Opinion ID: 1361921
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Litigation Before the Hearing Officer and the District Court

Text: Pursuant to P.'s parents' request, hearing officer Mary Elizabeth Oppenheim held a hearing on P.'s parents' challenge to his 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 IEPs. She heard testimony from P.'s parents, Dr. Whitbread, Ms. Wilcock, and several other teachers and special-education professionals. After exhaustively reviewing the record, and noting that the Board bore the burden of proof in proving the IEPs' compliance with the IDEA, the hearing officer held in a thirty-five page opinion that the 2004-2005 IEP did not comply with IDEA, but that the 2005-2006 IEP did. The 2004-2005 IEP was deficient because too much of the division between regular and special classroom time was left to the discretion of school authorities and because P.'s behavioral issues were not appropriately addressed. As a compensatory education remedy for the deficiencies of the 2004-2005 IEP, the hearing officer required that the Board retain an inclusion consultant with considerable experience in placing children with mental retardation in regular classes, and held that Dr. Majure, whom the school had already hired, could fill that role appropriately. The Board does not appeal the hearing officer's findings with respect to the 2004-2005 IEP. The hearing officer found, however, that the 2005-2006 IEP complied with the requirements of the IDEA. Emphasizing Dr. Whitbread's statements that she thought P.'s regular-classroom time should increase gradually to 80% and that P. required some special-education services outside of the classroom, the hearing officer found that the PPT gave sufficient consideration to including P. in the classroom to the maximum extent appropriate. The hearing officer also took note of the extensive efforts the school had made on P.'s behalf, including the numerous supplemental aids, services, and additional teachers employed to assist P. throughout the day, the mutually agreed-upon behavioral consultant hired in 2005, and that the school had modified the curriculum to meet P.'s needs. Moreover, it was clear that P. was included with non-disabled students for around 73% of the time in 2005-2006, and participate[d] in all specials, lunch, [and] recess. P. subsequently appealed to the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut the ruling that the 2005-2006 IEP was sufficient and the sufficiency of the remedy awarded for the deficiencies in the 2004-2005 IEP. Both parties cross-moved for summary judgment, and the district court issued an opinion affirming the hearing officer's decision and awarding P. partial attorneys' fees and costs. [2] P. v. Newington Bd. of Educ., 512 F.Supp.2d 89 (D.Conn.2007). Applying the two-pronged test adopted by the Third Circuit in Oberti v. Clementon School District, 995 F.2d 1204, 1215 (3d Cir.1993), the district court held that the evidence supported the hearing officer's ruling. 512 F.Supp.2d at 102-09. P. now appeals the district court's decision.