August 21, 2009

OMM v. Orange County Board of Education, Final Order

The plaintiffs, parents of a pre-school-aged child diagnosed with autism, sued the Orange County, North Carolina, Board of Education to compel reimbursement for their child's tuition at a private school. The lawsuit posed the following questions:

• Did Orange County Schools fail to provide the child with a free, appropriate public education through the development of his individualized education plan?

• Did Orange County Schools provide the child with a free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment, as required by federal law?

• Did the district procedurally and substantively fail to provide the child with a free, appropriate public education by not providing him educational services before Oct. 28, 2008, when the district did start providing the child services?

• Was the parents' private education placement, a mainstream preschool, appropriate for the child? If so, are they entitled to reimbursement for their costs and expenses for the school that they incurred starting July 31, 2008?