An administrative law judge has ordered a New Jersey school district to reimburse parents for three years of tuition and other costs related to unilateral placement at a private school.
The matter involves a 9-year-old Burlington County girl with autism, dyslexia, ADHD, anxiety, and other challenges who had been placed by her district in a range of special education settings. After triennial testing, the district sought to declassify the girl, in spite of independent evaluations showing a growing array of deficits. Her parents filed for due process to prevent their daughter from being declassified, and prevailed.
A series of contested IEPs followed, along with additional due process filings and requests for compensatory education. In spite of multiple efforts on the part of the parents to expand the IEP to address their concerns, the district failed to modify the IEP in a substantial way. Additionally, the IEP lacked goals and objectives to address weaknesses in decoding, social skills, writing, and vocabulary.
In the spring of 2017, the parents filed for due process and notified the school of their intent to place their daughter in a nonsectarian multi-sensory private school. Based on the evidence, the judge ruled that unilateral placement was justified and ordered the district to reimburse the family for expenses related to tuition for three school years, ESY, and attendant costs.
In his ruling the judge noted the district’s poor treatment of the family, describing how school leaders arranged for the termination of county benefits designed to help offset costs related to private school placement.
“While malice may be too strong of a word to attribute to [their] actions, this tribunal is concerned by the District personnel’s view of the parents of this student.”
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