Zeffrey Rodrigues v. Fort Lee Board of Education

458 F. App'x 124
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedSeptember 9, 2011
Docket11-1467
StatusUnpublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 458 F. App'x 124 (Zeffrey Rodrigues v. Fort Lee Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zeffrey Rodrigues v. Fort Lee Board of Education, 458 F. App'x 124 (3d Cir. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Pro se appellants Zeffrey and Zena Rod-rigues appeal the District Court’s order granting the Fort Lee Board of Education (“the Board”) judgment on the administrative record. For the reasons discussed below, we will affirm the District Court’s judgment.

The claims at issue in this case arise primarily under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), which ensures that children with disabilities have access to a free appropriate public education (FAPE). See 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(1). As part of their obligation to provide a FAPE, school districts receiving federal funding must design and implement an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for each student with a disability. See 20 U.S.C. § 1414(d)(2)(A).

Zena, who is now 28 years old, has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which affects her fine motor skills and speech. During the period relevant to this case, she attended the Fort Lee High School. Pursuant to her IEPs, during her 11th and 12th grade years, Zena was “mainstreamed,” meaning that she attended general-education classes. In those classes, Zena received certain accommodations, including a one-to-one aide, speech-language services, a laptop computer with voice-recognition software, and extended time to complete examinations. Zena also took a course entitled “study skills,” which provided additional instruction to special-education students.

In 2006, Zena and her father filed a petition with New Jersey’s Office of Administrative Law, seeking two years of compensatory education in a residential facility on the ground that Zena had been denied a FAPE throughout the 11th and 12th grades. In 2008, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued a 157-page opinion and order denying the Rodrigueses’ claim. The ALJ concluded that, while the Board had committed certain procedural violations in developing Zena’s IEP, those violations had not affected Zena’s substantive right to receive a FAPE.

The Rodrigueses filed a complaint in the District Court challenging the ALJ’s decision. Subsequently, the Rodrigueses sought to amend their complaint to include a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim averring that the Office of Administrative Law had violated their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment in adjudicating their action. The District Court, approving a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation, concluded that the proposed amendment would be futile and thus denied leave to amend. The Court further granted judgment on the administrative record to the Board. The Court agreed with the ALJ’s analysis in all relevant respects. The Rod-rigueses then filed a timely notice of appeal to this Court.

We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review the District Court’s order denying the Rodrigueses leave to amend for abuse of discretion. See Travelers Indem. Co. v. Dammann & Co., 594 F.3d 238, 243 (3d Cir.2010). In an IDEA lawsuit, a district court exercises modified de novo review over state administrative proceedings. C.H. v. Cape Henlopen Sch. Dist., 606 F.3d 59, 65 (3d Cir.2010). Under this standard, factual findings from the administrative proceedings are to be considered “prima facie correct.” Lauren W. v. DeFlaminis, 480 F.3d 259, *127 266 (3d Cir.2007). We exercise plenary review over the District Court’s legal conclusions and review its findings of fact for clear error. Id., Issues concerning whether the Board fulfilled its FAPE obligations are questions of fact. P.P. v. W. Chester Area Sck. Dist., 585 F.3d 727, 734-35 (3d Cir.2009).

[1] The Rodrigueses devote the majority of their brief to arguing that the Office of Administrative Law violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights. However, they fail to acknowledge that the District Court denied their request to amend their complaint to include this claim. We conclude that the District Court did not abuse its discretion in so holding. The Office of Administrative Law is a state agency, see generally N.J. Stat. Ann. § 52:14F-1, and is thus immune from suit under the Eleventh Amendment, see Pa. Fed’n of Sportsmen’s Clubs, Inc. v. Hess, 297 F.3d 310, 323 (3d Cir.2002). Section 1983 does not abrogate states’ immunity. Quern v. Jordan, 440 U.S. 332, 340-41, 99 S.Ct. 1139, 59 L.Ed.2d 358 (1979). While New Jersey has waived its Eleventh Amendment immunity for purposes of suits under the IDEA, see A.W. v. Jersey City Pub. Sch., 341 F.3d 234, 250 (3d Cir.2003), this waiver does not extend to a Fourteenth Amendment claim brought under § 1983, see Bd. of Educ. v. Schutz, 290 F.3d 476, 480 (2d Cir.2002).

The Rodrigueses also raise several claims under the IDEA. First, they contend that the team that designed Zena’s IEP was deficiently constituted because it did not include an expert in cerebral palsy. However, 20 U.S.C. § 1414(d)(1)(B) provides a list of those individuals who must participate in designing an IEP; an expert on the child’s specific disability is not required. See R.P. v. Prescott Unified Sch. Dist., 631 F.3d 1117, 1122 (9th Cir.2011). Therefore, we will affirm the District Court’s denial of this claim.

Next, the Rodrigueses complain that Zena’s llth-grade IEP and certain parts of her 12th grade IEP lacked objectively measurable goals. The Board has acknowledged that it erred in this respect, see § 1414(d)(l)(A)(II); however, this amounts to a procedural error. See Adam J. v. Keller Indep. Sch. Dist., 328 F.3d 804, 811-12 (5th Cir.2003). Therefore, to be entitled to the compensatory education that they seek, the Rodrigueses must show that the procedural inadequacy “(I) impeded the child’s right to a free appropriate public education; (II) significantly impeded the parents’ opportunity to participate in the decisionmaking process regarding the provision of a free appropriate public education to the parents’ child; or (III) caused a deprivation of educational benefits.” § 1415(f)(3)(E)(ii); see also Garcia v. Bd. of Educ., 520 F.3d 1116, 1125 (10th Cir.2008) (explaining that “an award of compensatory education vindicates the student’s substantive

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
458 F. App'x 124, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zeffrey-rodrigues-v-fort-lee-board-of-education-ca3-2011.