CASE NO. 2021120214
Student v. MONROVIA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Counsel for Student: Rhonda Krietemeyer, Matthew Zerby, and Cordelia Martinez
Counsel for School: Vivian Billups Randolph
Representative for School: Jennifer Johnson, Megan Esquer, A. Tod Overton, Kimberly Cabrera and Vonni Cummings
ALJ: Cararea Lucier
Date of Decision: December 30, 2022
Significant areas of law: Failure to conduct appropriate assessments despite having notice of student’s special needs and disabilities is denial of FAPE.
ISSUES:
- Did school deny student a FAPE by failing to conduct appropriate assessments despite having notice of student’s special needs and disabilities and by leaving his triennial assessment incomplete?
FACTS OF THE CASE:
- Student was fourteen years old and eligible for special education and related services under the eligibility categories of specific learning disability and speech or language impairment.
- Mother was extremely concerned regarding student’s special needs and his academic progress and continuously approached school staff, both personally and through her attorney, to address her concerns. She requested for his assessments and amendment in his IEP goals to specifically address his needs.
CONCLUSION:-
- School DENIED student a FAPE by failing to conduct appropriate assessments despite having notice of student’s special needs and disabilities and by leaving his triennial assessment incomplete.
Rationale:-
– While conducting social-emotional evaluation of Student, the school evaluator did not review Student’s IEPs, progress on goals, speech and language assessments, medical information or nurse’s logs, results of state standardized testing, or attendance from past years, making the evaluation inappropriate. Further, the school failed to use appropriate assessment tools and solely relied on BASC-3 rating scale.
– School knew that student struggled academically but assumed it stemmed solely from his specific learning disability and failed to investigate other known potential causes of Student’s educational struggles. The school felt he was fine, and the assessment served to validate this assumption. Hence, assessment suffered from confirmation bias.
– School left the triennial assessment incomplete during COVID-19 by incorrectly believing that parents have agreed to stop the assessment. Further, school failed to share the assessment results with the parents.
REMEDIES/ORDER:-
- School shall reimburse Parents for the costs they incurred for the private assessments.
- School shall contract with a certified non-public agency of Parents’ choice to provide 53 hours of compensatory education to be used in any educationally-related area of Parents’ choice. Parents may choose more than one certified non-public agency to provide the compensatory education.
- School shall reimburse Parents in an amount not to exceed $5,000.00 for parent education, counseling, and support, subject to submission of invoices by parent.