Students – General Education Third Circuit affirmed district court’s summary judgment in favor of school district where district administrators investigated rumors that teacher was sexually involved with a student, but those allegations were initially and falsely denied by both student and parent. Where administrators failed interview teacher who was allegedly involved in the inappropriate relationship, parent failed to show administrators were deliberately indifferent so as to establish section 1983 liability. Parent failed to establish district failed to take appropriate action to protect student from sexual abuse after finding teacher in embrace with student.Incident evidences negligence in failing to investigate, but does not establish actual notice under section 1983. District was not liable under a failure to train staff to recognize signs of grooming theory pursuant to section 1983 where teacher had no prior history of sexually abusing students. Parent failed otg show district negligently hired teacher who sexually abused student where nothing in teacher’s application evidenced past sexual misconduct. Kobrick v. Stevens, 3rd Cir. 2019: Feb. 26.
Students – Special Education Third Circuit affirmed district court decision finding that hearing officer improperly relied on student progress toward goals and objectives to determine appropriateness of IEP. Court affirmed proposition that IEP is judged prospectively so that lack of progress does not render IEP inappropriate. Hearing officer erred in finding that speech and language goals were insufficiently objective where district demonstrated that goals for social skills are inherently more difficult to quantify because oral dialogue necessarily involves some measure of subjectivity. Colonial Sch. Dist. v. G.K., 3rd Cir 2019: Feb. 13.