Sweet Stevens Secures Victory for Local School District in Special Education Hearing
News Release
New Britain, PA – The Eastern Lancaster County School District, represented by Andrea Lynne Cola of Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams LLP, recently prevailed in a Pennsylvania Special Education Due Process Hearing. The closed hearing involved a claim by parents disputing the classification of their child, a student in special education. The hearing marked the second attempt by the parents to secure compensatory education and private school tuition.
In a previous hearing, the parents argued that the district identified their child with an emotional disturbance but failed to recognize a specific learning disability. They contended that the district’s Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) were therefore inappropriate, violating the student's right to a free appropriate public education. As a result, the parents placed the student in a private school and sought tuition reimbursement. That earlier ruling awarded 50 hours of compensatory education for a delay in the implementation of the IEP. The hearing officer did not award tuition reimbursement. Both parties later reached a settlement that converted the compensatory award into a monetary amount, with the parents waiving any claims against the district up to the agreement date.
The due process complaint, filed on July 2, 2024, included requests for compensatory education and tuition reimbursement. The parents sought further compensation for private evaluation costs. Their due process complaint was met with a district motion to dismiss the compensatory education claim for programming during the extended school year 2024. The current case also revisited the question of disability classification. The parents argued for a broader specific learning disability classification that encompassed basic reading skills, reading comprehension, reading fluency, and spelling.
Following a reevaluation, the district ultimately concluded the student qualified for special education under the disability categories of specific learning disability in math and other health impairment, but not emotional disturbance. At the core of the case was whether the district must recognize the student as having a specific learning disability in multiple academic areas, and whether appropriate steps were taken to address student needs.
In the final ruling, both the 2024 reevaluation report and IEP were deemed appropriate, and the hearing officer ruled that the IEP team had provided interventions and educational goals to address the student’s needs without allowing eligibility categories to dictate the program's specifics. The hearing officer ruled in favor of the district and denied the request for reimbursement for tuition and the 2024 private evaluation.
Andrea Lynne Cola focuses her work on matters involving civil rights, special education and student services.
Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams, LLP was formed in 1995 by nine experienced education lawyers who created the first private law practice in Pennsylvania dedicated entirely to Education Law. Since then, the firm has grown to 26 attorneys who represent over 290 school and municipal entities as Solicitors or as Special Counsel in more than 50 counties throughout Pennsylvania, and in additional practice areas, such as Construction Law, Tax Assessment Appeals, Audit of Operations and Practices, Real Estate Law and Oil, Gas and Mineral Law.