Opinion ID: 661726
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: conditions at broadway high school

Text: 21 While the School Board, after the administrative proceedings, did place Jeffory in a new, air-conditioned classroom which was dusted and vacuumed daily and did provide a nurse to monitor Jeffory's ear infections three times a week, none of these actions were required as a result of the administrative proceedings. These actions were taken unilaterally by the School Board and there is no indication they would not have transpired had Combs not pursued the administrative process. The benchmark condition, from which some relief was gained, was a dusty classroom which aggravated Jeffory's ear infections and a class with vocal students who upset Jeffory. However, it cannot be said that the relief is one to which the plaintiff fee claimant's efforts contributed in a significant way. Bonnes, 599 F.2d at 1319. 22 Combs claims that school officials had sufficient notice of Combs' problems at Broadway before the due process hearing began, and therefore the only reason for the favorable changes in the 1989-1990 IEP was the administrative proceeding itself. Combs contends that the school records showed that a previous short-term placement of Jeffory at Broadway in 1986 caused problems, and that a school board employee who had once been Jeffory's teacher was familiar with those problems. Therefore, Combs argues that the School Board had notice that Combs was wrongly placed at Broadway before he initiated the administrative process. We disagree. 23 The School Board was not informed of Jeffory's difficulties until March of 1989, after Combs had initiated the administrative process. Although Combs did have Jeffory's doctors write letters informing the School that the classroom conditions exacerbated Jeffory's ear infections, these reports were not received by the School Board until March and April of 1989. Thus, school officials had no notice of any problems nor any opportunity to address Combs' concerns before the administrative process. The School Board promptly had the Virginia Department of Health check the classroom for dust and no unusually high levels of dust or debris were found. 24 While it is true the school provided Jeffory a nurse during the 1989-1990 school year which he did not have before, there is no indication that they would not have provided the nurse anyway. Testimony showed that the reason the nurse was provided in 1989 and not previously was because of an increase in funding for the school that made the nurse's hiring possible. Nothing in the administrative hearing reports required hiring a nurse for Jeffory. 25 Moreover, Combs agreed to the 1988-1989 IEP. The School was entitled to rely on that acquiescence and the thorough evaluation by the Medical College of Virginia when it placed Combs at Broadway High School for part of the school week. Nor can the School Board, which acted promptly when it heard of the problems, be faulted for failing to make changes earlier. School boards understandably cannot make wholesale and often expensive changes without careful evaluation, and School boards cannot be expected to be clairvoyant. 26 It is true that the hearing officer made a recommendation that the school consider moving Jeffory to another classroom at Broadway, and that was done for the 1989-90 school year. However, the officer's recommendation was a suggestion only--the officer also noted that Jeffory went to malls, travelled, and went horseback riding without difficulty, which indicated to the officer that dusty conditions ordinarily were not particularly troublesome for Jeffory. While the school did make changes after the conclusion of the administrative hearings, Combs has failed to show that any of those changes was the result of his efforts in the administrative process.