The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of a California school district ordered to provide compensatory tutoring to a teen with learning disabilities.
The case, Compton Unified School District v. Addison, involves a tenth-grade student who had failed every class and whose work, according to court records, was “gibberish and incomprehensible.” A mental health professional urged the district to evaluate the teen for special education, but the district ignored the recommendation, instead promoting her to the next grade. Later, the teen’s mother requested an evaluation, which revealed that the girl’s learning disabilities made her eligible for special education under IDEA.
The mother brought an administrative claim under IDEA, arguing that the district violated IDEA’s “child-find” requirement because it failed to identify her daughter’s disabilities in a timely manner. An administrative law judge ruled in favor of the family’s position, ordering the district to provide compensatory tutoring to make up for the girl’s lost educational opportunities. The district appealed lower court rulings.
The question presented to the Supreme Court was whether the due process hearing procedures under IDEA allow a parent to bring a claim of negligence against a school district for failing to identify a child’s disability, as required by the law’s “child-find” provision. That provision requires that all children with disabilities in need of special education services be identified, located and evaluated.
The high court’s refusal to hear the case lets stand the decision of the lower court.
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