Opinion ID: 65337
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Was the program administered in the least restrictive environment?

Text: The IDEA requires that children with a disability be provided a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment: To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities ... [should be] educated with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment [should occur] only when the nature or severity of the disability of a child is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(a)(5)(A). The district court concluded that V.P.'s IEP did not provide her with sufficient supplementary services to be successful in the general education classroom. In reaching this conclusion, the court explained that it was not concerned with whether V.P. was mainstreamed to the maximum extent possible; instead it was addressing whether V.P. was mainstreamed beyond her capabilities. The court noted several deficiencies in V.P.'s ability to benefit satisfactorily from her education in the regular classroom, including her failure to attend content mastery training after the fall of 2003. Here was evidence that although V.P. paid attention to the teacher's portion of a lesson, she was unable to participate in the group portion of a lesson. Further, she could remain focused on her assignment only for short periods of time without redirection. The court also explained that V.P.'s FM system did not allow her the benefit of class discussion. There is no record evidence that the proposed solution to this problem (having the teacher pass the microphone around the class during discussion) was ever implemented. The court also noted that when the loop component of the system was unavailable, V.P.'s use of headphones further limited her ability to hear her classmates and participate in class discussions. Finally, the court pointed out that after V.P. lost her hearing aids on the playground, she regularly took them off before going out for recess. Nothing in the record suggests that the IEP Committee attempted to address this problem with V.P. or her parents. Thus, V.P. was restricted in her ability to communicate and socialize with other students during recess. Without conceding the point, HISD maintains that even if the district court was correct in finding V.P.'s placement improper, the appropriate remedy would be to require the school to provide additional supplementary aids and services in the general education environment or to allow V.P. to attend a combination of regular and special education classes. Additionally, HISD contends that because of the nature of V.P.'s disability, exposure to the language models of non-disabled peers is important to V.P.'s progress. V.P.'s regular education placement was certainly a less restrictive environment than her Parish School placement. However, the IDEA mandates that a child be placed in the least restrictive environment in which the child can achieve an appropriate education. See 20 U.S.C. § 1415(a)(5)(A). The IDEA's strong preference in favor of mainstreaming must be weighed in tandem with the Act's principal goal of ensuring that the public schools provide [disabled] children with a free appropriate public education. Daniel R.R. v. State Bd. of Educ., 874 F.2d 1036, 1044-45, 1048 (5th Cir.1989) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Though HISD tried to accommodate V.P. in a regular education classroom, the district court concluded that V.P. was not receiving a meaningful educational benefit from such placement. Although exposure to the language models of V.P.'s non-disabled peers is important, V.P.'s interaction with her peers within the regular education classroom was significantly limited. Under the FM loop system, only V.P.'s teacher wore a microphone. Accordingly, V.P. was not receiving amplification of her peers during class and group discussions. Additionally, because V.P. removed her hearing aids during recess, she was not able to effectively interact with her peers during a significant portion of her time outside of class. The district court did not clearly err in finding that V.P.'s IEP did not provide her with sufficient supplemental services to be successful in the regular education classroom.