Opinion ID: 619866
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Predetermined Placement

Text: K.D.'s first procedural contention is that placement was determined prior to the 2007 IEP meeting, in violation of the IDEA. K.D. asserts that the DOE settled on Pearl Harbor Kai as a placement for K.D. about three weeks after the settlement agreement was signed in March 2007, and that the IEP team did not consider any other placement options for K.D. A school district violates the IDEA if it predetermines placement for a student before the IEP is developed or steers the IEP to the predetermined placement. W.G. v. Bd. of Tr. of Target Range Sch. Dist. No. 23, 960 F.2d 1479, 1484 (9th Cir.1992), superseded by statute on other grounds, as recognized in R.B. v. Napa Valley Unified Sch. Dist., 496 F.3d 932 (9th Cir.2007); see also Spielberg v. Henrico Cnty. Pub. Schs., 853 F.2d 256, 258-59 (4th Cir.1988). Predetermination violates the IDEA because the Act requires that the placement be based on the IEP, and not vice versa. Spielberg, 853 F.2d at 259. Here, the fact that the DOE scouted out Pearl Harbor Kai in March of 2007 as a place of potential placement for the 2007 IEP is not conclusive evidence that the DOE had decided to place K.D. there. See, e.g., Doyle v. Arlington Cnty. Sch. Bd., 806 F.Supp. 1253, 1262 (E.D.Va. 1992) (noting that school officials must come to an IEP meeting with an open mind but may have given thought to placement). The first 2007 IEP meeting was held on April 5, 2007, shortly after the DOE's visit to Pearl Harbor Kai. However, a review of the prior written notices of placement from the 2007 and 2008 IEPs indicates that other options were considered, including placement at Loveland, at another private school setting at Hauoli Na Kekei, and in a full inclusion class setting with same age peers without resource special education services. The DOE rejected the full inclusion class setting because K.D. required a more distraction free environment with more specialized activities to target his learning style and rate of learning. The DOE rejected Hauoli Na Kekei because it only enrolls children with severe communication and behavioral needs, and it feared that K.D. might not develop his potential communication skills in that setting. Finally, the DOE rejected Loveland because Pearl Harbor Kai was a less restrictive environment where K.D. could receive similar services to those he was receiving at Loveland and, in addition, have immediate access to non-disabled peers in that community. Thus, the record reveals that the DOE considered other options besides Pearl Harbor Kai, reasonably rejected them, and therefore did not predetermine K.D.'s placement.