August 21, 2009

OMM v. Orange County Board of Education, State Review Office

The North Carolina State Review Office interpreted a ruling by an Orange County Judge on the appropriateness of services offered to a child with autism. The administrative hearing judge said the family was entitled to tuition reimbursement for full day preschool placement. The hearing officer said the school district only owed the parents tuition reimbursement for the period of time that the district failed to provide services. The state review officer did not address whether or not the school district's assessment practices and token offer of services were appropriate for the child. 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  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?