a decision rendered by a due process hearing officer at the conclusion of an administrative hearing held in accordance with § 615 of what is now known as the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. § 1415. As such, the court has jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(4)(A). The events which occurred before, during and after the due process hearing are fully discussed below.

FINDINGS OF FACT

The court essentially adopts the findings of fact made by the state due process hearing officer as to events which occurred prior to the initiation of the due process hearing. These findings are further supplemented by the evidence presented to this court at the three days of hearings held in this matter, which primarily addressed the status and educational needs of Lauren between the decision of the hearing officer and the final hearing date.

Lauren is a four-year-old child who has been diagnosed as having mental retardation secondary to Down’s Syndrome. The experts testifying in this action agree that the degree of Lauren’s retardation is mild to moderate. At a very early age, Lauren’s parents were aware that Lauren would need special education services. Beginning at the age of four months, Lauren received such services from the State of Connecticut Department of Mental Retardation (hereinafter “DMR”) through that department’s Early Intervention Program. As a participant in this DMR program, Lauren received services first on an itinerant basis, but beginning at the age of eighteen months, Lauren received direct services from DMR simultaneous with her attendance at two privately owned day care centers. The special services provided by DMR included physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. Most of the children attending these day care centers were not disabled, and Lauren was not removed from the day care setting or otherwise segregated from her nondisabled classmates while services were rendered by DMR staff. Lauren’s participation in these fully integrated day care programs with services provided by DMR occurred during the 1988-1989 and 1989-1990 school years.

On June 1,1990, as required by the regulations promulgated to implement the IDEA, the Board held a planning and placement team meeting (“PPT”).1 At the time of this PPT, Lauren was three years’ old, [676]*676and was no longer the responsibility of DMR. The minutes of this PPT meeting indicate that, as of June 1, 1990, the Board had never attempted to evaluate Lauren and had never written an IEP for her. No IEP was written as a result of the June 1 PPT. During the PPT, the Board employees discussed available programs with Lauren’s mother, and the minutes reflect that the team recommended that Lauren attend the Wethersfield preschool program. Unlike the preschool programs in which Lauren participated under the auspices of DMR, the Wethersfield program is a partially integrated program where, for two days a week, the handicapped children attend together and receive special services such as speech and language therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy. On two other days each week, the handicapped children attend the program along with non-handicapped children. The testimony of the Board employees suggests that nearly all special education services are provided on the days when only handicapped children are in attendance, but the Board employees attribute this fact to the work schedules of the speech, occupational and physical therapists. Board employees describe this system as “reverse mainstreaming.”

After the June 1, 1990 PPT, the parents refused to sign the PPT minutes because they had reservations about placing Lauren in a program that is only partially integrated, but they promised to observe the Weth-ersfield program. After observing the program, the parents again expressed their reservations about placing Lauren in an educational environment that is not integrated with non-handicapped children on a full time basis, and asked whether the Board was willing to integrate the program on a full time basis. The Board refused this request.

Thereafter, on July 23, 1990, Lauren’s parents received a letter from Joyce Ippoli-to, the Board’s Supervisor of Special Education, stating that the Board’s nursery school program would begin on September 11. Lauren’s parents responded to this letter on August 21, 1990 by informing the Board, through Ms. Ippolito, that they were enrolling 'Lauren in a nursery school program at Today’s Child in Glastonbury, Connecticut, where Laureri had been previously enrolled while participating in the DMR program. Today’s Child did not offer the special education services offered by the Wethersfield program, but Lauren’s parents preferred Today’s Child because it was fully integrated. In their letter, Lauren’s parents requested that the Board schedule a PPT for the purpose of drafting an IEP for the following school year in order to obtain support services from the Board. The Board held PPT meetings on September 28 and October 26, 1990, and after each of the two PPTs, the Board again informed Lauren’s parents that its preschool program was the appropriate placement for Lauren, despite the fact that the Board had not evaluated Lauren and no IEP had been written.

At the latter PPT, Lauren’s parents requested that the Board place Lauren in a fully integrated preschool program, but the Board refused, stating that its program was the appropriate program for Lauren. During the administrative hearing and the court hearing on this appeal, employees of the Board who participated in Lauren’s PPT meetings admitted that they have never placed a handicapped student in a fully integrated preschool or kindergarten program with special education supports. The team finally wrote an IEP for Lauren after the October 28, 1990 PPT meeting.

In response to the Board’s refusal to place Lauren in a fully integrated preschool program, on October 31, 1991, Lauren’s parents requested a hearing before an independent hearing officer. Prior to the hearing, on November 16, 1990, counsel for the Board sent a letter to counsel for Lauren, explaining the position of the Board regarding Lauren’s placement. More importantly, the letter offered to fully integrate the Wethersfield program for all four days each week in an attempt to avoid the administrative hearing and the potential payment of attorney’s fees should the parents prevail at the hearing.

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Ray M. Ex Rel. Juana D. v. Board of Education
884 F. Supp. 696 (E.D. New York, 1995)
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Bluebook (online)
788 F. Supp. 673, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12049, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pj-ex-rel-wj-v-state-of-connecticut-board-of-education-ctd-1992.