NOTICE: This opinion is subject to motions for rehearing under Rule 22 as well as formal revision before publication in the New Hampshire Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter, Supreme Court of New Hampshire, One Charles Doe Drive, Concord, New Hampshire 03301, of any editorial errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion goes to press. Errors may be reported by e-mail at the following address: reporter@courts.state.nh.us. Opinions are available on the Internet by 9:00 a.m. on the morning of their release. The direct address of the court’s home page is: http://www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme. THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE ___________________________ State Board of Education No. 2019-0397 APPEAL OF RYE SCHOOL DISTRICT (New Hampshire State Board of Education) Argued: July 1, 2020 Opinion Issued: December 2, 2020 C.B. and E.B., self-represented parties, by brief, and C.B. orally. Soule, Leslie, Kidder, Sayward & Loughman, P.L.L.C., of Wolfeboro (Barbara F. Loughman on the brief and orally) for the Rye School District. Gordon J. MacDonald, attorney general (Laura E. B. Lombardi, senior assistant attorney general, and Jill A. Perlow, senior assistant attorney general, on the brief, and Ms. Lombardi orally), for the New Hampshire State Board of Education. HICKS, J. The Rye School District (District) appeals a decision of the New Hampshire State Board of Education (State Board) overturning the decision of the Rye School Board (School Board) denying a request by C.B. and E.B. (Parents) to reassign their child (Student) to a school in another district pursuant to RSA 193:3 (2018) (amended 2020). We affirm. The following background facts are taken from the hearing officer’s recommendation to the State Board, which, in turn, largely summarized the presentations of both parties at the hearing. According to the testimony of Student’s mother (Mother), Student has a growth hormone deficiency that hinders physical growth and causes Student to fall behind academically and socially. Due to Student’s small size, she is often picked up and carried by other pupils. In third grade, Student was pinched and poked by other pupils and was allegedly assaulted by one of them. Parents met with the Rye Elementary School principal, but she declined to file a bullying report. The school responded to this incident and a subsequent incident by promising to keep Student and the other child apart. Although Mother indicated that fourth grade apparently went relatively well, at the start of fifth grade, Mother requested reassignment of Student, believing that the atmosphere of the middle school program was too much for Student and that Student needed to take things more slowly. She also alleged that the principal did not understand Student’s 504 plan and was not aware of Student’s attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety issues. See 29 U.S.C. § 794 (2018) (codifying Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits any program receiving federal funds from excluding or discriminating against an “otherwise qualified individual with a disability”). Mother requested an Individual Education Program (IEP) meeting, but the school believed that such a ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals