Order Following Prehearing Conference; Order Denying Joint Motion to Consolidate

BEFORE THE

OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

In the Matter of:

PARENTS ON BEHALF OF STUDENT, OAH Case No. 2017080330 v. ORDER FOLLOWING PREHEARING

CONFERENCE; ORDER DENYING

WESTMINSTER SCHOOL DISTRICT. JOINT MOTION TO CONSOLIDATE

On September 18, 2017, a telephonic prehearing conference was held before Administrative Law Judge Darrell Lepkowsky, Office of Administrative Hearings. Lauren- Ashley Caron, Attorney at Law, appeared on behalf of Parents on behalf of Student. Ernest Bell, Attorney at Law, appeared on behalf of the Westminster School District. The ALJ recorded the PHC.

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

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

September 27, 28, and October 3, 2017, and continuing day to day, Monday through Thursday, at the discretion of the ALJ. The hearing shall take place at the offices of the West Orange County Consortium for Special Education, located at 5838 Bolsa Avenue, Huntington Beach, California, 92683. The hearing shall begin at 9:30 a.m. the first day of the hearing and on October 3, 3017, and at 9:00 a.m. all other days, unless otherwise ordered.

As ordered in the scheduling order, the named local educational agency 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. The named local educational agency failed to certify that it would provide a facility for this case that complied with the law. The local educational agency 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. If the local educational agency is unable to provide the necessary certification, OAH may make other arrangements for the hearing location.

Prior to the beginning of the hearing, District 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 District’s legal representative and special education representative; (3) a table for the witness; and (4) a table for the ALJ, near an electrical outlet. District shall also make reasonable effort to ensure that drinking water and tissue are available to all parties, witnesses and the ALJ.

District shall provide a room for Student and his representatives to meet during the hearing. The room shall be available each hearing day during breaks, during lunch, and at least a half hour prior to the time the hearing is scheduled to start each day.

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. Issues and Proposed Resolutions. The issues at the due process hearing, and

the proposed resolutions, are listed below.

(1) Did District fail to provide Student a free appropriate public education in its January 15, 2016 individualized education program by failing to address Student’s services, placement, accommodations and goals related to his unique needs in the areas of socialization and speech? (2) Did District fail to provide Student a FAPE in its September 13, 2016, November 8, 2016, and May 25, 2017 IEPs by failing to address Student’s unique needs for services, placement, accommodations, and goals, related to the following areas:

a. Academics;

b. Socialization;

c. Social/Emotional needs; and

d. Speech?

As proposed resolutions, Student requests the following:

(1) That OAH find the four IEPs at issue to be inappropriate;

(2) An order that District reimburse Parents for tuition and costs, including transportation that they incurred in placing Student at the Prentice School;

(3) An order that District fund compensatory education at a certified non-public agency; and (4) An order that District prospectively place Student at Prentice, including funding tuition, services, and transportation.

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 shall be separately identified, with a tabbed divider. Each exhibit binder shall contain a detailed table of contents.

If District’s exhibits do not already include its school calendar for all school years that are related to the issues herein, District shall add the calendar to its exhibits on order of the

ALJ.

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 shall 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 included in the exhibit lists and not previously exchanged shall not be admitted into evidence at the hearing unless it is supported by written declaration under penalty of perjury, and the ALJ rules that it is admissible.

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 disclosed in the party’s prehearing conference statement except for good cause shown, supported by written declaration under penalty of perjury, and at the discretion of the ALJ.

Each party shall provide current curriculum vitae for witnesses called to testify where the witnesses’ education and experience are relevant to the witnesses’ testimony, opinion, credibility and/or persuasiveness. These shall be properly numbered and placed in the parties’ exhibit binders.

The parties are ordered to meet and confer by 5:00 p.m. on September 22, 2017, to attempt to reach agreement on an hour-by-hour witness schedule for the first day of hearing.

Further, District will notify Student of any witnesses listed in Student’ prehearing conference statement who are no longer employed by District. The parties shall have a proposed hour- by-hour witness schedule for the remainder of the hearing, which includes estimated time of direct and cross-examination by both parties. 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 witness is expected to take. District shall have witnesses available in case agreement on a witness list is not reached.

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.

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. Unless otherwise ordered, only one round of redirect and/or re-cross examination shall be permitted.

6. Telephonic Testimony. 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. The party presenting the witness shall ensure that no other people are in the room where the witness is located while he or she testifies. The parties shall also caution the witness not to share the exhibits with any other person and that the exhibits must either be destroyed or returned to the respective parties following the witness’s testimony. No witness will be heard by telephone unless all these requirements have been fulfilled.

District’s request that witness Alla Matveyenko testify telephonically due to her location out-of-state is granted. The parties may transmit the exhibits to Ms. Matveyenko by electronic means, but must ensure that she has full access to the exhibits at the time she testifies.

7. Electronic Recording of Hearing.

a. Audio Recording. The ALJ shall record the hearing and the ALJ’s

recording is the only official record of the hearing. No person shall record or photograph the proceedings unless otherwise permitted by the ALJ.

The parties’ motions to make an audio recording of the hearing are granted. Student’s counsel and District’s counsel shall be permitted to make an audio recording subject to the following conditions: 1) OAH’s recording is the only official recording; 2) the recording will be turned on and off at the same time as the ALJ’s recording, to avoid recording conversations while off the record; 3) operation of the party’s recording mechanism will not be allowed to delay the hearing; 4) such recording shall be for counsel’s personal use only and only for review and preparation of the hearing; 5) the recording device shall be turned on only when the ALJ states that the matter is on the record, and shall be turned off when the ALJ states that the matter is off the record; 6) counsel shall not play any part of the recording for any prospective witness and the recording shall not be disseminated to anyone other than counsel; 7) the parties shall not use the recording in any subsequent due process hearing or other proceeding; 8) No more than one person for each party may record the hearing; and 9) the parties shall destroy the unofficial recording when the decision in this case becomes final and/or when all appeals have been exhausted.

Any recording made by counsel is not the official record and is permitted as a courtesy, unless otherwise ordered by the hearing ALJ.

b. Video Recording/Photography. No party, witness or anyone else

present may make any video recording or take any photographs 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, Student filed for due process.

Accordingly, Student shall present his case first followed by District, subject to the directives in paragraph five above.

9. Motions.

a. The parties’ joint motion to consolidate this case with OAH case

number 2017090517, filed by Student on September 15, 2017, is denied. OAH will issue an order denying consolidation in OAH case number 2017090517.

b. The parties’ motions to record the hearing is granted as stated in

paragraph 7 above.

c. District’s motion to present the testimony of Alla Matveyenko is

granted as stated in paragraph 6 above.

Any motion filed after this date 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 of September 18, 2017.

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. No eating is permitted in the hearing room while the ALJ is on the record.

13. Special Needs and Accommodations.

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: http://www.dgs.ca.gov/oah/Home/Accessibility.aspx.

Neither party requested accommodations because of an attendee’s anticipated special needs. If any need for accommodation arises, the party shall immediately notify

OAH.

14. 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: September 19, 2017

DARRELL LEPKOWSKY

Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings