Order Following Prehearing Conference

BEFORE THE

OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

In the Matter of:

ORINDA UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT, OAH Case No. 2017060787 v. ORDER FOLLOWING PREHEARING

CONFERENCE

PARENT ON BEHALF OF STUDENT.

On August 14, 2017, a telephonic prehearing conference was held before Administrative Law Judge Rita Defilippis, Office of Administrative Hearings. Jennifer Baldassari, Attorney at Law, appeared on behalf of Orinda Union School District. LaJoyce Porter, Attorney at Law, appeared on behalf of Student. The PHC was recorded.

Based upon discussion with the parties, the ALJ issues the following order:

1. Hearing Dates, Times, and Location. The hearing shall take place on August

22 and 23, 2017, continuing day to day, Monday through Thursday, at the discretion of the ALJ. The hearing shall take place at Orinda’s District’s offices located at 8 Altarinda Road, Orinda, California, 94563. The hearing shall begin at 9:30 a.m. the first day of the hearing and at 9:00 a.m. all other days, unless otherwise ordered.

As ordered in the scheduling order, Orinda was to provide a facility for the hearing that fully complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.), the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. § 794 et seq.), the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Civ. Code, § 51 et seq.), and all laws governing accessibility of government facilities to persons with disabilities. Orinda failed to certify that it would provide a facility for this case that complied with the law. Orinda shall inform OAH within two days of the date of this order it is able to certify that it will provide a facility that complies with the law.

Prior to the beginning of the hearing, Orinda shall assist the ALJ to ensure that the hearing room is configured into a courtroom setting, including (1) a table for Student and his representatives; (2) a table for Orinda’s legal representative and special education representative; (3) a table for the witness; and (4) a table for the ALJ, near an electrical outlet. Orinda shall also make reasonable effort to ensure that drinking water and tissue are available to all parties, witnesses and the ALJ.

The parties shall immediately notify all potential witnesses of the hearing dates, and shall subpoena witnesses if necessary, to ensure that the witnesses will be available to testify.

A witness will not be regarded as unavailable for purposes of showing “good cause” to continue the hearing if the witness is not properly notified of the hearing date or properly subpoenaed, as applicable.

2. Issue and Proposed Resolution. The issue at the due process hearing, and the

proposed resolution, are listed below.

Issue Was Orinda’s educationally related mental health services assessment of Student, and resulting ERMHS assessment report, dated May 11, 2017, appropriate, such that Student is not entitled to an independent educational mental health assessment at Orinda’s expense? Proposed Resolution Orinda seeks declaratory relief that Orinda’s educationally related mental health services assessment and assessment report dated May 11, 2017, was appropriate and Student is not entitled to an IEE at Orinda’s expense.

3. Exhibits. Exhibits shall be pre-marked and placed in three-ring exhibit

binders prior to the hearing. The parties shall use numbers to identify exhibits, but shall place the letter “S” or “D” in front of the exhibit to designate if it is a Student or District exhibit (for example, “S-5, S-6, or D-1, D-2”). Each exhibit shall be internally paginated by exhibit, or all of a party’s exhibits shall be Bates-stamped. Each exhibit binder shall contain a detailed table of contents. The parties shall serve their evidence binders on each other in compliance with Education Code section 56505, subdivision (e)(7). At the hearing, each party shall supply an exhibit binder containing its exhibits for use by the ALJ, and a second exhibit binder for use by witnesses. The parties may not serve exhibits on OAH prior to the hearing. In the event of duplicate exhibits, the most legible version will be used.

Except for good cause shown, or unless used solely for rebuttal or impeachment, any exhibit not timely exchanged shall not be admitted into evidence at the hearing unless the ALJ rules that it is admissible.

Parties are encouraged to present resumes or curriculum vitae for each professional witness. Student agreed to provide Orinda with curriculum vitae for expert witness, David Ritvo, by 5 P.M., August 16, 2017.

4. Witnesses. Each party is responsible for procuring the attendance at hearing

of its own witnesses. Each party shall make witnesses under its control reasonably available. The parties shall schedule their witnesses to avoid delays in the hearing and to minimize or eliminate the need for calling witnesses out of order. Neither party shall be permitted to call any witnesses not timely disclosed, except for good cause shown, and at the discretion of the ALJ.

Orinda agreed to provide personal addresses of Carol Levin, general education teacher, and Marissa Hay, special education teacher, by 5 P.M. on August 16, 2017, to facilitate Student’s service of subpoenas due to Orinda not agreeing to make these teachers available at hearing, absent a subpoena, upon a claim of hardship due to it being the first day of school.

The parties are encouraged to review and shorten their witness lists prior to the hearing, bearing in mind that evidence will be excluded if it is repetitive, cumulative, or insufficiently probative to justify the time it would take to hear.

The parties shall attempt to reach agreement on a witness list for the first day of hearing. Prior to the commencement of the due process hearing, the ALJ and the parties will discuss the length of time anticipated for direct and cross-examination of each witness and scheduling issues for individual witnesses, and the ALJ will finalize the witness schedule.

Additionally, the parties shall be prepared at the end of each day of hearing to discuss the witnesses to be presented the next day and the time the testimony of each such witness is expected to take.

5. Scope of Witness Examination. Each witness shall be called to testify only

once, except for rebuttal purposes, and all parties shall examine the witness on all issues when the witness is first called. After the first direct and cross-examinations, each party shall be limited in examining the witness to only those matters raised in the immediately preceding examination. The order in which the parties present their cases in chief shall be subordinate to the need for each witness to appear only once.

6. Telephonic Testimony. Neither party has requested that a witness appear by

telephone at this time. Whether a witness may appear by telephone is a matter within the discretion of the ALJ. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 5, § 3082, subd. (g).) Any party seeking to present a witness by telephone shall move in advance for leave to do so, unless the opposing party has stipulated that the witness may appear by telephone. The proponent of the witness shall provide the proposed witness with a complete set of exhibit binders from all parties, containing all of each party’s exhibits, prior to the hearing; and shall ensure that the hearing room has sound equipment that allows everyone in the room to hear the witness, and the witness to hear objections and rulings. No witness will be heard by telephone unless all these requirements have been fulfilled.

7. Electronic Recording of Hearing.

a. Audio Recording. Both parties requested to audio record the hearing.

Student’s and Orinda’s motion to make an audio recording of the hearing is granted, subject to the following conditions: 1) that OAH’s recording is the only official recording; 2) that the recording will be turned on and off at the same time as the ALJ’s recording, in order to avoid recording conversations while off the record; 3) the recording device will be removed by the party recording during any recess where the party leaves the room; and 4) that operation of the party’s recording mechanism will not be allowed to delay the hearing.

b. Video Recording. No party, witness or anyone else present may

make any video recording of any part of the proceedings. Any person doing so shall be subject to sanctions.

8. Order of Presentation of Evidence. In an administrative proceeding, the

burden of proof is ordinarily on the party requesting the hearing. (Schaffer v. Weast (2005)

546 U.S. 49, 56-62 [126 S.Ct. 528, 163 L.Ed.2d 387].) Here, Orinda is the petitioning party.

Accordingly, Orinda shall present its case-in-chief, followed by Student.

9. Motions. No motions were made at the prehearing conference. Student stated

that she intends to file a due process complaint and a motion to consolidate the new case with this case by the close of business today. Student asked that Orinda be required to respond to the motion to consolidate in a shortened amount of time, upon a claim of prejudice that Student had a shortened amount of time to respond to Orinda’s motion to reconsider, filed previously in this case. Student’s request to shorten Orinda’s response time was denied.

Any motion filed after the prehearing conference shall be supported by a declaration under penalty of perjury establishing good cause as to why the motion was not made prior to or during the prehearing conference.

10. Compensatory Education/Reimbursement. Any party seeking reimbursement

of expenditures shall present admissible evidence of these expenditures, or a stipulation to the amount of expenditures, as part of its case in chief. A party seeking compensatory education should provide evidence regarding the type, amount, duration, and need for any requested compensatory education.

11. Stipulations. Stipulations to pertinent facts, contentions or resolutions are

encouraged. Any proposed stipulation shall be submitted to the assigned ALJ in written form.

12. Conduct of Counsel and Hearing Room Decorum. Counsel, all parties, and all

witnesses shall conduct themselves in a professional and courteous manner at all times.

Cellular phones, pagers, recorders, and other noisemaking electronic devices shall be shut off or set to vibrate during the hearing unless permission to the contrary is obtained from the

ALJ.

13. Special Needs and Accommodations. At present neither party anticipates the

need for special accommodation for any witness or party, or for the services of an interpreter.

A party or participant to this case, such as a witness, requiring reasonable accommodation to participate in the mediation or hearing may contact the assigned calendar staff, identified in the scheduling order, at (916) 263-0880, as soon as the need is known.

Additional information concerning requests for reasonable accommodation is available on OAH’s website at https://www.dgs.ca.gov/oah/Home/Accessibility.aspx.

14. Hearing Closed To the Public. At the request of Student, the hearing will be

closed to the public.

15. Settlement. The parties are encouraged to continue working together

to reach an agreement before the due process hearing. The parties shall inform OAH in writing immediately should they reach a settlement or otherwise resolve the dispute before the scheduled hearing. In addition, if a settlement is reached within five days of the scheduled start of the due process hearing, the parties shall also inform OAH of the settlement by telephone at (916) 263-0880.

IF A FULL AND FINAL WRITTEN SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT IS REACHED

AFTER 5:00 P.M. THE DAY PRIOR TO HEARING, THE PARTIES SHALL LEAVE A

VOICEMAIL MESSAGE REGARDING THE SETTLEMENT AT (916) 274-6035. THE

PARTIES SHOULD ALSO LEAVE CONTACT INFORMATION SUCH AS CELLULAR

PHONE NUMBERS OF EACH PARTY OR COUNSEL FOR EACH PARTY. THE

PARTIES SHOULD SIMULTANEOUSLY FAX THE SIGNATURE PAGE OF THE

SIGNED AGREEMENT OR A LETTER WITHDRAWING THE CASE TO THE OAH AT

THE FAXINATION LINE at 916-376-6319.

Dates for hearing will not be cancelled until the letter of withdrawal or signature page of the signed agreement has been received by OAH. If an agreement in principle is reached, the parties should plan to attend the scheduled hearing unless different arrangements have been agreed upon by the assigned ALJ. The assigned ALJ will check for messages the evening prior to the hearing or the morning of the hearing.

16. Failure to comply with this order may result in the exclusion of evidence or

other sanctions.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

DATE: August 14, 2017

RITA DEFILIPPIS

Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings