California OAH special education order · August 29, 2018
Order Setting Aside Order to Show Cause
OAH Case No. 2018080058 · ALJ Peter Paul Castillo
OAH set aside its order to show cause against West End SELPA and its non-attorney advocate, Dr. Royal Lord. Their counsel assured OAH that non-attorney representation of member districts would not happen again.
Summary
OAH, on its own motion, ordered West End SELPA and Dr. Royal Lord to show cause why they should not be sanctioned. The concern was that Dr. Lord again represented a member school district as a non-attorney advocate, even though prior OAH orders said he was not authorized to do so. West End SELPA and Dr. Lord responded that they believed those orders covered only due process hearings, not mediation-only matters. Because their attorney represented that they now understood the limit and it would not recur, OAH set the order to show cause aside.
Why it matters
School districts generally cannot be represented before OAH by non-attorney advocates, and this applies to mediation-only matters as well as due process hearings. Parents can raise the issue if a district sends a non-attorney advocate, and OAH may consider sanctions for repeat violations.
People named in the order
- Royal Lord, Ed.D., Non-attorney advocate for West End SELPA member districts
- Jonathan R. Read, Attorney for West End SELPA and Dr. Lord
- Peter Paul Castillo, Presiding 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. 2018080058 v. ORDER SETTING ASIDE ORDER TO
SHOW CAUSE
UPLAND UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT.
On August 16, 2018, the Office of Administrative Hearings issued an Order to Show Cause why West End Special Education Local Plan Area and Royal Lord, Ed.D., should not sanctioned by OAH regarding the representation of member school districts by Dr. Lord as a non-attorney advocate despite prior OAH orders in other cases involving Dr. Lord. The Order to Show Cause called for West End SELPA and Dr. Lord to submit a response to OAH by August 23, 2018. OAH received the response on August 23, 2018. The order to show cause occurred telephonically on August 27, 2018, with attorney Jonathan R. Read representing both West End SELPA and Dr. Lord.
The basis for the order to show cause was that OAH had issued several orders regarding Dr. Lord’s representation of school districts belonging to the West End SELPA as a non-attorney advocate, each time informing Dr. Lord that he was not authorized by law to represent member school districts of the West End SELPA regarding matters pending before OAH. The May 4, 2018 Order in OAH Case No. 2018041203, indicated that OAH reserved the right to impose sanctions if Dr. Lord, or any other non-attorney advocate, was designated as the non-attorney advocate for the member school district by West End SELPA.
In the response by West End SELPA and Dr. Lord, they note that they were not aware that OAH’s orders regarding representation by non-attorney advocates also applied mediation only matters as the prior orders involved requests for due process hearings. At the order to show cause hearing, the Presiding Administrative Law Judge pointed out that OAH had issued similar orders regarding mediation only matters and non-attorney advocate representation. However, none of those cases involved school districts who belonged to the West End SELPA. Mr. Read, on behalf of West End SELPA and Dr. Lord, stated that West End SELPA and Dr. Lord were now aware of the limitation and that this type of non- attorney advocate representation would not occur again. Accordingly, the order to show cause is set aside.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATE: August 29, 2018
PETER PAUL CASTILLO
Presiding Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings