California OAH special education order · April 30, 2019
Order Denying Student's Motion to Compel Answer to Request for Due Process as Moot
OAH Case No. 2019010059 · ALJ Penelope S. Pahl
OAH denied Student's motion to compel Pleasanton to answer the amended due process complaint as moot because Pleasanton showed it had sent a response the same day the motion was filed.
Summary
Student asked OAH to order Pleasanton to file a response to Student's amended due process complaint. Later that same day, Pleasanton opposed the motion and attached a response it had sent to Student's counsel. Pleasanton also said Parents had received other prior written notices, but it attached no proof of them. Because Pleasanton showed a response had been provided, OAH denied the motion as moot.
Why it matters
A district that has not sent prior written notice must answer a due process complaint within 10 days, and a motion to compel can prompt that answer. But once the district responds, the motion becomes moot.
Key authority cited
- 20 U.S.C. § 1415(c)(2)(B)(i)(I)
- Ed. Code § 56502(d)(2)
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:
OAH Case No. 2019010059
PARENT ON BEHALF OF STUDENT,
ORDER DENYING STUDENT’S
v. MOTION TO COMPEL ANSWER TO
REQUEST FOR DUE PROCESS AS
PLEASANTON UNIFIED SCHOOL MOOT
DISTRICT.
On January 3, 2019, Student filed a request for due process hearing naming Pleasanton Unified School District as respondent. On March 18, 2019, Student’s amended complaint was filed. On April 29, 2019, Student filed a motion to compel Pleasanton to file a response to the amended complaint. Later in the day, on April 29, 2019, Pleasanton filed an opposition to the request, attaching a copy of a response to the amended that had been sent to Student’s counsel on April 29, 2019 and asserting Parents had received other prior written notices pertaining to the claims in the complaint. No evidence of the other prior written notices was attached to Pleasanton’s opposition.
State and federal law require that an answer be provided to a request for due process within 10 days of the date the request for due process is received by the respondent if the local educational agency has not sent a prior written notice to the Parents regarding the subject matter contained in the Parents’ due process complaint notice. (20 U.S.C. § 1415 (c)(2)(B)(i)(I); Ed. Code § 56502(d)(2).) Here, Pleasanton has demonstrated that a response to the complaint has been provided. Student’s motion to compel the response is, therefore, DENIED as moot.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATE: April 30, 2019
PENELOPE S. PAHL
Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings