October 28, 2009: Disabled Students - School district did not fail to timely identify student's disabilities or provide FAPE after diagnosis. A Third Circuit panel has affirmed a federal district court decision granting a Pennsylvania school district's motion for judgment on the administrative record and summary judgment in an Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) case. In state administrative proceedings, the parents had prevailed on the issue of whether the school district failed to timely identify the student's disabilities, but not on the issue of whether the district failed to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) after he had been diagnosed. Upon review, the district court decided both issues in the school district's favor. Its decision to credit the hearing officer and find that the school district did not violate its "child find" obligations during the child's seventh and eighth grade school years was not clearly erroneous. The district court also did not clearly err in finding that individualized education programs (IEPs) developed by school district were reasonably calculated to provide student a meaningful educational benefit.

 
October 27, 2009: Labor and Employment - Notices of proposed termination failed to set forth a short and plain statements of the facts required by Fair Dismissal Act. Notices of proposed termination that a state community college issued to two employees, which indicated that the employees had "committed financial improprieties in relation to the awarding of financial aid and scholarships," failed to set forth a "short and plain statements of the facts" as required by the Fair Dismissal Act. Neither notice set forth what financial improprieties had been committed so as to provide an adequate opportunity for the employees to prepare a defense to those charges.