Opinion ID: 661726
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: summer services

Text: 18 The School Board provided summer services to Jeffory for the eight years preceding the administrative hearing (1981-1988), and there was no indication that services would not be provided for the summer of 1989. Nevertheless, Combs sought assurance from the School Board beginning in November of 1988 that summer services for 1989 would be provided. 19 The School Board did make an offer of summer services on June 12, 1989, which Combs rejected. The Hearing Officer, affirmed by the State Review Officer, found that Combs' refusal to accept the School Board's offer of summer school excused the School Board from offering these services, and that in any event there was no indication that summer services would not have been provided. 12 The Director of Special Education for the Rockingham County Public Schools, Charlotte McQuilkin, testified that it is typical that summer services in that District not be considered until the end of the school year so that the IEP Committee can see what sort of progress the child makes in order to determine what summer services were necessary. In fact, at trial Combs himself called expert witness Dr. Barry Hensley, a school psychologist and director of a private agency that works with handicapped children and adults, who acknowledged that the best time to determine whether summer services should be provided and what type of services are appropriate is at the end of the school year. 20 Summer services had been provided to Jeffory each year, with the determination of exactly what services would be provided occurring at the end of the school year, when his needs could better be determined. It cannot be said that any effort by Combs contributed to any favorable change in this benchmark condition, for there was no change. An offer of summer services was extended by the School Board near the end of the 1989 school year. That offer was rejected by Combs. It is unmistakably clear from the administrative hearing reports and the undisputed facts that Combs did not prevail on this issue.