Opinion ID: 4538518
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Record Supplementation

Text: The District sought to supplement the administrative record by including two declarations from District staff about the progress the Student had made since the ALJ’s original order. Although the IDEA allows a party to supplement the administrative record in the district court, 20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(2)(C)(ii), “[r]endering a decision on the record compiled before the administrative agency . . . is the norm,” W. Platte R-II Sch. Dist. v. Wilson ex rel. L.W., 439 F.3d 782, 785 (8th Cir. 2006). A party seeking to supplement the administrative record is required to demonstrate a “solid justification” to deviate from this norm. Indep. Sch. Dist. No. 283 v. S.D. ex rel. J.D., 88 F.3d 556, 560 (8th Cir. 1996) (quotation marks omitted). We review the district court’s denial of the motion to supplement for an abuse of discretion. Indep. Sch. Dist. No. 283, 88 F.3d at 561. The proposed supplementation elucidating how the Student was performing after the ALJ had entered his order and the District had implemented the Student’s IEP is immaterial to the merits of the Student’s due process complaint. The complaint alleged that the services the District offered the Student prior to the initiation of an administrative proceeding were insufficient. Evidence tending to show that the Student was making progress with the educational support she claims she was due all along would not have aided the determination of whether the ALJ properly found in favor of the Student. See W. Platte R-II Sch. Dist., 439 F.3d at 785 (affirming denial of supplementation where “additional evidence that the District attempted to provide related to the progress and status of [student] subsequent to the administrative hearing”); Indep. Sch. Dist. No. 283, 88 F.3d at 560–61 (same). The district court’s decision denying supplementation was not an abuse of discretion. But even if it were, the abuse would have amounted to harmless error. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 61; Stringer v. St. James R-1 Sch. Dist., 446 F.3d 799, 805 (8th Cir. 2006). -7-