I read an article yesterday discussing the U.S. Supreme Court declination to hear the case of Compton Unified School District v. Addison. Some of you may remember a previous blog post about this case. It is a case that I discuss when presenting to an audience about the special education process in order to illustrate the IDEA's child find requirement. That is, a school district has an obligation to identify students who may be in need of special education. A school district should be responsible where it is in a position to notice obvious signs of a child struggling, even if a parent is not knowledgeable enough to reach out to the appropriate channels. The facts of the case are somewhat appalling. The school district passively stood by while the child was struggling in a very serious way. The ultimate question in the case was whether school districts should be liable if they fail to identify a child's special needs. The answer in this case was "yes." So held the administrative law judge and the 9th circuit, and the Supreme Court is not going to upset that determination.
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