STATE OF CONNECTICUT
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Wethersfield Board of Education v. Student - CT SDE Case No. 17-0011
Case No. 17-0011
Wethersfield Board of Education v. Student
Appearing on behalf of the Student: Parents
Appearing on behalf of the Board: Attorney Peter Maher Shipman & Goodwin, LLP One Constitution Plaza Hartford, CT 06103-1919
Appearing before: Attorney Brette H. Fitton Hearing Officer
ISSUE:
Was the evaluation conducted by the District appropriate, thereby relieving the District of the obligation to fund the Independent Educational Evaluation, specifically the neuropsychological evaluation, requested by Parents?
PROCEDURAL HISTORY AND SUMMARY:
On July 8, 2016, Parents received a request for a special education due process hearing filed by the Wethersfield Board of Education. On July 11, 2016, the Connecticut State Department of Education appointed the undersigned Hearing Officer to preside over the hearing. During the prehearing conference held on July 15, 2016, the deadline for mailing the final decision and order was established as August 22, 2016. At the prehearing conference, the parties jointly requested an extension of the mailing deadline in order to allow the parties to engage in settlement negotiations and this joint request was memorialized in an email sent by Attorney for the Board on July 15, 2016. The request for an extensiom was granted and resulted in a new mailing deadline of September 21, 2016. While a tentative hearing date of September 8, 2016 was proposed by the Hearing Officer at the prehearing conference, the scheduling of this hearing date was subject to confirmation of the Board’s availability. The Attorney for the Board later informed the Hearing Officer that his client was not available on that date. Other potential hearing dates were discussed through an exchange of email correspondence and September 22, 2016 was identified as the first hearing date for the matter. On August 22, 2016, Attorney for the Board sent an email to the Hearing Officer in which he indicated that the matter had settled and that the Board was withdrawing its request for a special education hearing.
FINAL DECISION AND ORDER:
In light of the above facts, the case is dismissed.