STATE OF CONNECTICUT
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Student v. Stratford Board of Education - CT SDE Case No. 19-0073
Case No. 19-0073
Student [1] v. Stratford Board of Education
Appearing on behalf of Student: Attorney Nora Belanger Law Office of Nora Belanger LLC 161 East Avenue Suite 104 Norwalk, CT 06851
Appearing on behalf of the Board of Education: Attorney Michelle Laubin Berchem Moses P.C. 75 Broad Street Milford, Connecticut 06460
Appearing before: Janis C. Jerman Hearing Officer
A special education hearing in the above-captioned matter was requested by Student’s Attorney via letter dated August 3, 2018. [2] Based upon a receipt date of August 3, the 30-day resolution period ended September 2 and the deadline to mail the final decision and order is October 17. A telephonic pre-hearing conference was held on August 28. Attorney Belanger appeared on behalf of Student; no one appeared on behalf of BOE. [3] The prehearing conference proceeded with one party. The following issues were identified:
1. Did the Board of Education provide Student a free appropriate public education for the 2017-18 school year?
2. Did the Board of Education provide Student a free appropriate public education for the 2018 extended school year?
3. Did the Board of Education offer Student a free appropriate public education for the 2018-19 school year?
4. Did the Board of Education comply with and provide Student appropriate procedural safeguards?
5. If the answer to any of the Issues One through Four is in the negative, what shall be the remedy? The parties participated in mediation on September 11. Hearing was scheduled for September 26. Via email dated September 17, Student’s Attorney indicated that the parties did not reach agreement at mediation and that Student’s Parents request to withdraw the hearing without prejudice.
The above-captioned case is dismissed without prejudice.
Footnotes
[1] In order to comply with the confidentiality requirements of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g (“FERPA”) and related regulations at 34 CFR § 99, this decision uses “Student,” “Parents,” and titles of certain school staff members and witnesses in place of names and other personally-identifiable information.
[2] All dates are 2018 unless otherwise indicated.
[3] The Hearing Officer emailed Attorney Laubin requesting her to join the conference call and waited ten minutes for her appearance. The parties were given an opportunity to, but did not, schedule another prehearing conference.