Opinion ID: 780172
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Taylor's Record-Access Claims

Text: 61 Taylor next appeals from the district court's ruling that she lacks standing to pursue her record-access claims under FERPA and the IDEA. FERPA commands that a parent must be permitted to review and inspect a child's educational records. 11 20 U.S.C. § 1232g(a)(1)(A). The IDEA similarly allows parents access to records collected or maintained pursuant to that statute. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(b)(1); 34 C.F.R. § 300.562. Taylor alleges that the ACSU and ANSU defendants violated these provisions, and she seeks an order compelling the Weybridge School District to provide her with copies of all of L.D.'s educational records requested by Plaintiff. She also requests monetary damages for violations of her FERPA and IDEA record-access rights by the ACSU and ANSU defendants.
62 Before considering the merits of Taylor's FERPA claim, we must first determine whether Taylor may bring a § 1983 action for an alleged violation of FERPA's record-access provisions. At the time Taylor filed her complaint, it was settled law in this Circuit that FERPA's record-access provisions created rights enforceable through a § 1983 action. See Fay v. S. Colonie Cent. Sch. Dist., 802 F.2d 21, 33 (2d Cir.1986) (allowing plaintiff to recover actual damages for a violation of FERPA's record-access provisions). Subsequent to oral argument in this case, however, the Supreme Court handed down a decision which calls Fay's continuing validity into question. In Gonzaga University v. Doe, 536 U.S. 273, 122 S.Ct. 2268, 153 L.Ed.2d 309 (2002), the Court explicitly overturned this Circuit's decision in Brown v. City of Oneonta, 106 F.3d 1125 (2d Cir.1997), and held that the non-disclosure provisions of FERPA, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g(b)(1), do not confer federal rights enforceable through a § 1983 action. 122 S.Ct. at 2271-72 & n. 2. We ordered additional briefing from the parties to help us resolve whether, in light of Gonzaga, Fay is still good law. Cf. Finkel v. Stratton Corp., 962 F.2d 169, 174-75 (2d Cir.1992) (noting that one panel may revisit a prior panel's decision if an intervening Supreme Court decision casts doubt on the prior holding). For the reasons that follow, we hold that Gonzaga compels the conclusion that Fay is no longer good law. 63 Several other circuits have stated in dicta and without discussion that Gonzaga applies to FERPA broadly, rather than only to the non-disclosure provisions of § 1232g(b). See Mo. Child Care Ass'n v. Cross, 294 F.3d 1034, 1040 n. 8 (8th Cir. 2002) (In Gonzaga, the Court holds that [FERPA], which provides for a review board established by the Secretary of Education to hear individual complaints of violations of the statute's provisions, does not create any individual rights ... that are enforceable in private actions under § 1983.); United States v. Miami Univ., 294 F.3d 797, 809 n. 11 (6th Cir.2002) (In Gonzaga University v. Doe, the Supreme Court held that the FERPA does not create personal rights that an individual may enforce through 42 U.S.C. § 1983.). But cf. Blessing v. Freestone, 520 U.S. 329, 342, 117 S.Ct. 1353, 137 L.Ed.2d 569 (1997) (holding that the proper inquiry in determining whether a particular statute is privately enforceable is not whether a statute as an undifferentiated whole grants an enforceable right to a particular class of plaintiffs, but rather whether a specific provision of the statute confers such rights). Although Gonzaga's discussion does appear to be limited to the § 1232g(b) non-disclosure provisions, we need not determine whether Gonzaga's express holding applies to § 1232g in its entirety because, applying the analysis set forth in Gonzaga, we conclude that plaintiff does not have the personal right required for a § 1983 claim under § 1232g(a). 64 Gonzaga clarifies that [a] court's role in discerning whether personal rights exist in the § 1983 context should ... not differ from its role in discerning whether personal rights exist in the implied right of action context. 122 S.Ct. at 2276. Under both tests, we must initially decide if the statutory language unambiguously confer[s] an enforceable right upon an identifiable class of beneficiaries. Id. at 2275 (quoting Suter v. Artist M., 503 U.S. 347, 363, 112 S.Ct. 1360, 118 L.Ed.2d 1 (1992)). Only after this threshold issue is decided do the standards diverge. Id. at 2274. Under the implied cause of action doctrine, a court must additionally inquire whether Congress intended to create a private remedy, see Alexander v. Sandoval, 532 U.S. 275, 286, 121 S.Ct. 1511, 149 L.Ed.2d 517 (2001), while under our § 1983 analysis, we determine if Congress foreclosed a § 1983 remedy either expressly or impliedly through the creation of a comprehensive administrative enforcement scheme, see Blessing, 520 U.S. at 341, 117 S.Ct. 1353. 65 In Fay, this Circuit ruled that FERPA's record-access provisions, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g(a)(1), do not create an implied cause of action but could support a suit under § 1983. 802 F.2d at 33. Fay did not address the threshold issue identified by the Gonzaga Court in rendering either of these holdings. Citing to Girardier v. Webster College, 563 F.2d 1267, 1276-77 (8th Cir.1977), we based our conclusion that FERPA does not contain an implied cause of action on the statute's failure to evince a Congressional intent to create a privately enforceable remedy. Id. With respect to the issue whether FERPA could be enforced pursuant to § 1983, Fay implicitly assumed that § 1232g(a)(1) conferred a federal right, and passed immediately to the question of whether Congress... create[d] so comprehensive a system of enforcing the statute as to demonstrate an intention to preclude a remedy under section 1983. 802 F.2d at 33. Finding that it did not, we held that the record-access provisions were enforceable under § 1983. Id. 66 Because Fay did not explicitly apply the standard announced by the Gonzaga Court — that is, whether the statutory language unambiguously confers a federal right on a class of beneficiaries — we must conduct our own analysis of § 1232g(a)(1). That analysis begins with Gonzaga's discussion of § 1232g(b)(1). 67 In Gonzaga, the Supreme Court examined the specific language of FERPA's non-disclosure provisions, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g(b)(1), 12 as well as the structure of the statute, and stated that we have never before held, and decline to do so here, that spending legislation drafted in terms resembling those of FERPA can confer enforceable rights. 122 S.Ct. at 2273. The Supreme Court held, first, that the non-disclosure provisions entirely lack the sort of `rights-creating' language critical to showing the requisite congressional intent to create new rights. Id. at 2277 (quoting Sandoval, 532 U.S. at 288-89, 121 S.Ct. 1511). The Court contrasted subsection (b) to the individually-focused statutes the Court had previously found privately enforceable. Id. (citing Cannon v. Univ. of Chicago, 441 U.S. 677, 99 S.Ct. 1946, 60 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) (holding that an implied private cause of action exists under Title IX, which states that [n]o person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied to the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance)). The Court noted that the non-disclosure provisions are both directions to the Secretary of Education and commands to make no funds available to educational institutions that have in place the disfavored policy or practice, thus suggesting an aggregate focus rather than an emphasis on individual rights. Id. (Th[e] focus is two steps removed from the interests of individual students and parents and clearly does not confer the sort of ` individual entitlement' that is enforceable under § 1983.) (quoting Blessing, 520 U.S. at 343, 117 S.Ct. 1353). 68 The records-access provisions at issue here read, in pertinent part: 69 No funds shall be made available under any applicable program to any educational agency or institution which has a policy of denying, or which effectively prevents, the parents of students who are or have been in attendance at a school of such agency or at such institution, as the case may be, the right to inspect and review the education records of their children. If any material or document in the education record of a student includes information on more than one student, the parents of one of such students shall have the right to inspect and review only such part of such material or document as relates to such student or to be informed of the specific information contained in such part of such material. Each educational agency or institution shall establish appropriate procedures for the granting of a request by parents for access to the education records of their children within a reasonable period of time, but in no case more than forty-five days after the request has been made. 70 20 U.S.C. § 1232g(a)(1)(A). Section 1232g(a)(1)(C) lists the materials that will not be made available to students, which includes documents to which a student has explicitly waived his or her right of access. Id. § 1232g(a)(1)(C)(iii). Finally, § 1232g(a)(1)(D) provides that [a] student or a person applying for admission may waive his right of access to confidential statements. 71 Section 1232g(a)(1)(A) thus combines elements of both the funding-prohibition language that the Gonzaga Court held does not confer an individual right and the individually focused language that evidences an intent to create an enforceable right. The records-access provisions, like the non-disclosure provisions, speak directly to the Secretary of Education. In this respect, the statute focuses on the prohibition of federal funding. While the remainder of § 1232g(a)(1)(A) does not exclusively concern actions to be taken by the Secretary of Education, the language of the second sentence can be construed as a more detailed descriptor of the general policy, announced in the first sentence, that educational institutions are required to implement with respect to record access. Thus, rather than directly conferring rights on parents, the second sentence can be read as acting as a limitation on which records schools should make available. 72 Although the references to a parent's right in the funding-prohibition section of § 1232g(a) admittedly place a greater emphasis on the benefitted class of parents than does § 1232g(b), the Gonzaga Court noted that a mere reference to a parental right is not determinative: 73 [The dissent] would have us look to other provisions in FERPA that use the term rights to define the obligations of educational institutions that receive federal funds.... [The dissent] then suggests that any reference to rights, even as a shorthand means of describing standards and procedures imposed on funding recipients, should give rise to a statute's enforceability under § 1983. This argument was rejected in Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman, 451 U.S. 1, 18-20, 101 S.Ct. 1531, 67 L.Ed.2d 694 (1981) (no presumption of enforceability merely because a statute speaks in terms of `rights'), and it is particularly misplaced here since Congress enacted FERPA years before [ Maine v. ] [ Maine v. ] Thiboutot [, 448 U.S. 1, 100 S.Ct. 2502, 65 L.Ed.2d 555 (1980)] declared that statutes can ever give rise to rights enforceable by § 1983. 74 122 S.Ct. at 2278 n. 7. Although the rights language of § 1232g(a) is stronger than that used in § 1232g(b), because the language in § 1232g(a) can be read as simply modifying the terms imposed on fund-receiving institutions, we cannot say that it creates an  unambiguously conferred right. Gonzaga, 122 S.Ct. at 2275 (emphasis added). 75 The Gonzaga Court also found significant that the non-disclosure provisions prohibited an institutional policy or practice, not individual instances of disclosure. Id. at 2278. Section 1232g(a) likewise begins by making clear that it applies to institutions that have a policy of denying, or which effectively prevent[], the parents of students ... the right to inspect and review the education records of their children. Again, while the record-access provisions may contain a greater individual focus than the non-disclosure provisions, in that institutions that effectively prevent parents from exercising their rights could do so on either an individual or an aggregate level, we do not find in this language an unambiguous expression of congressional intent to confer an individual right enforceable by § 1983. 76 Accordingly, because we find that Gonzaga compels the conclusion that FERPA's records-access provisions, § 1232(g)(a)(1), do not create a personal right enforceable under § 1983, we overrule Fay v. South Colonie Central School District, 802 F.2d 21 (2d Cir.1986), to the extent that our holding today contradicts it. 13
77 Our conclusion that Taylor may not pursue a records-access claim under FERPA does not end our inquiry, however, because Taylor also asserted a records-access claim under the IDEA. 14 A parent's rights under the IDEA must be determined with reference to the rights she retains under the state custody decree, see Navin, 270 F.3d at 1148-49, and Taylor retains important rights related to her daughter's education under the Vermont custody decree, specifically the right to reasonable information regarding the child's progress in school and her health and safety. Because the custody decree has not specifically revoked her informational access prerogatives, Taylor may pursue her record-access claim under the IDEA. 78 Plaintiff alleges in her complaint that, although she made requests for her daughter's educational records on May 21, 1999, June 9, 1999, and August 25, 1999, the ACSU defendants have not supplied her with counseling records of Wendy Sauder, supporting documentation provided by the District or other professionals in connection with assessments and evaluations, tests and test results, and various other documents and reasonable requests for explanations and interpretations of L.D.'s educational records. She also alleges that she had arranged with the ANSU defendants to travel to the Starksboro Elementary School in June 1998 in order to review all of her daughter's school records. When Taylor arrived, she was given access to some academic records but she was not shown L.D.'s special education files, nor any document referencing a suspected disability. The ANSU defendants have never provided plaintiff with the special education files; rather, these records were furnished to her for the first time by the Weybridge School District on May 5, 1999 — nearly a year later. 79 The ACSU defendants concede that Taylor is entitled to review L.D.'s educational records. They argue, however, first, that they have provided Taylor with all the records she sought, and, second, that Taylor has not sufficiently alleged that the access she had was unreasonable. They also contend that Taylor's record-access claim is unpreserved. Finally, the ANSU defendants argue that Taylor failed to exhaust her administrative remedies under the IDEA. 80 In Plaintiff's Opposition to Defendants' Addison Central Supervisory Union, John Murphy, Amy Brown, Weybridge School District and Christina Johnson Motion to Dismiss, Taylor, proceeding pro se, argued that defendants' motion papers [do] not address Plaintiff's federal civil rights claims for violations of IDEA, and specifically cited to those paragraphs in her complaint alleging that the ACSU defendants had not provided her with the requested educational records. At the hearing on the motion to dismiss before the district court, plaintiff again argued that, under the custody decree, Taylor retained a large bundle of residual rights. Number one, she retained all of her rights under FERPA, rights to access, to the educational records. Finally, Taylor briefed the record-access issue on appeal before this court. We therefore find that this claim has been adequately preserved. 81 The magistrate judge held that plaintiff has offered no factual basis for her implied conclusion that the access that she did have to her daughter's educational records was not `reasonable,' as provided by the family court order. As an initial matter, we agree that Taylor is only entitled to reasonable information. Reasonable information does not mean every last cover letter, transmittal sheet, or scrap of paper that happens to be contained in L.D.'s files. Possibly it might not even cover more substantive original documents or notes if the information contained therein was substantially incorporated in reports or if plaintiff had been otherwise informed of their content. 15 Further, it does not place an affirmative obligation on defendants to create any documents or provide additional explanation. Nonetheless, we cannot say that, as a matter of law, Taylor's complaint fails to state a violation of her right to reasonable information to which she was entitled under the IDEA and the custody decree. See 34 C.F.R. § 300.562; 20 U.S.C. § 1415(b)(1). 82 Taylor alleges that the ACSU defendants have not given her certain of L.D.'s counseling records and test results. In response to a request by this Court for further clarification, Taylor has identified some of the various other documents that she claims have also been withheld: records from the Dartmouth Medical School, where L.D. was examined on September 7, 1999; records from Dr. Robert Jimerson, a former employee of the Counseling Services of Addison County who apparently met with L.D. four times in 1999; records from the Addison County Counseling Center Adventure Program; and records from Patricia Messerle. Our task is to determine whether, consistent with these allegations, there is at least a possibility that Taylor could be entitled to relief. See Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N.A., 534 U.S. 506, 514, 122 S.Ct. 992, 152 L.Ed.2d 1 (2002) ([A] court may dismiss a complaint only if it is clear that no relief could be granted under any set of facts that could be proved consistent with the allegations.) (internal quotation marks omitted). Although it is unclear what information is contained in these records, it is conceivable that denying plaintiff access to various medical records, counseling records, and test results during a period in which L.D. was being actively evaluated for an emotional disability cumulatively infringed upon plaintiff's right to reasonable information regarding her child's health and progress. Cf. King v. Crossland Sav. Bank, 111 F.3d 251, 259 (2d Cir.1997) ([An] assessment of reasonableness generally is a factual question to be addressed by the [factfinder].). 83 Similarly, Taylor claims that the ANSU defendants denied her access to all records related to L.D.'s suspected disability, with the result that she was not made aware until nearly a year later that her daughter had been diagnosed with serious emotional and behavioral difficulties. Reading Taylor's pro se complaint liberally, we conclude that it is possible that this could constitute the type of reasonable information regarding the child's progress in school and her health and safety contemplated by the custody decree. 84 It remains to be seen whether any of the withheld documents is a record within the definition of 34 C.F.R. § 300.562, whether any failure to provide Taylor with these records was reasonable, and whether such records were in fact furnished to Taylor. On this motion to dismiss, however, we do not decide whether plaintiff will prevail, but simply whether she is entitled to offer evidence to support her claims. See County of Suffolk v. First Am. Real Estate Solutions, 261 F.3d 179, 187 (2d Cir.2001). We therefore hold that the district court should not have granted defendants' motion to dismiss with respect to the IDEA records-access claim, at least without granting Taylor an opportunity to cure any alleged insufficiencies in the pleadings. 16 85 Next, we turn to the ANSU defendants' argument that Taylor's claim is barred by her failure to exhaust her available administrative remedies under the IDEA. 17 Although Taylor exhausted her IDEA administrative remedies against the ACSU defendants pursuant to 20 U.S.C. § 1415(f), 18 she did not seek a due process hearing with respect to the ANSU defendants. The ANSU defendants now point to this omission as a bar to Taylor's action against them. 86 While exhaustion of state administrative remedies is generally not required prior to bringing a § 1983 action, see Patsy v. Bd. of Regents, 457 U.S. 496, 516, 102 S.Ct. 2557, 73 L.Ed.2d 172 (1982), when a § 1983 action is brought to vindicate federal statutory rights, such an exhaustion requirement may be implicit in the statute allegedly violated. [C]ourts are guided by congressional intent in determining whether application of the doctrine would be consistent with the statutory scheme. In determining whether exhaustion of federal administrative remedies is required, courts generally focus on the role Congress has assigned to the relevant federal agency, and tailor the exhaustion rule to fit the particular administrative scheme created by Congress. Id. at 502 n. 4, 102 S.Ct. 2557. The IDEA provides: 87 Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to restrict or limit the rights, procedures, and remedies available under the Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ... the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, or other Federal laws protecting the rights of children with disabilities, except that before the filing of a civil action under such laws seeking relief that is also available under this subchapter, the procedures under subsections (f) and (g) shall be exhausted to the same extent as would be required had the action been brought under this subchapter. 88 20 U.S.C. § 1415( l ). In situations where exhaustion of the IDEA's administrative remedies is mandated, the failure to do so deprives this court of subject matter jurisdiction over the plaintiff's claims. Hope v. Cortines, 69 F.3d 687, 688 (2d Cir.1995). 89 Plaintiff is nonetheless entitled to proceed with her claim under one, if not more, of the recognized exceptions to this requirement. In particular, exhaustion is not necessary under the IDEA where it would be futile to resort to the due process procedures or where it is improbable that adequate relief can be obtained by pursuing administrative remedies (e.g., the hearing officer lacks the authority to grant the relief sought). Tirozzi, 832 F.2d at 756 (quoting from H.R.Rep. No. 296, 99th Cong., 1st Sess. 7 (1985)). We agree with the district court that requiring exhaustion of administrative remedies would be futile in this case. When Taylor had previously attempted to exhaust her administrative remedies against the ACSU defendants, a Vermont hearing officer held that the due process proceeding was not the proper forum to seek redress for violations of parental rights under the IDEA and denied her standing to continue with her action. Moreover, plaintiff did not learn that the ANSU defendants had denied her access to L.D's special education records until May 1999, after she had obtained the special education files from another source. No purpose would have been served by bringing a due process challenge against the ANSU defendants at that point. Taylor already had the withheld records, and she could not have benefitted from any procedural reforms that a victory might have brought because her daughter no longer attended the school — and in fact had left the school district. See Heldman on Behalf of T.H. v. Sobol, 962 F.2d 148, 159 (2d Cir.1992) (holding that it would be an exercise in futility to require [plaintiff] to exhaust the state administrative remedies where plaintiff challenged a state administrative procedure, and the hearing officer would not have had the authority to alter the procedure); Eads ex rel. Eads v. Unified Sch. Dist. No. 289, 184 F.Supp.2d 1122, 1135-36 (D.Kan.2002) (holding that there is no need to exhaust IDEA remedies when only remedy sought is compensation for physical injury, and administrative remedies can provide only prospective educational benefits). 90 We do not intend by this holding to suggest that Taylor is excused from exhausting her administrative remedies against the ANSU defendants merely because she seeks money damages. A plaintiff cannot evade the IDEA's exhaustion requirement simply by framing his or her action as one for monetary relief. Polera v. Bd. of Educ., 288 F.3d 478, 488 (2d Cir.2002) (The fact that Polera seeks damages, in addition to relief that is available under the IDEA, does not enable her to sidestep the exhaustion requirements of the IDEA.); see also Frazier v. Fairhaven Sch. Comm., 276 F.3d 52, 64 (1st Cir. 2002); Covington v. Knox County School System, 205 F.3d 912, 916-17 (6th Cir. 2000); Charlie F. v. Bd. of Educ., 98 F.3d 989, 992 (7th Cir.1996); N.B. v. Alachua County Sch. Bd., 84 F.3d 1376, 1378-79 (11th Cir.1996); cf. Booth v. Churner, 532 U.S. 731, 736-37, 121 S.Ct. 1819, 149 L.Ed.2d 958 (2001) (holding that, under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), statutory language requires exhaustion of administrative remedies as a prerequisite to civil suit for monetary damages, even if this type of relief is not available under the administrative process). But see Witte v. Clark County Sch. Dist., 197 F.3d 1271, 1275 (9th Cir.1999) (relying on language in the IDEA that requires exhaustion only when a plaintiff seeks relief that is also available under the IDEA in holding that exhaustion is not a prerequisite to suit for monetary damages) (internal quotation marks omitted); W.B. v. Matula, 67 F.3d 484, 495-96 (3d Cir.1995) (same). Even if plaintiffs may not obtain their preferred remedy through the administrative process, the IDEA's administrative remedies scheme is nonetheless critical because it allows for the exercise of discretion and educational expertise by state and local agencies, affords full exploration of technical educational issues, furthers development of a complete factual record, and promotes judicial efficiency by giving these agencies the first opportunity to correct shortcomings in their educational programs for disabled children. Polera, 288 F.3d at 487 (quoting Hoeft v. Tucson Unified Sch. Dist., 967 F.2d 1298, 1303 (9th Cir.1992)). 91 While the general rule is that plaintiffs seeking monetary damages must exhaust the IDEA due process procedures, the aforementioned exceptions to the IDEA's exhaustion requirement apply with equal force to any case arising under the statute. See Polera, 288 F.3d at 487; Tirozzi, 832 F.2d at 756. Hence, if plaintiffs can demonstrate that there is no relief available to them through the administrative process, they may avail themselves of the futility or inadequacy exceptions to the exhaustion requirement to the same extent as any other plaintiff. `[R]elief available' [means] relief for the events, condition, or consequences of which the person complains, [even if] not necessarily relief of the kind the person prefers. Polera, 288 F.3d at 488 (quoting Charlie F., 98 F.3d at 992); see also BD v. DeBuono, 130 F.Supp.2d 401, 428-29 (S.D.N.Y.2000) (allowing claims of two plaintiffs who had not exhausted remedies to proceed, because by the time they became aware of their cause of action the children had aged out of the special education program, and therefore there was no redress possible under the administrative scheme); see also Booth, 532 U.S. at 736-37, 121 S.Ct. 1819 (holding that exhaustion is required under Prison Litigation Reform Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), because hearing officer had authority to take some action in response to the complaint, even if not the remedy sought). The plaintiff bears the burden of demonstrating futility. Polera, 288 F.3d at 488 n. 8. 92 In Polera, we rejected a plaintiff's argument that it would have been futile for her to exhaust administrative remedies. The plaintiff, a visually disabled student, had sued for monetary damages and equitable relief under the IDEA for the school district's alleged failure to provide her with a free appropriate public education. By the time the case reached us on appeal, the student had graduated from high school. Id. at 480. Polera relied upon the Sixth Circuit's decision in Covington, in which a student sought damages for injuries he suffered as a result of being locked in a small, airless room for a prolonged period by school officials. See Covington, 205 F.3d at 917 ([I]n the unique circumstances of this case — in which the injured child has already graduated from the special education school, his injuries are wholly in the past, and therefore money damages are the only remedy that can make him whole — proceeding through the state's administrative process would be futile and is not required before the plaintiff can file suit in federal court.). The Polera court found Covington distinguishable because the plaintiff student in that case could not have received relief even if he had immediately invoked administrative procedures. In contrast, Polera brought suit in her senior year of high school for injuries beginning ten years earlier. [H]ad Polera pursued administrative procedures at the time of the alleged wrongdoing, she could have obtained the materials she needed and, perhaps, remedial tutoring or schedule adjustments to undo the effects of the wrong. For Polera, unlike the plaintiff in Covington, a fully effective remedy was available at the time; she simply chose not to pursue it. 288 F.3d at 490. 93 Unlike the plaintiff in Polera, Taylor did not deliberately delay in bringing her action. Rather, by the time she became aware of her cause of action, her daughter had been transferred from the ANSU school district. Had plaintiff pursued an administrative claim against the ANSU defendants immediately upon her discovery that they had concealed L.D.'s special education records, the hearing officer could have provided her with no relief against the ANSU defendants. The records in question had already been provided by the ACSU defendants and L.D. was no longer within the jurisdiction of the ANSU defendants. As Taylor seeks a remedy for a past injury, and the hearing officer lacked the authority to provide any relief for this injury, this case is more analogous to Covington than Polera. 94 There are additional factors that support plaintiff's futility argument. First and foremost, plaintiff's similar attempt to invoke the IDEA due process procedures against the ACSU defendants had failed for lack of standing. Any administrative challenge that Taylor brought would likely be disposed of on similar grounds. Moreover, although exhaustion generally may be advantageous because it facilitates the compilation of a fully developed record by a factfinder versed in the educational needs of disabled children, Frazier, 276 F.3d at 61, if the hearing officer would have dismissed the claim for lack of standing, then we would have derived no such benefit from Taylor bringing an administrative claim. Thus, the traditional reasons for requiring exhaustion are not present in this case. Under these circumstances, we hold that Taylor is exempted from the exhaustion requirements of the IDEA on grounds of futility and inadequacy of remedy against the ANSU defendants.