Opinion ID: 626043
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Bureau of Special Education Appeals

Text: In March 2005, as a result of D.B.'s removal from public school, the Sutton school system invoked its right to an administrative due process hearing before the BSEA, claiming that the 2005 IEP was adequate insofar as it would have provided D.B. with a free appropriate public education (FAPE) as required by the IDEA and, relatedly, that it was not required to reimburse D.B.'s parents for tuition costs at the Lindamood-Bell Learning Center. D.B.'s parents counterclaimed that they were entitled to reimbursement because the 2005 IEP was inadequate. They also claimed that the Sutton school system had discriminated against D.B. on the basis of his disability and had violated privacy laws by publicly disclosing D.B.'s confidential information. A BSEA due process hearing was held over eight days between June 28, 2006, and October 12, 2006. During the hearing, the IHO received over three hundred exhibits and heard testimony from sixteen witnesses, including D.B.'s parents. On March 26, 2007, the IHO issued a lengthy decision in favor of the Sutton school system. In the decision, the IHO noted that the IDEA does not require [school] districts to maximize a student's potential, but rather to assure access to a public education and the opportunity for meaningful educational benefit. The IHO also observed that some courts have held that the meaningfulness of a benefit should be measured in light of the student's individual potential. However, due to the severity of D.B.'s disabilities, the IHO found that D.B.'s potential for learning and self-sufficiency could not be determined. Nevertheless, the IHO found that there was ample evidence that, while a student in the Sutton school system, D.B. had made slow but measurable progress in all identified areas of need, generally meeting most or all of his IEP goals, and that the 2005 IEP would have continued the one-on-one tutorials and therapy sessions from which D.B. had benefitted previously. Accordingly, the IHO concluded that the 2005 IEP was adequate.