California OAH special education order · June 3, 2013
Order Re Exhibits
OAH Case No. 2012100025 · ALJ Rebecca Freie
OAH marked District's private recording of testimony lost to an OAH recorder malfunction as Exhibit D-99 but did not admit or transcribe it, because the parties' recordings are not an official record.
This case went to decision
Student v. Acalanes Union High School District: Acalanes Union High School District correctly found a student with ADHD ineligible for special education; Fusion Academy reimbursement denied. (2013)
Summary
OAH's recording device failed during the last 10 minutes of a witness's testimony on February 15, 2013. At the end of the hearing, the ALJ ordered both parties to give OAH their own recordings of that portion. The District's attorney sent a flash drive with 16 minutes of recording, which the ALJ found accurate based on her notes and memory. OAH marked it as Exhibit D-99 but did not admit or transcribe it. Student's attorney never provided a recording, and OAH said it would take no further action because the record closed when the Decision issued on May 2, 2013.
Why it matters
When parties make their own recordings of a hearing with the ALJ's consent, those recordings are not the official record. Gaps caused by an OAH equipment failure may not be fully cured, so parties should comply quickly with any order to supply backup recordings.
People named in the order
- Rebecca Freie, Administrative Law Judge
Topics
Full text of the order
Published text of the OAH order. Page headers and numbers from the original PDF have been dropped.
BEFORE THE
OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
In the Matter of:
PARENT ON BEHALF OF STUDENT, OAH CASE NO. 2012100025
v. ORDER RE EXHIBITS
ACALANES UNION HIGH SCHOOL
DISTRICT.
On March 7, 2013, the last day of the due process hearing in this matter, the undersigned Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ordered the parties to provide the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) with a recording of the last 10 minutes of testimony of a witness on February 15, 2013, because the OAH recording device malfunctioned. 1 Both attorneys agreed to do so, on the record. A written order was issued on March 22, 2013, confirming this verbal order.
On March 27, 2019, the District’s attorney sent a flash drive with the last 16 minutes she recorded on February 15, 2013. Based on the ALJ’s review of her notes from February 15, 2013, and her recollection, the flash drive recording is accurate. It has been marked as an exhibit (D-99), but not admitted, nor will it be transcribed as it is not an official record.
Student’s attorney did not provide OAH with a copy of the last portion of the hearing she recorded on February 15, 2013. The record in this matter closed when the Decision of the ALJ was issued on May 2, 2013. No further action will be taken by OAH Dated: June 3, 2013 /s/
REBECCA FREIE
Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings Both parties recorded the due process hearing with the consent of the ALJ, and the understanding that their recordings were not an official record.