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Gonzalez v. Puerto Rico Dept. of Education

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APPEALS FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO [Hon. H�ctor M. Laffitte, U.S. District Judge]

This appeal is brought by H�ctor Gonzalez, his wife Gricelle Nazario Gonz�lez, and their seventeen-year-old son Gabriel Gonz�lez, who is autistic. For the past nine years, Gabriel has attended the Higashi School in Boston, a residential school specializing in the education of autistic children. While at Higashi, Gabriel has progressed well. Plaintiffs wish Gabriel to continue his attendance at the Higashi School, or, failing that, at some comparable residential program. They claim that the Puerto Rico Department of Education must pay for such residential placement as part of its obligation to provide Gabriel a “free appropriate public education,” pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. �� 1400 et seq. The Department instead has proposed an individualized education plan (IEP) under which Gabriel would reside at home in Puerto Rico and attend special education classes at a local public school, supplemented by extra instructional personnel and extended-year services.

After lengthy administrative proceedings, a hearing officer ruled that the Department’s proposed IEP was sufficient to meet the requirements of the IDEA; the hearing officer also ordered that the IEP be amended to include additional services that he thought would strengthen the plan and that the Department had itself expressed a willingness to offer. Plaintiffs sought review by the district court. The district court found the case close, but affirmed the hearing officer’s determination; also, the court ordered that the IEP be amended to include additional services (beyond those added by the hearing officer), mainly designed to ensure that Gabriel’s transition to schooling in Puerto Rico would be smooth and that his daily life would continue to be highly structured, as it has been at the Higashi School. See Gonz�lez v. Puerto Rico Dep’t of Educ., Civ. No. 95-2284 (D.P.R. Mar. 30, 2000).

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