District Court dismisses IDEA claim because plaintiffs failed to exhaust administrative remedies under the IDEA for education-centric claim even though plaintiffs sought money damages....more
The United States Supreme Court issued a decision in Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools, No. 21-887, opening the door for future claims against schools for compensatory monetary damages. In its unanimous opinion, the Supreme...more
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of a deaf student in Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools, 143 S. Ct. 81 (U.S. 2022), where the Court held that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) exhaustion...more
The Supreme Court unanimously held in Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools, No. 21-887 (Mar. 21, 2023) that a student can sue for compensatory damages under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) even when they have not...more
Can public school children with disabilities sue their schools for violations of the federal antidiscrimination statutes and collect compensatory damages before exhausting their administrative remedies under the Individuals...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has issued a decision in the case of Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools that would appear on first reading to expand the types of cases in which parents of students with disabilities can skip the...more
Summary of the ruling (& its underlying alphabet soup): The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) requires school districts to provide their disabled students a Free Appropriate Public Education...more
A.N. v. Upper Merion Area School District, 2022 WL 3371612 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 16, 2022). The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania upheld a hearing officer’s award of 5.5 hours of compensatory...more
In Illinois, as universal masking is fading, the next question looms: what will the end of universal masking mean for staff and students with disabilities who are at high risk? Across the county, issues regarding universal...more
Late last month, more than 100 parents of students with disabilities commenced a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against “every school district in the United States” and...more
Part 2: California Laws Impacting Schools and School Districts for 2020 - Last year brought many changes to the legal landscape affecting educators. In this Best Best & Krieger LLP Legal Alert series, we look at some of...more
With the number of students who identify as gender non-conforming on the rise, many educators have questions regarding the supports and services that may be available to such students. This year at IAASE, Jennifer Smith and...more
What are the parameters for requiring schools to accommodate students’ service animals in the classroom? The United States Supreme Court recently turned prior thinking on this issue on its head, finding that even though a...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Fry v. Napoleon Comm. Schools limits IDEA’s exhaustion requirement to those cases which seek relief for a denial of FAPE allowing for some claims brought under Title II...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Supreme Court has clarified IDEA’s exhaustion requirement to allow claims brought on behalf of IDEA eligible students to proceed directly in court unless the “gravamen” of the complaint seeks relief...more
The Supreme Court issued its opinion in Fry v. Napoleon yesterday. The case asked the court to interpret the IDEA provision stating that the Act does not limit the rights or remedies available under the Americans with...more
At the end of last month, the Department of Education released three new sets of guidance on the federal civil rights laws that govern students with disabilities. All three offer valuable information about current and...more
The Supreme Court currently has two important special education cases on its docket for this term. The first is Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District (10th Cir.), which will revisit the free and appropriate public...more
In combined cases K.M. v. Tustin Unified School District and D.H. v. Poway Unified School District, the Ninth Circuit determined that although the school districts provided the students with hearing impairments with a free...more
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides that the parent of a child with a disability can bring a due process complaint against a school district to address disputes related to the identification,...more