California OAH special education order · November 5, 2019
Order Granting Request to Reopen Case
OAH Case No. 2019070223 · ALJ Peter Paul Castillo
OAH reopened Student's dismissed case because Palmdale's school board never approved the settlement agreement, and Palmdale did not explain why it failed to tell Student.
Summary
OAH dismissed the case on October 3, 2019, after a settlement was reached. Student then asked to reopen it because Palmdale's school board did not approve the settlement at its September 3, 2019 meeting. Palmdale did not respond. OAH found good cause to reopen because the board did not approve the agreement and Palmdale never explained why it did not tell Student about the settlement's status, and it reset the prehearing conference for November 15, 2019 and the hearing for November 26 and 27, 2019.
Why it matters
A settlement that needs school board approval is not final until the board approves it. If the board rejects it after the case is dismissed, a family can ask OAH to reopen the case and get back on the hearing calendar.
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,
v.
PALMDALE SCHOOL DISTRICT.
OAH CASE NUMBER 2019070223
ORDER GRANTING REQUEST TO REOPEN CASE
On October 3, 2019, the Office of Administrative Hearings issued a dismissal vacating all hearing dates, and closing the file.
On October 30, 2019, Student filed a request to reopen the case based on the school board of Palmdale School District not approving the settlement agreement presented to it at the September 3, 2019 board meeting. Palmdale did not submit a response.
Student established good cause to reopen this matter as the school board of Palmdale did not approve the agreement, and Palmdale did not respond to Student’s motion to explain why it did not notify Student after the September 3, 2019 board meeting of the settlement agreement’s status.
ORDER
The request to reopen the case is granted. This matter is now scheduled:
• Prehearing Conference: November 15, 2019, 10:00 AM
• Due Process Hearing: November 26 and 27, 2019. The hearing starts at
9:30 AM on the first day and 9:00 AM on all other days unless the ALJ orders otherwise.
All prehearing conference statements and motions shall be filed no later than three business days before the prehearing conference unless the party establishes good cause for the delay.
The parties shall immediately give witnesses the hearing dates. If necessary, they can subpoena witnesses to ensure the witnesses is available to testify. A witness will not be considered unavailable if the party did not properly notify or subpoena a witness.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED: November 05, 2019 Peter Paul Castillo Presiding Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings