California OAH special education order · February 12, 2015

Order Denying Request for Reconsideration; Denying Request for Clarification

OAH Case No. 2014110706 · ALJ Paul H. Kamoroff

OAH denied District's request to reconsider or clarify Student's placement issue because District offered no new facts or law, and the issue clearly covers the entire 2014-2015 school year.

Denied Reconsideration

Summary

After the prehearing conference order set Student's issues for hearing, District asked OAH to reconsider or clarify issue one. District wanted the placement claim limited to the period before the date Student's complaint was filed. OAH denied the request because District simply repeated the objection the ALJ had already overruled at the prehearing conference and presented no new facts, circumstances, or law. OAH also found that issue one is clear on its face: it covers any offer of placement for the entire 2014-2015 school year, which is how Student described it in both the complaint and the prehearing conference statement.

Why it matters

A reconsideration request that only repeats an argument already rejected will fail without new facts, circumstances, or law. A student who clearly frames a claim as covering a whole school year in the complaint and prehearing statement can keep that full time frame for hearing, including the period after the complaint was filed.

Key authority cited

Gov. Code, § 11521
Code Civ. Proc., § 1008
Baldwin v. Home Savings of America (1997) 59 Cal.App.4th 1192

Topics

reconsideration prehearing conference issue framing school year placement private school reimbursement

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:

PARENTS ON BEHALF OF STUDENT, OAH Case No. 2014110706 v. ORDER DENYING REQUEST FOR

RECONSIDERATION; DENYING

PLACENTIA-YORBA LINDA UNIFIED REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION

SCHOOL DISTRICT.

On February 10, 2015, the undersigned administrative law judge issued a Prehearing Conference order which delineated Parents on behalf of Student’s hearing issues. On February 11, 2015, counsel for the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District filed a request for reconsideration or clarification of Student’s issue one. No opposition was received by Student.

APPLICABLE LAW

The Office of Administrative Hearings will generally reconsider a ruling upon a showing of new or different facts, circumstances, or law justifying reconsideration, when the party seeks reconsideration within a reasonable period of time. (See, e.g., Gov. Code, § 11521; Code Civ. Proc., § 1008.) The party seeking reconsideration may also be required to provide an explanation for its failure to previously provide the different facts, circumstances or law. (See Baldwin v. Home Savings of America (1997) 59 Cal.App.4th 1192, 1199-1200.)

DISCUSSION AND ORDER

Student’s issue one alleges that District denied him a free appropriate public education for the 2014-2015 school year by failing to offer him an appropriate educational placement As a remedy, Student requests that District fund, or reimburse for, Student’s placement at The Beacon Day School for the entire 2014-2015 school year. During the prehearing conference, District objected to Student’s issue one because it should be limited to ----, 2014, the date which Student’s complaint was filed. The undersigned ALJ overruled District’s objection. Student clearly described his issue one as pertaining to the entire 2014- 2015 school year in both his complaint and his prehearing conference statement.

In its motion for reconsideration, District alleges no new facts, circumstances, or law in support of the request for reconsideration. District repeats the identical objection it asserted during the prehearing conference. As for its request for clarification, Student’s issue one is clear on its face and pertains to any offer of placement for the 2014-2015 school year.

For the foregoing reasons, District’s request for reconsideration or clarification is denied.