Source: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Timothy_W._v._Rochester,_New_Hampshire_School_District/Opinion_of_the_Court
Timestamp: 2015-02-27 07:58:40
Document Index: 67123727

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1983', '§ 1400', '§ 504', '§ 794', '§ 1400', '§ 1400']

Timothy W. v. Rochester, New Hampshire School District/Opinion of the Court - Wikisource, the free online library
Timothy W. v. Rochester, New Hampshire School District/Opinion of the Court
< Timothy W. v. Rochester, New Hampshire School District
Timothy W. v. Rochester, New Hampshire School District by Hugh H. Bownes
762305Timothy W. v. Rochester, New Hampshire School District — Opinion of the CourtHugh H. Bownes
[p955] BOWNES, Circuit Judge
2 II. THE LANGUAGE OF THE ACT
2.1 A. The Plain Meaning of the Act Mandates a Public Education for All Handicapped Children
2.2 B. Timothy W.: A Handicapped Child Entitled to An Appropriate Education
3 III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
3.1 A. Education For All Handicapped Children
3.2 B. Priority For The Most Severely Handicapped
3.3 C. Guarantees of Educational Benefit Are Not A Requirement For Child Eligibility
3.4 D. Subsequent Amendments to the Act
4 IV. CASE LAW
4.1 A. Cases Relied on in the Act
4.2 B. All Handicapped Children are Entitled to a Public Education
4.3 C. Education is Broadly Defined
4.4 D. Proof of Benefit is Not Required
Timothy W. was born two months prematurely on December 8, 1975 with severe respiratory problems, and shortly thereafter experienced an intracranial hemorrhage, [p956] subdural effusions, seizures, hydrocephalus, and meningitis. As a result, Timothy is multiply handicapped and profoundly mentally retarded. He suffers from complex developmental disabilities, spastic quadriplegia, cerebral palsy, seizure disorder and cortical blindness. His mother attempted to obtain appropriate services for him, and while he did receive some services from the Rochester Child Development Center, he did not receive any educational program from the Rochester School District when he became of school age.
On February 19, 1980, the Rochester School District convened a meeting to decide if Timothy was considered educationally handicapped under the state and federal statutes, thereby entitling him to special education and related services. The school district heard testimony from Dr. Robert Mackey, Timothy's pediatrician and Medical Consultant for SSI (Supplemental Security Income Program), to the effect that Timothy was severely handicapped. Dr. Mackey recommended the establishment of an educational program for Timothy, which emphasized physical therapy and stimulation. Reports by Susan Curtis, M.S., and Mary Bamford, O.T.R., an occupational therapist, also recommended an educational program consisting of occupational therapy and increasing Timothy's responses to his environment. Testimony of Timothy's mother indicated that he responded to sounds. Carrie Foss, director of the Rochester Child Development Center, testified that Timothy localized sound, responded to his name, and responded to his mother. On the other hand, Dr. Alan Rozycki, a pediatrician at the Hitchcock Medical Center, reported that Timothy had no educational potential, and Dr. Patricia Andrews, a developmental pediatrician, stated that hydrocephalus had destroyed part of Timothy's brain. The school district adjourned without making a finding. In a meeting on March 7, 1980, the school district decided that Timothy was not educationally handicapped -- that since his handicap was so severe he was not "capable of benefitting" from an education, and therefore was not entitled to one. During 1981 and 1982, the school district did not provide Timothy with any educational program.
In response to a letter from Timothy's attorney, on January 17, 1984, the school district's placement team met. In addition to the previously listed reports, it had available a report from Lynn Miller, an expert in physical therapy for handicapped children, who had seen Timothy seven times, and concluded that he responded to motion and handling and enjoyed loud music. She determined that his educational needs included postural drainage, motion exercises, sensory stimulation, positioning, and stimulation of head control. The placement team recommended that Timothy be placed at the Child Development Center so that he could be provided with a special education program. The Rochester School Board,[1] however, refused to authorize the placement team's recommendation to provide educational services for Timothy, contending that it still needed more information. The school district's request to have Timothy be given a neurological evaluation, including a CAT Scan, was refused by his mother.
[p957] On April 24, 1984, Timothy filed a complaint with the New Hampshire Department of Education requesting that he be placed in an educational program immediately. On October 9, 1984, the Department of Education issued an order requiring the school district to place him, within five days, in an educational program, until the appeals process on the issue of whether Timothy was educationally handicapped was completed. The school district, however, refused to make any such educational placement. On October 31, 1984, the school district filed an appeal of the order. There was also a meeting on November 8, 1984, in which the Rochester School Board reviewed Timothy's case and concluded he was not eligible for special education.
On November 17, 1984, Timothy filed a complaint in the United States District Court, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that his rights under the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq.), the corresponding New Hampshire state law (RSA 186-C), § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. § 794), and the equal protection and due process clauses of the United States and New Hampshire Constitutions, had been violated by the Rochester School District. The complaint sought preliminary and permanent injunctions directing the school district to provide him with special education, and $ 175,000 in damages.
On December 7, 1984, the State Commissioner of Education had ordered a diagnostic prescriptive program for Timothy: that he receive three hours of tutoring per week and that an evaluation be made concerning his capacity to benefit. Timothy's attorney, not the school district, made the necessary arrangements, and Timothy entered the school district's ABLE[2] program in May, 1985. The ABLE reports on Timothy indicate that he is handicapped, has educational needs, and would benefit from an educational program. An Evaluation Summary prepared on August 2, 1985 by Susan Keefe, a teacher who worked with Timothy in the ABLE program, concluded that he demonstrated abilities in visual development (could see shadows), auditory development (recognizes familiar voices, responds [p958] with smiles, extension of limbs, and turns head), tactile development (responds to stimulation), cognition communication, language (uses different facial expressions to show emotions), and social development (resists changes in his immediate environment). Keefe noted that Timothy had made particular progress in learning to move his head towards a person speaking his name and in learning to activate a switch. Subsequently, Timothy was allowed to attend the ABLE program intermittently: from October 29, 1985 to November 18, 1985, from December 2 to December 22, 1985, and from May 8, 1986 through June 3, 1986. Keefe reiterated her previous recommendation of a long-term uninterrupted program.
On May 20, 1987, the district court found that Timothy had not exhausted his state administrative remedies before the New Hampshire Department of Education, and precluded pretrial discovery until this had been done. On September 15, 1987, the hearing officer in the administrative hearings ruled that Timothy's capacity to benefit was not a legally permissible standard for determining his eligibility to receive a public education, and that the Rochester School District must provide him with an education. The Rochester School District, on November 12, 1987, appealed this decision to the United States District Court by filing a counterclaim, and on March 29, [p959] 1988, moved for summary judgment. Timothy filed a cross motion for summary judgment.
On July 15, 1988, the district court rendered its opinion entitled "Order on Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings or in the Alternative, Summary Judgment." The record shows that the court had before it all the materials and reports submitted in the course of the administrative hearings, and the testimony from the two-day hearing. The court made rulings of law and findings of fact. It first ruled that "under EAHCA [the Education for All Handicapped Children Act], an initial determination as to the child's ability to benefit from special education, must be made in order for a handicapped child to qualify for education under the Act." After noting that the New Hampshire statute (RSA 186-C) was intended to implement the EAHCA, the court held: "Under New Hampshire law, an initial decision must be made concerning the ability of a handicapped child to benefit from special education before an entitlement to the education can exist." The court then reviewed the materials, reports and testimony and found that "Timothy W. is not capable of benefitting from special education. . . . As a result, the defendant [school district] is not obligated to provide special education under either EAHCA [the federal statute] or RSA 186-C [the New Hampshire statute]." Timothy W. has appealed this order. Neither party objected to the procedure followed by the court.
II. THE LANGUAGE OF THE ACT[edit]
A. The Plain Meaning of the Act Mandates a Public Education for All Handicapped Children[edit]
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act, [hereinafter the Act], 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400 et seq., was enacted in 1975 to ensure that handicapped children receive an education which is appropriate to their unique needs. In assessing the plain meaning of the Act, we first look to its title: The Education for All Handicapped Children Act. (Emphasis added). The Congressional Findings section of the Act states that there were eight million handicapped children, that more than half of them did not receive appropriate educational services, and that one million were excluded entirely from the public school system. 20 U.S.C. § 1400(b)(1), (3), and (4). Given these grim statistics, Congress concluded that