Legal Update for Special Education Law – Results*

Christopher Conrad (Harrisburg, PA) successfully defended a local school district in a special education matter that involved a high school student identified with a specific learning disability and ADHD. The student sought out a peer during the school day, went into the peer’s classroom and physically attacked her, punching and kicking her several times. The attack lasted for several minutes. The dean of students intervened to protect the peer being attacked, and the dean was struck several times as well. After the incident, the student was suspended out of school, pending an informal disciplinary hearing and a determination by the student’s IEP team as to whether her conduct was a manifestation of her disabilities. The IEP team determined the conduct was not a manifestation of the student’s disabilities and, therefore, concluded she could be disciplined as any other student would be under the circumstances, including expulsion from school. 

The student and her parent disagreed with this determination and requested an expedited due process hearing. At the hearing, the parent argued that her daughter’s conduct was a result of trauma she experienced from a previous fight she had with her peer, and that her daughter’s decision to fight her peer was on impulse and attributable to her ADHD condition. 

We presented testimony from the dean of students, who testified that she had talked to the student earlier in the school day. During that conversation, the student expressed to the dean that she wanted to fight her peer to “squash the beef” they had between them. The dean cautioned the student not to engage her peer; that there would be adverse consequences if the student started a fight. With this, we argued the student’s behavior was not impulsive, and her decision to attack her peer was premediated and thought out. The hearing officer agreed and found the school district was correct in concluding the student’s conduct was not a manifestation of her disabilities. The hearing officer permitted the school district to seek further discipline of the student, including expulsion.

*Prior Results Do Not Guarantee a Similar Outcome 

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