Mr. I. Ex Rel. L.I. v. Maine School Administrative District No. 55
U.S. Court of Appeals3/5/2007
AI Case Brief
Generate an AI-powered case brief with:
đKey Facts
âď¸Legal Issues
đCourt Holding
đĄReasoning
đŻSignificance
Estimated cost: $0.001 - $0.003 per brief
Full Opinion
United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
Nos. 06-1368 and 06-1422
MR. I., AS PARENT AND NEXT FRIEND OF L.I., A MINOR;
MRS. I., AS PARENT AND NEXT FRIEND OF L.I., A MINOR,
Plaintiffs, Appellees/Cross-Appellants,
v.
MAINE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATIVE DISTRICT NO. 55,
Defendant, Appellant/Cross-Appellee.
APPEALS FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MAINE
[Hon. D. Brock Hornby, U.S. District Judge]
Before
Torruella, Circuit Judge,
Cyr, Senior Circuit Judge,
and Howard, Circuit Judge.
Eric R. Herlan with whom Drummond Woodsum & MacMahon, was on
brief, for appellant/cross appellant.
Richard L. O'Meara with whom Amy M. Sneirson, Staci K.
Converse and Murray, Plumb & Murray, were on brief, for
appellees/cross-appellees.
Diane C. Smith, on brief for amici curiae Autism Society of
Maine, Council of Parent Advocates and Attorneys, Disability Rights
Center, and National Disability Rights Network.
Brendan P. Rielly and Jensen Baird Gardner & Henry, on brief
for amici curiae Maine School Management Association, Maine
Education Association, Maine Administrators of Services for
Children with Disabilities, and Maine Principals' Association.
Frank D'Alessandro and Kids Legal at Pine Tree Legal
Assistance, on brief for amici curiae Asperger's Association of New
England.
March 5, 2007
-2-
HOWARD, Circuit Judge. This case presents an issue of
eligibility for benefits under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq. (Supp. 2006) (the "IDEA").
We have previously noted that such issues can require a "difficult
and sensitive" analysis. Greenland Sch. Dist. v. Amy N., 358 F.3d
150, 162 (1st Cir. 2004) (not reaching the eligibility question).
This case is no exception. The appellant, Maine School
Administrative District No. 55 ("the district"), appeals the
district court's determination that the appellees' daughter ("LI")
qualifies as a "child with a disability" eligible for special
education and related services under the IDEA as a result of her
Asperger's Syndrome. The appellees ("Mr. and Mrs. I" or "the
parents") cross-appeal the district court's rulings that (1) even
though LI was entitled to IDEA services, her parents were not
entitled to reimbursement of their expenses in unilaterally placing
LI in a private school following the district's refusal to provide
those services and (2) the district would not be separately ordered
to provide compensatory education services to reverse the effects
of that decision on LI's progress. We affirm the judgment of the
district court.
I.
We begin with an overview of the statutory framework.
The IDEA provides funding to each state "to assist [it] to provide
special education and related services to children with
-3-
disabilities," 20 U.S.C. § 1411(a)(1), provided that "[a] free
appropriate public education is available to all children with
disabilities residing in the state . . . ." Id. § 1412(a)(1)(A).
In this sense, a "free appropriate public education" encompasses
"special education and related services," id. § 1401(9), including
"specially designed instruction, at no cost to parents, to meet the
unique needs of a child with a disability . . . ." Id. § 1401(29).
To receive special education and related services under
the IDEA, a child must qualify as a "child with a disability." In
relevant part, a "child with a disability" is a child
(i) with mental retardation, hearing impairments
(including deafness), speech or language impairments,
visual impairments (including blindness), serious
emotional disturbance (referred to in this chapter as
"emotional disturbance"), orthopedic impairments, autism,
traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or
specific learning disabilities; and
(ii) who, by reason thereof, needs special education
and related services.
Id. § 1401(3)(A). The Secretary of Education has promulgated a
regulation defining each of the categories of disability set forth
in § 1401(3)(A)(i). Those definitions, so far as they are relevant
here, require that each of the enumerated conditions "adversely
affect[] a child's educational performance" to constitute a
disability. 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.8(c)(1)(i) (2006) (autism), (c)(4)(i)
(emotional disturbance), (c)(9)(ii) (other health impairment).1
1
Although this regulation was amended during the pendency of
this appeal, none of the amendments affects our analysis. See
-4-
The IDEA places the burden of identifying children with
disabilities upon each state. 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(3)(A). In
deciding whether a particular student has a disability under the
IDEA, Maine uses a "pupil evaluation team," or "PET," 05-071-101
Me. Code. R. § 9.4 (2006), consisting of the student's parents, a
representative from the school district, and a number of
educational and other professionals. Id. § 8.6; see also 20 U.S.C.
§ 1414(d)(1)(B). Though the members of the PET attempt to achieve
consensus on this issue, the school district retains the "ultimate
responsibility to ensure that a student is appropriately evaluated"
for IDEA eligibility. 05-071-101 Me. Code. R. § 8.11(C).
The parents of a child deemed ineligible for IDEA
benefits can challenge that determination before an impartial
hearing officer. 20 U.S.C. §§ 1415(b)(6), (f)(1)(A), (f)(3)(A).
After the hearing, the officer issues a final administrative
decision, accompanied by findings of fact. Id. §§ 1415(h)(4),
(i)(1)(A). Any party aggrieved by the decision can then file a
civil action in federal district court. Id. § 1415(i)(2)(A). Then
the "trial court must make an independent ruling based on the
preponderance of the evidence, but the Act contemplates that the
source of that evidence generally will be the administrative
generally Assistance to States for the Education of Children With
Disabilities and Preschool Grants for Children with Disabilities,
71 Fed. Reg. 46,540 (Aug. 14, 2006) (codified at 34 C.F.R. pt.
300). For ease of reference, then, we cite to the current version
of the regulation throughout.
-5-
hearing record, with some supplementation at trial." Town of
Burlington v. Dep't of Educ., 736 F.2d 773, 790 (1st Cir. 1984),
aff'd sub nom. Sch. Comm. v. Dep't of Educ., 471 U.S. 359 (1986)
("Burlington"); see also 20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(2)(C).
In keeping with this approach, the district court
referred the case to a magistrate judge for proposed findings and
a recommended disposition, see 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) (2006),
which were made based on the facts adduced at the due process
hearing and supplemental evidence submitted by the parents. The
district court, in the absence of an objection from either side,
accepted the magistrate's proposed findings wholesale. In the
continued absence of any challenge to these factual findings, we
take the same tack.
II.
A.
LI attended Cornish Elementary School in Cornish, Maine,
until 2003. Though she excelled academically, by the fourth grade
she began to experience sadness, anxiety, and difficulty with peer
relationships. These problems persisted into the fifth grade, when
LI sought to distance herself physically from most of her
classmates. Her parents sought psychological counseling for LI and
she started taking a prescription anti-depressant. Her grades also
dropped from "high honors" to "honors." As the school year
-6-
progressed, however, LI became more successful at interacting with
her peers and participating in class.
During the summer recess preceding sixth grade, LI asked
her mother, as she had the previous summer, to allow her to be
home-schooled. LI also expressed her desire to attend The
Community School ("TCS"), a private school in South Tamworth, New
Hampshire, where her older sister had matriculated. Nevertheless,
LI started the 2003-2004 school year at Cornish, where Mrs. I
believed her daughter would benefit, in particular, from her
assigned sixth grade teacher.
By mid-September, however, LI was "slacking off" in her
academic work and regularly missing school, prompting a meeting
between her teacher and Mrs. I. At this meeting, also attended by
LI, Mrs. I noticed cuts or scratches on her daughter's arms; the
teacher offered that LI might have inflicted those wounds on
herself during her "lengthy bathroom breaks" from class. According
to the teacher, LI was also having continued trouble relating with
her peers due to a "serious lack of awareness" of their social and
emotional states, which bordered on "hostility." The teacher added
that she could not "reach" LI, who had refused to complete
assignments and shown a "passive resistance to meeting learning
goals." Yet the teacher considered LI "a very bright young girl
with strong language and math skills . . . capable of powerful
insights in her reading and writing . . . ."
-7-
The teacher and Mrs. I came up with a "contract" that
would have entitled LI to study more advanced topics in her areas
of interest in November if she satisfactorily completed her
assignments for October. As October approached, however, LI
refused to sign the contract and stayed home from school on both
September 30 and October 1. On October 1, following an argument
with Mrs. I over one of LI's academic assignments, LI deliberately
ingested excessive quantities of one her prescription drugs and two
over-the-counter medications in a suicide attempt.
LI spent the balance of the day in the emergency room at
a nearby hospital and was discharged with instructions to remain
out of school for two days under high safety precautions. The
hospital social worker also directed Mr. and Mrs. I to "share with
[LI] something that would change in her life, and produce a
positive impact on her emotional functioning." Based on LI's
comments to hospital personnel that she hated school, Mr. and Mrs.
I told her that she would not have to return to Cornish Elementary
and discussed enrollment at TCS as an alternative.
In the wake of her attempted suicide, LI met with a new
counselor, who, suspecting that LI might suffer from Asperger's
Syndrome, referred her to Dr. Ellen Popenoe for neuropsychological
testing.2 Mr. and Mrs. I conveyed this information, as well as the
2
"Asperger's disorder is a developmental disability on the
autism spectrum that is associated with significant misperceptions
of otherwise routine elements of daily life. It is a permanent
-8-
news of LI's suicide attempt, to the district's director of special
services, Jim McDevitt. They added that LI would not return to
Cornish Elementary "for the time being" and that they were looking
at other options, including TCS. McDevitt explained the process
for seeking reimbursement from the district for placing LI in a
private school and also told the parents that the district planned
to convene a pupil evaluation team for LI at the end of the month.
At that meeting, the PET decided that LI should receive up to ten
hours of tutoring outside of school each week pending completion of
her neuropsychological testing.
The testing, finished by early November, further
suggested that LI had Asperger's Syndrome, as well as adjustment
disorder with depressed mood.3 Popeneo, the neuropsychologist,
observed that LI "experiences significant limitations in many areas
of adaptive skills" and executive skills, "which likely
contribute[s] to her behavioral and emotional difficulties."4
condition that is not treatable with medication." Greenland, 358
F.3d at 154.
3
Adjustment disorder with depressed mood is characterized by
a psychological response to an identifiable stressor that results
in the development of clinically significant emotional or
behavioral symptoms, i.e., depressed mood, tearfulness, or feelings
of hopelessness. Am. Psychiatric Ass'n, Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders 679 (4th ed. 2000) ("DSM-IV").
4
Adaptive skills are those necessary to cope with common life
demands and meet the standards of personal independence appropriate
for one's age, sociocultural background, and community setting.
DSM-IV at 42. Executive skills are those necessary to think
abstractly and to plan, initiate, monitor, and stop complex
-9-
These behavioral difficulties, particularly LI's poor pragmatic
language abilities and restricted range of social interests,
supported a diagnosis of Asperger's. Popeneo recommended that LI
begin seeing both a social skills coach, who would help her develop
social abilities and judgment, and a therapist familiar with
Asperger's, who would use a cognitive-behavioral approach.5
Popeneo also recommended that LI undergo a speech-
language evaluation, which was completed in January 2004 by Amber
Lambke, a speech-language pathologist. Lambke observed that LI
suffered "significant social understanding deficits which impact
her overall emotional and social well-being." Like Popeneo, Lambke
recommended that LI receive direct teaching of social skills.
In the meantime, McDevitt told Mrs. I that he would
attempt to find LI a tutor in accordance with the PET's decision.
Mrs. I had not heard back from him by November 10, however, so she
started home-schooling LI. Despite additional prodding by Mrs. I
in November and December, the district never provided a tutor as
ordered by the PET, nor explained its failure to do so. While LI
preferred home-schooling to attending Cornish Elementary, Mrs. I
behavior. Id. at 149.
5
In general, cognitive-behavioral therapy seeks to identify
the thinking associated with unwanted feelings and behaviors in
order to replace it with thoughts leading to more desirable
reactions. Nat'l Ass'n of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists,
http://www.nacbt.org/whatiscbt.htm (last visited January 26, 2007).
-10-
was having trouble getting LI to complete her assignments, and her
counselor believed that LI should resume formal schooling.
On January 5, 2004, LI began attending TCS. Although she
was withdrawn and isolated at the outset, over time LI developed
positive relationships with some of her peers. She also thrived
academically, completing assignments at the seventh- and eighth-
grade level with ease. TCS, however, provided LI with neither the
direct teaching of social skills nor the cognitive behavioral
therapy that had been recommended as treatment for her Asperger's.
When the PET reconvened in early March, it accepted
Popenoe's conclusion that LI suffered from both Asperger's and
adjustment disorder with depressed mood. The PET also agreed that
LI needed social skills and pragmatic language instruction. The
PET, however, could not reach consensus on whether LI qualified as
a "child with a disability" under the IDEA. The district's
representatives argued that LI's condition, whether denominated
"autism," "emotional disturbance," or "other health impairment," 20
U.S.C. § 1401(3)(A)(i), had not affected her academic performance
"to a marked degree" or "over a long period of time," which they
deemed essential to IDEA eligibility. The district then issued a
"prior written notice," id. § 1415(b)(3), announcing its refusal to
offer special education services on the stated basis of "no
significant adverse effect on education." The district instead
-11-
asked the PET to consider LI's eligibility for services under the
Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794 (2000).
At its next meeting, the PET identified LI as a
"qualified individual with a disability" under the Rehabilitation
Act, id. § 794(a), and recommended an array of services. These
included close supervision throughout the school day; instruction
in "social pragmatics"; access to the district's existing gifted
and talented programming as well as additional programming provided
through a consultant to be hired by the district; and placement in
any elementary school within the district. The district also
offered to supply a tutor to work with LI for three hours each day
to ease her eventual transition back to the classroom.
Mr. and Mrs. I objected to this proposal as inadequate
and unduly restrictive, given LI's success in a classroom
environment at TCS and her apprehension over returning to public
school. They wanted LI to remain at TCS for the balance of the
academic year with a view toward beginning her transition back to
public school in September 2004, and notified the district that
they intended to seek reimbursement under the IDEA for LI's
attendance at TCS. LI completed the 2003-2004 academic year at
TCS, and stayed on for the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years as
well. While she has done well academically, she continues to
experience "atypical" peer relationships and spent the summer of
2004 shunning her TCS classmates in favor of solitary pursuits. LI
-12-
also generally refuses to go outdoors or to eat more than a
severely limited variety of foods. Her current social worker
believes that, without social skills coaching, LI is unlikely to
master the flexible thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and
communication abilities she will need for employment in the future.
B.
After the final PET decision, Mr. and Mrs. I requested a
due process hearing to challenge the district's refusal to identify
LI as a child with a disability under the IDEA. The hearing
officer upheld the district's decision that LI was ineligible for
IDEA services. The hearing officer noted the parties' agreement
that LI had Asperger's and a depressive disorder, making her "a
troubled young woman," but further observed that she was not
entitled to IDEA benefits unless these disabilities "'adversely
affect[ed]' [her] educational performance."
The hearing officer recognized that both the IDEA and
Maine's implementing regulations define "educational performance"
to include more than just academic proficiency, but concluded that
the IDEA does not call for services "to address social and
emotional needs when there are no academic needs." Accordingly,
because LI "completes homework independently, is well behaved in
class, is successful at test taking and successfully completes
projects," the hearing officer determined that "neither the [IDEA]
nor the Maine Special Education Regulations require a school
-13-
district to provide special education services to address what is
essentially a mental health issue."
In response, Mr. and Mrs. I commenced an action in the
district court, which, as we have noted, referred the case to a
magistrate judge.6 The magistrate judge determined that the
hearing officer erred in treating LI's lack of academic needs as
dispositive of her IDEA eligibility when the correct standard, he
believed, is whether a disability "manifest[s] itself in an
adverse effect on the child's ability to learn." Nevertheless, the
magistrate judge ruled that LI did not meet this standard because
her condition did not adversely affect her achievements as measured
by any of the criteria Maine uses to define "educational
performance." While the magistrate judge recognized that LI had
fallen short of these benchmarks during the period in the fall of
2003 when she had repeatedly missed school and attempted suicide,
he considered this episode too short-lived "to trigger eligibility
for special-education services."
The district court, however, rejected the magistrate
judge's recommended decision, concluding that LI's "condition did
adversely affect her educational performance as Maine defines that
term and that the events of the fall of 2003 cannot be isolated
6
In addition to seeking review of the hearing officer's
decision under 20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(2), Mr. and Mrs. I also asserted
a claim for relief under the Rehabilitation Act, which was rejected
by the district court. They have not pursued this claim on appeal.
-14-
from [her] underlying condition." 416 F. Supp. 2d 147, 152 (D. Me.
2006). The district court determined that LI's Asperger's had
exerted an adverse effect on her educational performance as
measured by state criteria, most significantly in the areas of
socialization and communication. The district court also disagreed
with the view that any downturn in LI's educational performance was
too fleeting to constitute an "adverse effect." Reasoning that
neither the Maine regulations defining the disabilities listed in
§ 1401(3)(A)(i) nor their federal counterparts used any restrictive
modifier in conjunction with the term "adversely affects," the
district court ruled that "any negative effect should be
sufficient" to constitute a disability under the IDEA. 416 F.
Supp. 2d at 160 (emphasis added).
Turning to the second prong of the IDEA's eligibility
standard, 20 U.S.C. § 1401(3)(A)(ii), the district court concluded
that LI needed special education and related services by reason of
her disability. First, the district court found that the PET had
agreed to provide LI with a number of accommodations that fit the
definition of "special education" under both the IDEA and Maine
law, including one-on-one tutoring and instruction in social
pragmatics. Second, observing that "the PET, the experts, the
School District and the parents all initially believed that [LI]
'needed' the identified services," the district court decided to
"hold the parties to their original understandings" and therefore
-15-
treated "need" as an uncontested issue. 416 F. Supp. 2d at 167.
Based on its determination that LI satisfied both elements of the
IDEA eligibility test, the district court ordered the district "to
convene a PET meeting . . . to develop an IEP for [LI] that meets
her unique needs as a student with Asperger's Syndrome and a
depressive disorder."7 Id. at 168.
The district court also considered the parents' requests
for additional relief: reimbursement of their expenses in
unilaterally placing LI at TCS, and compensatory education to make
up for the district's failure to identify her as eligible under the
IDEA. Though the district court found that Mr. and Mrs. I had
given the requisite notice of the unilateral placement under Maine
law, the court also ruled that their decision to enroll LI at TCS
was not "'reasonably calculated to enable [her] to receive
educational benefits'" so as to entitle them to reimbursement. 416
F. Supp. 2d at 172 (quoting Florence County Sch. Dist. Four v.
Carter ex rel. Carter, 510 U.S. 7, 11 (1993) (further internal
quotation marks omitted by district court)). Finally, reasoning
that LI's "IEP will necessarily take into account the effect of the
school district's failure to identify and offer [LI] special
7
The state must develop and implement an "individualized
education program," or "IEP," to meet the particularized needs of
each child with a disability. 20 U.S.C. §§ 1412(a)(4),
1414(d)(1)(A)(i).
-16-
education services earlier," the district court did not separately
grant the parents' request for compensatory education. Id. at 173.
III.
The district challenges the district court's conclusion
that LI qualifies as a "child with a disability" under the IDEA.
While we have never expressly set forth our standard of review for
a district court's decision on IDEA eligibility, we have treated
"ultimate determinations in cases under the Act" as mixed questions
of fact and law. Roland M. v. Concord Sch. Comm., 910 F.2d 983,
990 (1st Cir. 1990); see also Ms. M ex rel. K.M. v. Portland Sch.
Comm., 360 F.3d 267, 272 (1st Cir. 2004); Kathleen H. v. Mass.
Dep't of Educ., 154 F.3d 8, 13 (1st Cir. 1998). We agree with the
parties that whether a student qualifies as "a child with a
disability" under § 1401(3) also poses a mixed legal and factual
inquiry. See J.D. ex rel. J.D. v. Pawlet Sch. Dist., 224 F.3d 60,
64 (2d Cir. 2000); Yankton Sch. Dist. v. Schramm, 93 F.3d 1369,
1374 (8th Cir. 1996). Mixed questions generally "fall along a
degree-of-deference continuum, ranging from non-deferential plenary
review for law-dominated questions, to deferential review for fact-
dominated questions." In re PolyMedica Corp. Sec. Litig., 432 F.3d
1, 4 (1st Cir. 2005). But we need not decide at the moment where
along the continuum the question of IDEA eligibility falls, as the
parties agree that we should review the question for clear error.
-17-
The district maintains, however, that the district court
arrived at its conclusion that LI is a "child with a disability"
only through a series of legal errors. First, the district argues
that the district court misread the terms "adversely affects" and
"educational performance" as they appear in the regulatory
definitions of the disabilities attributed to LI, improperly
extending the breadth of § 1401(3)(A)(i). Second, the district
claims that the district court similarly misinterpreted the term
"special education" as it appears in § 1401(3)(A)(ii), the second
prong of the test for IDEA eligibility. The district also
challenges the determination that it effectively waived the
opportunity to dispute LI's need for special education. We review
these rulings of law de novo. Greenland, 358 F.3d at 156;
Manchester Sch. Dist. v. Crisman, 306 F.3d 1, 9 (1st Cir. 2002).
A.
1.
Though the IDEA "establishes a basic floor of education"
for children with disabilities, guaranteeing them "[a] free
appropriate public education," 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(1)(A), it does
not displace the states from their traditional role in setting
their own educational policy. Burlington, 736 F.2d at 788-89; see
also J.D., 224 F.3d at 65; Daniel R.R. v. State Bd. of Educ., 874
F.2d 1036, 1044 (5th Cir. 1989). Each state thus remains free to
calibrate its own educational standards, provided it does not set
-18-
them below the minimum level prescribed by the statute. Roland M.,
910 F.2d at 987; Burlington, 736 F.2d at 788-89.
As we have seen, the right to special education and
related services under the IDEA extends to children "with" one or
more of a variety of disabilities, 20 U.S.C. § 1401(3)(A)(i), "who,
by reason thereof, need[] special education and related services."
Id. § 1401(3)(A)(ii). The IDEA does not itself define any of the
qualifying disabilities listed in § 1401(3)(A)(i), though the
Department of Education has issued a regulation fleshing them out.
34 C.F.R. § 300.8(c). The regulatory definitions, with one
exception not relevant here, state, among other requirements, that
each condition must "adversely affect[] a child's educational
performance." Id. § 300.8(c)(1)-(c)(13). In keeping with the
IDEA's respect for state policy judgments, however, the regulation
does not expand upon this phrase, "leaving it to each State to give
substance to these terms." J.D., 224 F.3d at 65; see also
Greenland Sch. Dist. v. Amy N., No. 02-136-JD, 2003 WL 134023, at
*8 (D.N.H. Mar. 19, 2003), aff'd on other grounds, 358 F.3d 150
(1st Cir. 2005).
It is here that the district's argument as to the proper
scope of § 1401(3)(A) begins to encounter difficulty. While
Maine's Department of Education has promulgated its own regulation
defining the disabilities recognized under the IDEA, those
definitions simply ape their federal counterparts, including the
-19-
requirement that a disability "adversely affect[] the student's
educational performance." 05-071-101 Me. Code. R. §§ 3.2-3.14
(2006). The regulation, like its federal cousin, also does not
further elaborate on this phrase, although Maine has adopted its
own definition of "educational performance" for IDEA purposes:
The term "educational performance" includes academic
areas (reading, math, communication, etc.), non-academic
areas (daily life activities, mobility, etc.),
extracurricular activities, progress in meeting goals
established for the general curriculum, and performance
on State-wide and local assessments.
Id. § 2.7. Despite this expansive notion of educational
performance, and in the absence of any regulatory guidance as to
the term "adversely affects," the district asks us to hold that a
child meets the first criterion of IDEA eligibility in Maine "only
if the student's condition imposes a significant negative impact on
the child's educational performance . . . limited to those areas of
performance actually being measured and assessed by the local unit,
in accordance with law." We decline to do so.
At the outset, Maine does not look only at "areas of
performance actually being measured and assessed by the local unit"
when determining whether a child has a disability under the IDEA.
That much is clear from the regulatory definition of "educational
performance" itself, which counts "performance on state-wide and
local assessments" as just one of a number of different indicators
embraced by the concept. As the district points out, the term
"general curriculum," which also appears in the definition of
-20-
educational performance, has a narrower meaning under the
regulations, i.e., "the school administrative unit's local
curriculum for grades K-12 which incorporate the content standards
and performance indicators of the Learning Results."8 05-071-101
Me. Code. R. § 2.11. Based on this definition, the district argues
that "educational performance" encompasses only those "performance
indicators" measured as part of the local curriculum.9 Even if the
district's reading of "general curriculum" is correct, however, the
fact remains that a student's progress in that regard comprises but
one of the aspects of "educational performance" as defined by the
regulation. More far-ranging measurements, such as "academic
areas" and "non-academic areas," are also included.
As the magistrate judge and the district court observed,
Maine's broad definition of "educational performance" squares with
the broad purpose behind the IDEA: "to ensure that all children
with disabilities have available to them a free and appropriate
public education that emphasizes special education and related
8
Maine's "Learning Results" are a "statewide system" developed
to "establish high academic standards at all grade levels" in eight
different subject areas. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 20-A, § 6209
(Supp. 2006).
9
More specifically, the district argues that, while Maine has
developed extensive performance indicators to measure progress
toward the "Learning Results," 05-071-131 Me. Code R. §§ 1-8, state
law does not require the use of these criteria, leaving measurement
of student achievement to a "local assessment system." Me. Rev.
Stat. Ann. tit. 20-A, § 6202-A. We need not, and do not, pass upon
this argument. See Part III.A.2, infra.
-21-
services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for
further education, employment, and independent living." 20 U.S.C.
§ 1400(d)(1)(A) (emphases added). We have likewise held that the
IDEA entitles qualifying children to services that "target 'all of
[their] special needs,' whether they be academic, physical,
emotional, or social." Lenn v. Portland Sch. Comm.,, 998 F.2d
1083, 1089 (1st Cir. 1993) (quoting Burlington, 736 F.2d at 788).
It is true that we have also stated that IDEA services need not
address "problems truly 'distinct' from learning problems."
Gonzalez v. P.R. Dep't of Educ., 254 F.3d 350, 352 (1st Cir. 2001);
see also Rome Sch. Comm. v. Mrs. B., 247 F.3d 29, 33 n.3 (1st Cir.
2001) (noting that, in determining adequacy of IEP for emotionally
disturbed boy, "[t]he question is whether [his] behavioral
disturbances interfered with the child's ability to learn"). But
it does not follow, as the hearing officer wrongly concluded, that
a child without "academic needs" is per se ineligible for IDEA
benefits, especially when the state has conditioned eligibility on
a standard that explicitly takes "non-academic areas" into account.
See Weixel v. Bd. of Educ., 287 F.3d 138, 150 (2d Cir. 2002)
("IDEA's coverage is not limited to students with 'learning
disabilities' . . . ."). In other words, as the district admits,
"educational performance in Maine is more than just academics."
In light of Maine's broad notion of "educational
performance" as the standard of IDEA eligibility, we see no basis
-22-
for restricting that standard to "areas of performance actually
being measured and assessed by the local unit." Indeed, "there is
nothing in IDEA or its legislative history that supports the
conclusion that . . . 'educational performance' is limited only to
performance that is graded." See Robert A. Garda, Jr., Untangling
Eligibility Requirements Under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, 69 Mo. L. Rev. 441, 471 (2003). To be sure, some
states have adopted more circumscribed criteria for identifying
children with disabilities under the IDEA, requiring, for example,
that a student perform poorly in a specific area of "basic skills."
See J.D., 224 F.3d at 66 (discussing prior version of 22-000-06 Vt.
Code Reg. §§ 2362(a)(2), (f) (2006)). Maine, however, has chosen
not to do so.10 We therefore decline the district's invitation to
reformulate state educational policy by narrowing the indicia of
educational performance used as the test for IDEA eligibility under
Maine law. The district court properly articulated this standard
10
The Maine Department of Education has proposed amending its
special education regulations to insert, inter alia, a requirement
that "[a] child's disability must result in an adverse affect [sic]
on the child's ability to learn and/or perform the academic, daily
living, and/or age-relevant tasks required to demonstrate
educational progress in the general curriculum." Maine Unified
Special Education Regulation § VII.3 (proposed Nov. 2006), to be
codified at 05-071-101 Me. Code R. § 1 et. seq., available at
http://www.maine.gov/education/rulechanges.htm (last visited Feb.
21, 2006). The proposed regulations also restrict the definition
of "educational performance" for children older than five to
"academic areas (written literacy skills, math, communication,
etc.) [and] functional areas of performance (daily life activities)
. . . ." Id. § II.9. These draft regulations, still in the public
comment period, are not before us.
-23-
as "whether [LI's] condition adversely affected her performance in
any of the educational areas Maine has identified." 416 F. Supp.
2d at 159 (footnote omitted).
The district also argues that the district court
misconstrued the "adversely affects" component of the test to
include disabilities with "any adverse effect on educational
performance, however slight . . . ." Id. at 160. The correct
formulation, the district urges, requires "some significant impact
on educational performance." In rejecting this proposal, the
district court reasoned that the phrase "adversely affects," as it
appears in the relevant regulations, "has no qualifier such as
'substantial,' 'significant,' or 'marked,'" and declined to infer
such a limitation "from Maine's regulatory silence." Id. We agree
with this interpretation of the "adversely affects" standard.
Though the district marshals a number of arguments in
support of its contrary position, they all sound a common theme:
that an unlimited definition of "adversely affects" will qualify
every child with one of the listed disabilities--no matter how
minor--for IDEA benefits. This contention, however, overlooks the
structure of the IDEA's eligibility standard, which requires not
only that a child have one of the listed conditions, §
1401(3)(A)(i), but also that, "by reason thereof," the child "needs
special education and related services," id. § 1401(3)(A)(ii). So
a finding that a child meets the first criterion because his or her
-24-
disability adversely affects educational performance--to whatever
degree--does not itself entitle the child to special education and
related services under the IDEA. See Mark C. Weber, Special
Education Law and Litigation Treatise § 2.2(1), at 2:4 (2d ed.
2002); Garda, supra, at 490-91. The child must also need special
education and related services by reason of the disability.11
In fact, an adverse effect on educational performance,
standing alone, does not even satisfy the first prong of the
eligibility test. The child's condition must also possess the
additional characteristics required by the regulatory definitions
of each of the disabilities enumerated in § 1401(3)(A)(i). See 34
C.F.R. §§ 300.8(c)(1)-(c)(13); 05-071-101 Me. Code. R. §§ 3.2-3.14.
For example, to meet the first part of the eligibility standard on
the basis of autism, a child must have "[1] a developmental
disability [2] significantly affecting [3] verbal and [4] nonverbal
communication and [5] social interaction, [6] generally evident
before age three, [7] that adversely affects a child's educational
performance." 34 C.F.R. § 300.8(c)(1)(i); 05-071-101 Me. Code. R.
11
In attacking this reasoning, the district argues that the
second part of the definition of "child with a disability" is too
broad to function as a meaningful filter for IDEA eligibility. For
the reasons stated in Part III.B.2, infra, we do not have occasion
to address the scope of that provision here. For the moment, we
note only that the district recognized, in its brief to the hearing
officer, that the first and second prongs of § 1401(3)(A) do
operate in conjunction to determine eligibility. Post-Hrg. Memo.
at 6 ("'adverse effect' and the child's 'need for special education
are intertwined . . . .").
-25-
§ 3.2. Thus, the "adversely affects educational performance"
requirement serves as but one of a list of factors that must be
present for a child's condition to qualify as a disability under §
1401(3)(A)(i)--and, to receive IDEA benefits, the child must also
need special education and related services by reason of the
disability under § 1401(3)(A)(ii). The district court's
interpretation of "adversely affects," then, is unlikely to loose
the torrent of IDEA claims forecast by the district and its amici.
The district's specific arguments fare no better. The
district contends that § 1401(3)(a)(i) fails to put the states on
notice that, as a condition of accepting federal money under the
IDEA, they are required to provide benefits to children whose
conditions have merely an "adverse effect" on their educational
performance. It is true that "when Congress attaches conditions to
a State's acceptance of federal funds" pursuant to its Spending
Clause authority, "the conditions must be set out unambiguously" so
that each state can intelligently decide whether to take the money
and its accompanying obligations. Arlington Cent. Sch. Dist. Bd.
of Ed. v. Murphy, 126 S. Ct. 2455, 2459 (2006) (internal quotation
marks omitted). Based on this principle, the Supreme Court has
held that whether the IDEA imposes a particular obligation on the
states depends, at the outset, on whether the IDEA "furnishes clear
notice regarding the liability at issue . . . ." Id.
-26-
The principal place to look for such notice, of course,
is the text of the IDEA itself. Id. The district asserts that the
language of § 1401(3)(A)(i) fails to clarify that a state's duty to
provide IDEA benefits extends to children with disabilities having
only an adverse effect on educational performance. In fact, the
district argues, the statute--through its use of the term
"disability"--limits that duty to children whose conditions
"significantly impact educational performance." We disagree.
To properly understand "disability" as it appears in the
IDEA, we do not, as the district implores, resort to dictionary
definitions of the word "disable," but to § 1401(3)(A)(i), which
functions as the first part of the statutory definition of "child
with a disability." Section 1401(3)(A)(i), as the district court
observed, does not include the qualifying language urged upon us by
the district, but simply defines "child with a disability" as a
child "with" one of a number of specific conditions.12
The district also directs us to the more restrictive
meaning of the term "disability" under Title II of the Americans
with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. Because the IDEA
contains its own definition of the term, however, its appearance in
other acts of Congress is of little moment. See United States v.
12
Contrary to the district's suggestion, that § 1401(3)(A)(i)
uses the words "impairment" or "serious" in naming some of the
disabilities set forth provides no basis for inferring that any
condition must be a "serious impairment" to meet the statutory
standard, let alone a "significant impact" requirement.
-27-
Meade, 175 F.3d 215, 220-21 (1st Cir. 1999). Putting aside the
difference between the legislative goals of the IDEA and these
other acts, then, the IDEA simply defines "disability" differently
than they do. Compare 20 U.S.C. § 1401(3)(A) with 29 U.S.C. §
705(9)(B) and 42 U.S.C. § 12102(2)(A) (defining "disability" as
"physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or
more major life activities"). This clear disparity in text puts
the district's suggestion that we look to those other acts in
construing the term "disability" here on par with comparing "plums
and pomegranates." Meade, 175 F.3d at 221.
Given the express definition of "disability" set forth in
§ 1401(3)(A)(i), we need look no further to conclude that the
statute sufficiently articulates the first prong of the standard
for IDEA eligibility and, in so doing, adequately informs the
states of the extent of their obligations. Murphy, 126 S. Ct. at
2463. The district and its amici nevertheless argue that this
standard, as interpreted by the district court, flies in the face
of congressional admonishments against identifying too many
students as "children with disabilities" under the IDEA. It is
true that, in amending the Act in 1997, Congress voiced concern
about "over identifying children as disabled when they may not be
truly disabled . . . particularly in urban schools with high
proportions of minority students . . . ." H.R. Rep. No. 105-95, at
89 (1997), reprinted in 1997 U.S.C.C.A.N. 78, 86. To remedy this
-28-
problem, Congress changed the formula for calculating the funds due
each state under the IDEA from one "based on the number of children
with disabilities to a formula based on census and poverty . . . ."
Id. at 88, 1997 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 85.
Notably, though, Congress thought this shift--rather than
any alteration to the eligibility criteria--sufficient to address
the over-identification problem. Id. at 89, 1997 U.S.C.C.A.N. at
87. Congress specifically stated, in fact, that the change to the
funding formula "should in no way be construed to modify the
obligation of educational agencies to identify and serve students
with disabilities." Id. at 88, 1997 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 85. Congress
eschewed any change to the eligibility standard not only in 1997,
but also in 2004, when it amended the IDEA again. Individuals with
Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, Pub. L. No. 108-
446, § 602(3)(A), 118 Stat. 2647, 2652, codified at 20 U.S.C. §
1401(3)(A). The Department of Education similarly declined, by and
large, to tinker with its definitions of the § 1401(3)(A)(i)
disabilities when it issued regulations in response to the amended
Act. 71 Fed. Reg. 46,540, 46,549-46,551 (Aug. 14, 2006). Thus,
although the district and its amici argue that an over-
identification problem persists, we cannot tighten the standard for
IDEA eligibility when Congress itself has chosen not to do so.13
13
Moreover, Congress took this course of action despite the
presidential committee report touted by the district and its amici
in support of their proffered standard. President's Comm'n on
-29-
The legislative history, then, only strengthens our
conviction that § 1401(3)(A)(i), as construed by the district
court, does not offend the Spending Clause by springing hidden
liabilities upon participating states. Furthermore, as the
district acknowledges, states deciding whether to enter into the
IDEA bargain also have the benefit of the federal regulation
defining the disabilities set forth in § 1401(3)(A)(i). Those
definitions, again, specifically require that each disability (save
one) "adversely affect[] a child's educational performance." 34
C.F.R. §§ 300.8(c)(1)-(c)(13). They do not contain the limiting
language urged by the district, i.e., "significantly impacts
educational performance."
We reject the district's argument that such a limitation
lurks in the term "adversely," which the district equates with
"calamitously" or "perniciously" on the authority of an unabridged
dictionary. We think it considerably more likely that federal
regulators used "adverse" in its ordinary sense, namely "against."
Black's Law Dictionary 58 (8th ed. 2004); see also Webster's Third
Excellence in Special Educ., A New Era: Revitalizing Special
Education for Children and Their Families (2002), available at
http://www.ed.gov/inits/commissionsboards/whspecialeducation/
index.html (last visited Jan. 19, 2007). This report not only
further expressed concern about over-identification, as the
district and its amici point out, but strongly criticized the
regulatory definitions of the disabilities recognized by the IDEA.
Id. at 22. Because neither Congress nor the Department of
Education appears to have acted on the commission's
recommendations, however, the report is of little use in construing
the eligibility standards that have endured.
-30-
New International Dictionary of the English Language (Unabridged)
31 (1993) (giving primary definition of "adverse" as "acting
against or in a contrary direction").14 In this way, the regulation
sensibly demands that a disability cannot qualify a child for IDEA
benefits unless it has a negative effect on educational
performance; no effect, or a positive one, will not do.15 The
regulation does not, however, put any quantitative limit,
"significant" or otherwise, on the disability.
Maine's regulation, cribbed from 34 C.F.R. § 300.8, also
requires no particular degree of impact on educational performance.
05-071-101 Me. Code. R. §§ 3.2-3.14. This fact alone distinguishes
this case from the decisions of other courts, cited by the
district, which derived a higher standard from state law. See
J.D., 224 F.3d at 66-67; Gregory M. ex rel. Ernest M. v. State Bd.
of Educ., 891 F. Supp. 695, 702 (D. Conn. 1995); Doe ex rel. Doe v.
14
One district court recently used the secondary definition of
"adverse" from a different dictionary--"causing harm"--to interpret
the "adversely affects" requirement, concluding that, when a
student "experiences only a slight impact on his educational
performance, it cannot be said that the student is harmed." Ashli
& Gordon C. ex rel. Sidney C. v. Hawaii, No. 05-00429-HG-KSC, 2007
WL 247761, at *9 (D. Hawai'i Jan. 23, 2007). In fact, however, the
student is still "harmed"--if only slightly--so the court's
conclusion does not follow from the definition it cites. As a
result, Ashli & Gordon C. does not persuasively address the absence
of any qualitative limitation in the regulatory language.
15
The "adversely affects" test also serves an additional
function: ensuring that it is the "enumerated disability, and not
other factors" that impacts educational performance. See Garda,
supra, at 486.
-31-
Bd. of Educ., 753 F. Supp. 65, 70 & n.9 (D. Conn. 1990).16 In
J.D., for example, the Second Circuit considered a Vermont
regulation that defined "adverse effect of the disability on
educational performance" to require a determination "that the
student is functioning significantly below expected age or grade
norms, in one or more of the basic skills." 224 F.3d at 66
(internal quotation marks omitted). This provision further
required that the "determination of adverse effect, usually defined
as 1.0 standard deviation or its equivalent, shall be documented
and supported by two or more measures of school performance," which
were themselves specified by the regulation. Id. Based on this
standard, the Second Circuit concluded that the child did not
qualify for IDEA benefits because he was "unable to identify at
least two school performance measures that point to an adverse
effect," despite his emotional-behavioral disability. Id. at 67.
The Second Circuit reached its decision in J.D., then,
by applying the highly specific definition of "adversely affects
educational performance" set forth in state law, not by imposing
its own gloss on that language, as the district invites us to do
here. For the reasons we have stated, we decline that invitation.
16
The Connecticut decisions applied a now-superseded state
regulation defining "socially and emotionally maladjusted" in part
as "a condition which 'significantly impedes the child's rate of
educational development.'" Doe, 753 F. Supp. at 70 n.9 (quoting
Conn. Agencies Regs. § 10-76a-1(m) (1989)); see also Gregory M.,
891 F. Supp. at 702 (articulating same test).
-32-
States wishing to put meat on the bones of the "adversely affects"
standard are free to do so--provided, of course, they do not
transgress the "floor" of substantive protection set by the IDEA.17
See generally Burlington, 736 F.2d at 788-89. On its own, however,
the federal regulation does not contain the "significant impact"
requirement the district desires, and we cannot put it there. The
district court correctly ruled that any negative impact, regardless
of degree, qualifies as an "adverse effect" under the relevant
federal and state regulations defining the disabilities listed in
§ 1401(3)(A)(i).
2.
Because the district court applied the right standard, we
review its determination that LI has one of the disabilities
included in § 1401(3)(A)(i) "for clear error on the record as a
whole." Ms. M., 360 F.3d at 272. We find none. As the hearing
officer noted, the parties agree that LI suffers from Asperger's,
17
Maine recently passed emergency legislation, effective May
30, 2006, defining "child with a disability," in relevant part, as:
"[f]or children at least 3 years of age and under 20 years of age
evaluated in accordance with [20 U.S.C. §§ 1414(a)-(c)] as measured
by both standardized, norm-referenced diagnostic instruments and
appropriate procedures with delays or impairments such that the
children need special education . . . with at least one" of a
number of specified conditions. An Act To Improve Early Childhood
Education, 2006 Me. Legis. Serv. 662, sec. A-15, § 7001(1-B)(B), to
be codified at Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 20-A, § 7001(1-B)(B). The
Maine Department of Education has also proposed a regulation
imposing a number of requirements, similar to Vermont's, on the
adverse effect determination. See Maine Unified Special Education
Regulation, supra, § VII.3 These versions of the Maine definitions
are not before us, however, and we express no opinion on them.
-33-
manifested in her poor pragmatic language skills and social
understanding difficulties, as well as from a depressive disorder
brought on by the stress of managing these problems; indeed, the
district has never questioned the opinions of LI's
neuropsychologist and speech therapist in this regard. The parties
disagree, however, on whether these conditions have adversely
affected LI's educational performance in light of her strong
grades, generally nondisruptive classroom behavior, and what the
district court called her "undisputed intellectual ability." 416
F. Supp. 2d at 161. In a lengthy written opinion, the district
court tackled this issue head on, ultimately finding that, despite
LI's above-average academic performance, "many of [her] social and
communication deficits, including her isolation, inflexibility, and
self-mutilation during schooltime, are precisely in the content
areas and skills that Maine mandates educationally." Id. at 163.
This finding, the district court reasoned, compelled the conclusion
that LI's disability had exerted an adverse effect on her
educational performance under the governing standard.
Much of the district's challenge to this outcome relies
on its contention that the district court applied the "adversely
affects educational performance" test too leniently, which we have
already rejected. A few of the district's supplemental points,
however, merit additional discussion. First, the district argues
that the district court mistakenly gauged LI's educational
-34-
performance on the basis of selected "performance indicators," see
05-071-131 Me. Code R. §§ 1-8, that Maine has developed to measure
students' proficiency in various "content standard subject areas."
Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 20-A, § 6209. This was error, the
district asserts, because Maine does not mandate the actual use of
the performance indicators by local school districts, but has
simply instructed them to develop their own "local assessment
systems." Id. § 6202-A. While we have our doubts about this
proposition, see 05-071-127 Me. Code R. § 4.02 (requiring each
district to "implement a local assessment system as the measure of
student progress on achievement of the content standards of the
system of Learning Results established in" 05-071-131 Me. Code R.
§§ 1-8), the district court did not assess LI's educational
performance solely by reference to the performance indicators. Our
review of the record convinces us that, even if the district court
erred by also using the performance indicators to measure LI's
educational performance, the error did not affect the outcome of
its analysis.
In particular, the district court found that LI had
difficulty with "communication," an area of "educational
performance" specifically incorporated in Maine's definition of
that term for IDEA purposes. 416 F. Supp. 2d at 162 & n.8 (quoting
05-071-101 Me. Code R. § 2.7). The district disputes this finding,
emphasizing certain aspects of both her educators' observations and
-35-
the results of the testing conducted by Popeneo and Lambke. The
district court, however, focused on other aspects of those
materials, such as the educators' reports of LI's "distancing"
herself from her teachers and peers and, most significantly, the
experts' express conclusions that LI had "poor pragmatic language
skills" and "significant social understanding deficits." 416 F.
Supp. 2d at 161-63. The district court was by no means required to
second-guess these conclusions, especially after they had been
unreservedly accepted by both the districts' representatives at the
PET and the hearing officer. Though the record of the
administrative hearing might permit a different view, the district
court did not commit clear error in finding that LI's Asperger's
has impaired her ability to communicate.
Moreover, the district court's ruling that LI had
demonstrated an adverse effect on her educational performance did
not rest solely on her deficits in communication, but also on other
difficulties implicating "the career preparation component of the
Maine general curriculum." Id. at 162. The district does not
question that "career preparation"--which comprises one of the
"content standards" dictated by statute, Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit.
20-A, § 6209(2)(A), rather than one of the "performance indicators"
established by regulation--is irrelevant to the "educational
performance" inquiry for purposes of the IDEA. Indeed, the IDEA
exists, in part, to ensure children with disabilities receive an
-36-
education preparing them for employment. 20 U.S.C. § 1400(d)(1)(A).
Nor does the district question the lower court's specific finding,
consistent with the opinion of LI's current social worker, that a
number of LI's symptoms have hindered her in this area. 416 F.
Supp. 2d at 162. This finding was itself an adequate basis for the
district's court's conclusion that LI's educational performance has
suffered, even if, as the district argues, her condition has not
impacted her communication skills.
Second, the district argues that the impact of LI's
condition on her educational performance, which it sees as limited
to her suicide attempt and the events immediately preceding it in
the fall of 2003, was not sustained enough to constitute an adverse
effect. Though the magistrate judge accepted this point of view,
the district court disagreed, treating the suicide attempt as
simply the darkest point in the spectrum of LI's educational
difficulties. There is ample support for this approach in the
record. The signs of LI's Asperger's revealed themselves in the
fourth grade, when she began experiencing difficulty with peer
relationships, and first translated into a measurable impact on her
schoolwork in the fifth and sixth grades, when her grades declined.
More importantly, there is every indication that these symptoms
will persist, to one degree or another: they have not completely
subsided since LI's enrollment at TCS, and both Popeneo and LI's
current social worker believe that continued intervention is
-37-
essential to LI's long-term success. In light of this evidence,
the district's argument that LI's suicide attempt did not adversely
affect her educational performance is beside the point; as Popeneo
explained, the suicide attempt was but a manifestation of LI's
Asperger's and associated depression. The district court properly
treated these disorders, rather than the suicide attempt, as the
relevant condition for assessing the impact of LI's disability upon
her educational performance.
Third, the district charges that the district court
"committed legal error" by ruling that LI met the first prong of
the standard for IDEA eligibility without assigning her one of the
disabilities listed in § 1401(3)(A)(i). As we have pointed out,
that a condition "adversely affects a child's educational
performance" functions as just one of the essential elements of
each of the qualifying disabilities as defined in the regulation,
so a determination that a child has one of those disabilities would
ordinarily demand a showing as to each of those elements. Here,
however, the district court specifically noted that, while the
parties were at odds as to whether LI's condition adversely
affected her educational performance, they were in agreement that
her condition otherwise "fit[] within those enumerated" by §
1401(3)(A)(i). 416 F. Supp. 2d at 156. The district has not
questioned this observation. Because the district did not dispute
below whether LI satisfied the additional criteria of any of the
-38-
relevant disability categories, its argument that the district
court should have chosen from among those categories is forfeit.
See, e.g., States Res. Corp. v. Arch. Team, Inc., 433 F.3d 73, 85
(1st Cir. 2005) ("This circuit religiously follows the rule that
issues not presented to the district court cannot be raised on
appeal.") (internal quotation marks omitted). There was no error
in the district court's § 1401(3)(A)(i) analysis.
B.
The district also argues that the district court
misapplied § 1401(3)(A)(ii), which requires that a child "need[]
special education and related services" as a result of his or her
disability in order to qualify for them under the IDEA. The
district asserts two errors: first, the district court used the
wrong definition of "special education," and, second, it found that
the district had waived any argument that LI does not "need"
special education based on the position it took before the PET and
the hearing officer. We believe the district court correctly
defined "special education" under § 1401(3)(A)(ii). We do not
decide, however, whether the district court properly treated the
"need" issue as waived, because the district has not adequately
explained to us why LI does not need special education, even under
its view of the proper standard for making that determination.
-39-
1.
The IDEA defines "special education," in relevant part,
as "specially designed instruction, at no cost to parents, to meet
the unique needs of a child with a disability . . . ." 20 U.S.C.
§ 1401(29). A federal regulation, promulgated by the Department of
Education, elaborates:
Specially designed instruction means adapting, as
appropriate to the needs of an eligible child . . . , the
content, methodology, or delivery of instruction--
(i) To address the unique needs of the child that result
from the child's disability; and
(ii) To ensure access of the child to the general
curriculum, so that the child can meet the educational
standards within the jurisdiction of the public agency
that apply to all children.
34 C.F.R. § 300.39(b)(3) (2006).18 As the district court noted,
Maine law also contains its own definition of "special education":
"classroom, home, hospital, institutional or other instruction;
educational diagnosis and evaluation; transportation and other
supportive assistance, services, activities, or programs, as
defined by the commissioner [of education], required by exceptional
students."19 Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 20-A, § 7001(5) (1993).
18
Again, this regulation was amended effective October 13,
2006, but the amendment does not affect our analysis, so we cite to
the current version. See note 1, supra.
19
This definition is set forth as part of a statute requiring
each school district to, inter alia, "[p]rovide special education
for each exceptional student within its jurisdiction." Me. Rev.
Stat. Ann. tit. 20-A, § 7202(5) (1993). The statute defines
"exceptional student" as a person between the ages of five and
-40-
The district court ruled that a number of the
interventions recommended by Popeneo and Lambke, and included in
the services offered by the PET under the Rehabilitation Act, were
"special education" within the meaning of federal law as well as
"under Maine's broader definition." 416 F. Supp. 2d at 166. In
challenging this conclusion, the district principally argues that
the district court misinterpreted Maine law to exceed IDEA
requirements as to the definition of "special education." We have
little trouble with the district court's interpretation, given the
expansive language of Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 20-A, § 7001(5),
but, in any event, that provision was not essential to the district
court's view that LI needs special education. The district court
also specifically ruled that certain of the services recommended
for LI constituted "special education" as defined by federal law.
416 F. Supp. 2d at 166.
Most significantly, the district court reasoned that
"extra instructional offerings such as social-skills and pragmatic-
language instruction are 'specially designed instruction' to ensure
[LI's] 'access . . . to the general curriculum.'" Id. (quoting 34
C.F.R. § 300.39(b)(3)). The district protests that its proffered
"social pragmatics instruction," which "was aimed more at
twenty who "[r]equires special education because of an impairment
in one or more" specified functions. Id. § 7001(2). As we have
observed, supra note 17, this provision was recently amended, as
were §§ 7001(5) and 7202(5), but the amended versions are not
before us.
-41-
counseling LI at how she could better interact with others" than at
traditional "speech services," qualifies as a "related service,"
not "special education," under the IDEA. The district has it
backwards, however. While "speech-language pathology services"
comprise a category of "related services," 20 U.S.C. § 1401(26)(A),
directly teaching social skills and pragmatic language to LI
amounts to adapting the content of the usual instruction to address
her unique needs and to ensure that she meets state educational
standards, viz., those defining educational performance to include
"communication" and requiring progress in "career preparation."20
See Part III.A.2, supra. The district court did not err in ruling
that the services recommended for LI by her neuropsychologist and
speech-language pathologist, and agreed to by the PET as part of
its Rehabilitation Act plan, are "special education."
2.
The district also challenges the district court's
resolution of whether LI "needs" the special education in question.
The district court made no finding on this point, electing to "hold
20
Contrary to the district's reading, the Second Circuit in
J.D. did not "conclude" that "training in peer relationship skills
. . . is more akin to a related service rather than special
education." Rather, as we have discussed, the court in J.D. ruled
that the student did not qualify for IDEA benefits because his
condition did not adversely affect his educational performance in
the manner required for IDEA eligibility under Vermont law. 224
F.3d at 67-68. The court in J.D. therefore had no occasion to
define "training in peer relationship skills," which the defendant
had offered as part of a Rehabilitation Act plan, as either special
education or a related service under the IDEA, and did not do so.
-42-
the parties to their original understandings" that "'[n]eed' is not
a contested issue." 416 F. Supp. 2d at 168. In support of this
course of action, the district court noted that "the factual record
on need is poorly developed" because "the PET meetings proceeded on
the basis that everyone agreed that LI 'needed' and should be
afforded what the experts recommended for her" and because the
district gave no indication that it disputed LI's need for special
education in either the prior written notice heralding its denial
of IDEA benefits or its brief filed in advance of the due process
hearing. Id. 167. Accordingly, the district court reasoned that
"[w]hether or not waiver is the correct term," it had no sensible
option but to conclude that LI "'needed' the identified services"
as the parties "all initially believed." Id.
The district insists that it preserved the issue of LI's
need for special education by presenting argument and evidence on
that score at the due process hearing. We agree with the district
that it adduced some evidence at the hearing, in the form of
testimony from McDevitt, as to LI's need for special education.
Specifically, in response to a question from counsel for the
district on whether he believed that LI "requires special
education, specialized instruction, take your pick, to do
acceptably well in school," McDevitt replied, "No, I don't." He
went on to state his view that LI was "having a successful time" at
TCS, even without "special services." McDevitt then explained why
-43-
the district's offer of Rehabilitation Act services should not be
construed as its opinion that "these interventions are necessary
interventions for [LI] to participate meaningfully in public
school," i.e., because they did not constitute special education,
but accommodations intended to make LI and her parents feel
comfortable about her return to Cornish.
We need not decide whether this presentation came too
late to raise the issue of LI's need for special education, as the
district court ruled, because the district does not explain why LI
does not need special education under the standard it urges us to
follow in making that determination. The district contends that
"whether a child needs special education for IDEA eligibility
should depend on whether that child requires special education to
benefit in those areas of educational performance that are
adversely affected," but does not argue that LI does not pass that
test. Instead, the district argues, based on McDevitt's testimony
and LI's performance at TCS, that she does not need special
education "to benefit from school" or "to do well in school."
But whether a child requires special education "to do
well in school," or even "to benefit from school," presents a
different question from whether the child requires special
education "to benefit in those areas of educational performance
that are adversely affected by her disability." The former inquiry
considers the effect of special education on the child's overall
-44-
achievement in school, while the latter focuses on the effect of
special education on the components of that achievement hampered by
the child's disability. See Garda, supra, at 498-99 (positing
"which of the child's performance areas must need special
education?" as a crucial question in developing the test for IDEA
eligibility under § 1401(3)(A)(ii)). Indeed, a child may "do well
in school" without special education, accumulating a high grade
point average, but may nevertheless perform below acceptable levels
in other areas, such as behavior. See, e.g., In re Monrovia
Unified Sch. Dist., 38 Inds. with Disabilities Educ. L. Reptr. (LRP
Publ'ns) 84, at 342-43 (Cal. State Educ. Agency Nov. 27, 2002)
(finding student to "require special education to address social,
behavioral, and written expression needs" despite "good academic
work"). The questions of whether such a child "needs special
education" under a proper interpretation of § 1401(3)(A)(ii)--and
how to articulate that interpretation in the first instance--have
generated a cacophony of different answers. See Garda, supra, at
491-507 (surveying divergent authority).
We do not attempt to compose the correct standard of
"need" here. We simply note the significant variance between the
standard the district urges us to adopt and the standard it argues
has been satisfied. McDevitt's testimony may have supported a
finding that LI does not require special education "to do well in
school," had the district court not ruled that the issue had been
-45-
waived. But the district does not explain how such a finding would
support the conclusion that LI does not "need special education"
under the IDEA and, in fact, argues that the proper inquiry
incorporates a substantially different standard, i.e., whether LI
"requires special education to benefit in those areas of
educational performance that are adversely affected." Conversely,
the district does not explain how the evidence received at the due
process hearing falls short of that standard. The district has
therefore failed to show that the district court's treatment of the
"need" issue as settled had any effect on its ultimate conclusion
that LI qualified for IDEA benefits. Even if the district court
erred in finding the district had waived the "need" argument, then,
the error was harmless. See Hampton Sch. Dist. v. Dobrowolski, 976
F.2d 48, 54 (1st Cir. 1992) (treating district court's mistaken
ruling that parents waived procedural objections to development of
IEPs as harmless error where alleged procedural flaws did not
meaningfully affect substance of IEPs).
The district has not directed us to any error undermining
the district court's determination that LI meets the second prong
of the standard for IDEA eligibility, 20 U.S.C. § 1401(3)(A)(ii).21
21
In its reply brief, the district contends that, even if LI
in fact needed the services deemed special education by the
district court, she did not need them "by reason of" her condition
as required by § 1401(3)(A)(ii). Because the district did not
raise this argument in its principal brief (or, for that matter,
before the district court), we do not consider it. See, e.g.,
Forcier v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 469 F.3d 178, 183 (1st Cir. 2006).
-46-
Having found that the district court's ruling as to the first prong
also holds up, Part III.A, supra, we affirm the district court's
decision that LI is eligible for services under the IDEA.
IV.
In their cross-appeal, the parents challenge the adequacy
of the relief given as a remedy for the district's failure to
provide LI with IDEA benefits. First, they argue that the district
court wrongfully denied them reimbursement for the costs of
enrolling LI at TCS on the ground that it is not an educationally
appropriate placement. Second, they argue that the district court
should have explicitly ordered the district to provide LI with a
compensatory education as a remedy for its denial of IDEA services,
rather than leaving that matter for the PET to decide in the first
instance. We address these contentions in turn.
A.
The IDEA authorizes a district court reviewing the
outcome of a due process hearing to "grant such relief as the court
determines is appropriate." 20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(2)(C)(iii). The
Supreme Court has read this provision, as it appeared in the
predecessor to the IDEA, as empowering a court "to order school
authorities to reimburse parents for their expenditures on private
special education for a child if the court ultimately determines
that such placement, rather than a proposed IEP, is proper under
the Act." Burlington, 471 U.S. at 369. In accordance with this
-47-
holding, parents "are entitled to reimbursement only if a federal
court concludes both that the public placement violated IDEA and
that the private school placement was proper under the Act."
Florence County, 510 U.S. at 15.
We have identified reimbursement under the IDEA as "'a
matter of equitable relief, committed to the sound discretion of
the trial court.'" Roland M., 910 F.2d at 999 (quoting Burlington,
736 F.2d at 801). Ordinarily, we review a district court's
decision to award or withhold equitable relief for an abuse of that
discretion. See, e.g., Valentin-Almeyda v. Municipality of
Aguadilla, 447 F.3d 85, 104 (1st Cir. 2006). But, as the Court
made clear in Florence County, the right to reimbursement of
private special education expenses depends in the first instance on
whether the private school placement was "proper." We consider
this threshold inquiry, like other conclusions demanded by the
IDEA, as a mixed question of fact and law. Part III, supra. As we
did with the question of LI's eligibility for IDEA benefits, we
will review the propriety of her enrollment at TCS for clear error
based on the parties' accession to that standard. Id.
Mr. and Mrs. I, however, claim that the district court
applied the wrong test in deciding that TCS was not a "proper"
placement for LI, a question we review de novo. Id. Again, the
district court ruled that the parents' decision to enroll LI at TCS
was not "'reasonably calculated to enable [her] to receive
-48-
educational benefits'" so as to entitle them to reimbursement. 416
F. Supp. 2d at 172 (quoting Florence County, 510 U.S. at 11
(further internal quotation marks omitted by district court)).
Despite the district court's recitation of this test, the parents
insist that it actually applied what they describe as a more
restrictive standard, derived from the Sixth Circuit's decision in
Berger v. Medina City Sch. Dist., 348 F.3d 513 (6th Cir. 2003).
The parents contend that this standard, which disallows
reimbursement for a unilateral private placement that "does not, at
a minimum, provide some element of special education services in
which the public school placement was deficient," id. at 523, is at
odds with Florence County.22
22
It should be noted that Florence County does not hold that
a private school placement must be "reasonably calculated to enable
the child to receive educational benefits" to give rise to
reimbursement under the IDEA; in fact, whether the private
placement there was proper had been "settled" by the time the case
arrived at the Court. 510 U.S. at 12-13. While the "reasonably
calculated" language appears in the opinion, the Court used it only
in quoting from the lower court decision being reviewed, which in
turn took the language from the Court's earlier opinion in Bd. of
Educ. v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176 (1982). Rowley itself set forth the
"reasonably calculated" test as the measure of the adequacy of an
IEP, not the propriety of a private school placement. 458 U.S. at
206-07. Nevertheless, we have previously held, based on Florence
County, that "a private school placement must be reasonably
calculated to enable the child to receive educational benefits" to
constitute a proper placement. Rafferty v. Cranston Pub. Sch.
Comm., 315 F.3d 21, 26 (1st Cir. 2002) (internal quotation marks
omitted). We are bound by this prior holding, see, e.g., United
States v. Malouf, 466 F.3d 21, 26-27 (1st Cir. 2006), which, in any
event, the parties do not question.
-49-
Like the district court, we do not detect any tension
between this aspect of the Sixth Circuit's holding in Berger and
the principle that a private school placement is improper unless it
is reasonably calculated to enable the child to receive educational
benefit. 416 F. Supp. at 172; see also Frank G. v. Bd. of Educ.,
459 F.3d 356, 364-65 (2d Cir. 2006) (applying "reasonably
calculated" test while discussing and distinguishing, but not
criticizing, Berger); Berger, 348 F.3d at 522 (quoting "reasonably
calculated" test). In Burlington, the Supreme Court reasoned that
because "parents who disagree with the proposed IEP are faced with
a choice: go along with the IEP to the detriment of their child if
it turns out to be appropriate or pay for what they consider to be
the appropriate placement," they are entitled to reimbursement of
the expenses of that placement if it turns out they were right in
choosing it. 471 U.S. at 370. Implicit in this reasoning is the
notion that parents rightfully decide on a private placement when
it addresses, at least in part, their child's special educational
requirements, while the IEP does not.
We do not see, then, how the decision to reject public
education in favor of enrolling a child in private school can be
described as "reasonably calculated to enable the child to receive
educational benefit" if the private school does not offer at least
"some element of special education services in which the public
school placement was deficient." Berger, 348 F.3d at 523. To hold
-50-
otherwise would, in essence, embrace the argument we explicitly
rejected in Rafferty: that the IDEA entitles a parent, at public
expense, to "seek any alternative school she wishes if the public
education is inadequate." 315 F.3d at 27.
Accordingly, the district court did not apply the wrong
standard in finding that TCS is not an appropriate private school
placement under the IDEA because it "does not offer any of the
special education services recommended by the experts or the PET."
416 F. Supp. 2d at 173. We are left, then, to review this finding
for clear error, and discern none. Although both of the experts
who examined LI, as well as her present social worker, have
stressed that LI needs direct teaching of social skills to manage
the effects of her Asperger's, it is undisputed that TCS has never
provided her with this service, or any roughly equivalent
intervention. TCS has also not supplied the cognitive behavioral
therapy recommended by Popeneo or the close supervision or one-on-
one tutoring offered by the PET as part of the Rehabilitation Act
plan. The district court did not clearly err in judging TCS an
inappropriate private placement in the absence of any of these
special education services.
The parents resist this conclusion on two principal
grounds. First, they liken certain of TCS's distinguishing
features to the interventions recommended for LI and found by the
district court to constitute "special education" in assessing LI's
-51-
eligibility under the IDEA. As we have recognized, a private
placement need provide only "some element of the special education
services" missing from the public alternative in order to qualify
as reasonably calculated to enable the child to receive educational
benefit. Berger, 348 F.3d at 523 (emphasis added). Nor must the
placement meet every last one of the child's special education
needs. Frank G., 459 F.3d at 365. But the reasonableness of the
private placement necessarily depends on the nexus between the
special education required and the special education provided.
Here, the connection between, for example, the one-on-one tutoring
recommended for LI and the relatively small student-faculty ratio
boasted by TCS was more than remote enough to support the district
court's conclusion that the choice of the private school was not
reasonably calculated to ensure that LI received educational
benefit--particularly in light of the fact that, as we have just
discussed, TCS did not offer anything approaching the direct
teaching of social skills unanimously endorsed by the professionals
who have tested and treated LI.
Second, the parents protest that, laboring under the
trauma of LI's suicide attempt and facing a lack of cooperation
from the district, they acted reasonably by any measure in
unilaterally placing LI at TCS. We sympathize with the family's
emotional upheaval, and we certainly do not condone the district's
apparent inattention to the task of locating a tutor for LI as it
-52-
repeatedly promised it would. And we cannot doubt that TCS, where
LI's sister had prospered and where LI herself had expressed
interest in attending even before the events of the fall of 2003,
must have seemed an attractive solution to an exceedingly difficult
set of circumstances. But these considerations cannot change the
fact that TCS, where LI has remained for more than two full
academic years, simply does not provide the special education
services that LI's mental health professionals have prescribed.
The district court did not commit clear error when it found that
TCS is not an appropriate private placement under the IDEA.23
B.
Finally, Mr. and Mrs. I challenge the district court's
refusal to order the district to provide LI with compensatory
education. We have recognized that, as another form of
"appropriate relief" available under § 1415(i)(2)(C)(iii), a court
may require "compensatory education" in the form of "further
services, in compensation for past deprivations" of IDEA benefits.
Me. Sch. Admin. Dist. No. 35 v. Mr. R., 321 F.3d 9, 17-18 (1st Cir.
2003). Compensatory education, like reimbursement, is a form of
equitable relief. G ex rel. RG v. Fort Bragg Dependent Schs., 343
F.3d 295, 309 (4th Cir. 2003); accord Ms. M, 360 F.3d at 273-74.
23
We do not reach, then, the district's alternative arguments
for affirmance: that the parents failed to provide the requisite
notice of their intent to enroll LI in private school at public
expense, and that the district offered LI a free and appropriate
public education in the form of its Rehabilitation Act plan.
-53-
Accordingly, we review the district court's decision on
compensatory education for abuse of discretion. Part IV.A, supra.
The district court considered the parents' request for
compensatory education in light of the other relief granted, namely
its order to the district "to convene a PET meeting in accordance
with State and Federal law to develop an IEP for [LI] that meets
her unique needs as a student with Asperger's Syndrome and a
depressive disorder." 416 F. Supp. 2d at 168. Noting that "[t]he
IEP necessarily will take into account the effect of the School
District's failure to identify and offer special education services
earlier," the district court declined to order compensatory
education on the theory that the PET could better assess "what
special education [LI] needs at this point . . . ." Id. at 173.
This approach strikes us as sensible and, moreover, not
an abuse of the district court's discretion. As the parents
acknowledge, it is not unheard of for a compensatory education
claim to be remanded to the responsible educational authority for
consideration, particularly where "the district court does not
believe that the record is sufficient to permit it to make the
highly nuanced judgments necessary to resolve the claim . . . ."
Mr. R, 321 F.3d at 20. The parents, in fact, do not appear to
object to such an approach here, provided we "ensure at the very
least that guidelines governing the type, form, intensity, and
duration of services are specified to assist the parties in moving
-54-
forward without confusion or acrimony." This is a worthy
objective, to be sure, but we are not up to the task.
Like the district court, we confront an administrative
record naturally devoid of any evidence as to the effect of the
district's failure to offer IDEA services to LI over the past two
years and counting, since LI's eligibility for those services was
precisely what was at issue in the due process hearing. As a
result, any "guidelines" that we might set forth to "govern" the
resolution of the compensatory education claim would amount to an
improper advisory opinion, just as it would have been a highly
speculative exercise for the district court to attempt to resolve
the claim on its merits. The district court ordered the district
to convene a PET, in accordance with applicable law, for the
purpose of formulating an IEP for LI that meets her needs, and
further recognized that this task would necessarily require
resolution of the compensatory education inquiry. We do not view
this as an abuse of discretion, and Mr. and Mrs. I have not
provided us with any authority to the contrary.
V.
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of the
district court in its entirety.
-55-