JEREMY H., а Minor, by his Father and Next Friend, W.E. HUNTER; W.E. Hunter, on his own behalf; Rita Hunter v. MOUNT LEBANON SCHOOL DISTRICT; Robert German, personally and in his official capacity as a member of the Mount Lebanon School Board; Judy Mcverry, personally and in her official capacity as a member of the Mount Lebanon School Board; Marie Loretta Humphreys, personally and in her official capacity as a member of the Mount Lebanon School Board; Henry J. Kaski, personally and in his official capacity as a member of the Mount Lebanon School Board; Carol J. Walton, personally and in her official capacity as a member of the Mount Lebanon School Board; Templeton Smith, personally and in his official capacity as a member of the Mount Lebanon School Board; Jean Palcho, personally and in her official capacity as a member of the Mount Lebanon School Board; Beverly Maurhoff, personally and in her official capacity as a member of the Mount Lеbanon School Board; Dr. Glenn Smartschan, personally and in his official capacity as Superintendent of the Mount Lebanon School Board; Dr. Deborah Allen, personally and in her official capacity as Director of Pupil Services of the Mount Lebanon School District; Dr. Monica Sullivan, personally and in her official capacity as Supervisor of Special Education of the Mount Lebanon School District; Dr. Linda Miller, personally and in her official capacity as Supervisor of Special Education of the Mount Lebanon School District, Jeremy H., a minor, and W.E. Hunter, Appellants.
No. 95-3355
United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
Sept. 12, 1996
Nov. 4, 1996
95 F.3d 272
Nevertheless, I do not see how the application of the free association rights the majority identifies can be cabined to elections in which the state permits some cross-filing. To the contrary, it seems logical to me that the majority‘s aрproach inevitably leads to the conclusion that Pennsylvania (and the other jurisdictions in this circuit) must permit cross-filing in all elections, so that following any primary election for any office, a minor party may nominate any willing major party candidate to be the minor party‘s candidate in that election. After all, why are the associational rights of the minor parties in any way dependent on the circumstance that a candidate could cross-file in the Democratic and Republican primaries?
For the foregoing reasons I respectfully dissent. In my view, the Pennsylvania statutes as applied in this case are constitutional. Furthermore, I believe that the majority opinion carries implications which could bring about fundamental changes in the election processes in Pennsylvania and the other jurisdictions in this circuit by judicial decision. We ought not to lay the foundation for such a development. If such changes are to come, let the legislatures bring them about.
Beforе: SLOVITER, Chief Judge, BECKER, STAPLETON, MANSMANN, GREENBERG, SCIRICA, COWEN, NYGAARD, ALITO, ROTH, LEWIS and McKEE, Circuit Judges.
SUR PETITION FOR REHEARING
Nov. 4, 1996
The petition for rehearing filed by appellees in the above-entitled case having been submitted to the judges who participated in the decision of this Court and to all the other available circuit judges of the circuit in regular active service, and no judge who concurred in the decision having asked for rehearing, and a majority of the circuit judges of the circuit in regular service not having voted for rehearing by the court in banc, the petition for rehearing is denied.
Judge GREENBERG would have granted rehearing.
Decided Sept. 12, 1996.
William C. Andrews (argued), Andrew J. Maiello, Leger, Jr. Maiello, Andrews & Price, James C. Kletter, Springer, Bush & Perry, Pittsburgh, PA, for Appellees.
Before: BECKER and McKEE, Circuit Judges and POLLAK, District Judge.*
OPINION OF THE COURT
LOUIS H. POLLAK, District Judge.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA“),
The defendants filed a motion to dismiss, asserting, inter alia, that the Hunters’ IDEA claims were barred by the statute of limitations and by the Hunters’ failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The district court granted this motion as to all of the Hunters’ claims, and ordered that the complaint be dismissed. The Hunters have appealed.2
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Our recitation of this case‘s long history is largely derived from the allegations in the Hunters’ complaint.3 The principal figure in this history, Jeremy Hunter, was born on September 6, 1976. Before he entered kindergarten, he was diagnosed with Brown‘s Syndrome, a vision disorder, in his left eye, and with occlusional nystagmus, also a vision disorder, in both eyes. Brown‘s Syndrome apparently renders it difficult to maintain binocular vision, which in turn causes “reduced reading rate and orientation and mobility problems.” Occlusional nystagmus causes fatigue, rendering it difficult for a student to read for long periods. App. at 14–15.
During this six-year period, the complaint states, Jeremy experienced difficulty with “reading, completing assignments, and orientation and mobility,” App. at 108, problems that the Hunters aver resulted from the defendants’ failure adequately to accommodate his disability. As a result of these difficulties, Jeremy had a number of bouts of serious anxiety about school. In the fall of 1989, when Jeremy was about to enter junior high school, his parents concluded that his emotional condition required that they withdraw him from public school. The Hunters placed their son in private (and later in parochial) school, where, the complaint states, he received services that were more appropriate to his needs. The Hunters also hired a number of private vision teachers for Jeremy, and helped him with his homework themselves.
Jeremy‘s parents continued to press MLSD to provide Jeremy with an appropriate public education. Accordingly, in late 1990 and early 1991, the District conducted another multidisciplinary evaluation, and prepared another IEP, apparently without providing Jeremy‘s parents with an opportunity to participate in this process. Jeremy‘s parents were dissatisfied with the composition of the team conducting the multidisciplinary evaluation and with the evaluation‘s results, as well as with the results of the IEP, and responded by invoking the IDEA administrative dispute-resolution procedure.
IDEA (1) requires that state educational agencies which receive federal assistance establish administrative procedures for resolving disputes as to the education of disabled children, and (2) provides certain criteria for those procedures. See
In Pennsylvania, the initial, hearing stage of the IDEA process is termed a “due process hearing.” The processing of the Hunters’ complaint began with such a hearing. The matter was assigned to Dr. Constance Fox Lyttle; Dr. Lyttle‘s inquiry into the Hunter grievance consumed nineteen hearing days over the period from October 1991 to September 1992.5 On February 24, 1993, Dr. Lyttle issued a detailed and lengthy reрort of her findings and decision. Both sides then invoked the IDEA administrative appeals procedure, which, in Pennsylvania, takes the form of an appeal to the Special Education Due Process Review Panel. On May 21, 1993, the appellate panel issued an opinion that substantially affirmed the hearing officer‘s findings and decision, with certain modifications.
- The Hunters had requested reimbursement for evaluations of Jeremy that they had had performed at their own expense. The hearing officer found that MLSD‘s multidisciplinary evaluations suffered from a number of major deficiencies, noting, for instance, that MLSD had found that Jeremy had below-normal intelligence on the basis of tests that were not designed for use with children with impaired vision. Accordingly, she ordered that MLSD reimburse the Hunters for evaluations that they had commissioned at their own expense, and that MLSD provide for a number of new evaluations. App. at 17, 40–44, 64.
- The Hunters asserted that the IEPs prepared by MLSD were vague and inappropriate. The hearing officer agreed. App. at 44–47.
- The Hunters asserted that MLSD had erred when, during Jeremy‘s sixth-grade year, it had switched him from a plan under which he received reduced assignments to accommodate his difficulties with reading to a plan under which he received a full assignment load. The hearing officer agreed, and found that MLSD should prepare a new IEP for Jeremy. The parties had stipulated to a list of persons to be included on a team charged with preparing such an IEP. This list included the Hunters’ own vision expert, Jeremy‘s psychologist, Jeremy‘s parents, and some MLSD personnel. App. at 39. The hearing officer‘s decision provided detailed guidelines for the elements of the IEP, App. at 50–52; the appellate decision eliminated some of these provisiоns, App. at 96–98, leaving these issues to be decided by the future team.
- The Hunters asked for repayment of the private-school tuition that they had paid. The hearing officer denied this request, on the grounds that the school Jeremy attended was simply a private school, with no special facilities to accommodate his handicap. App. at 52–53.
- The hearing officer found that MLSD had not provided Jeremy with the “free appropriate public education” guaranteed to him by IDEA. Accordingly, she ordered that MLSD provide compensatory education, in the form of special sessions during the school year and a four-week summer program. App. at 53–54. The appellate panel found that these services should be provided for two years, or until Jeremy graduated from high school. App. at 96.
- The Hunters sought reimbursement for psychological and vision training that they had paid for while Jeremy attended MLSD public schools. The hearing officer found that the latter services should bе reimbursed, but not the former. App. at 55–56.
- The Hunters sought reimbursement for a wide range of services that they had paid for while Jeremy attended private schools. The hearing officer disallowed some psychological and vision counseling, allowed a vision-related summer program and specialist, allowed expenses for vision-related equipment, and disallowed compensation for the time of Jeremy‘s parents. App. at 56–60.
The hearing officer also rejected a number of theories under which MLSD sought to contest the Hunters’ claims, including a claim that they were barred by the statute of limitations since much of the conduct at issue had occurred many years earlier. App. at 60–62.
For reasons that are not made fully clear in the Hunters’ complaint, much or all of the foregoing order was never implemented; in particular, no new evaluations were conducted, no new IEP was prepared, and Jeremy‘s compensatory education never materialized. (The Hunters’ complaint refers to MLSD‘s “failure to allow another agency to assume responsibility for evaluation/programming when requested by the parents,” App. at 114, suggesting that this may have been one area of disagreement.) After the appellate decision was issued, Jeremy and his father ap-
On November 17, 1994, the Hunters filed their complaint in this suit. Their complaint made claims based on the foregoing events, under IDEA, the Rehabilitation Act, the ADA, and section 1983. In their prayer for relief, they asked that the court:
- Preliminarily and permanently enjoin Mount Lebanon School District to comply with the requirements of IDEA, ADA and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act by arranging for free appropriate public education be provided [sic] to Jeremy Hunter by a local educational agency other than Mount Lebanon School District that is capable of undertaking the responsibility to properly evaluate Jeremy Hunter and develop, in cooperation with Jeremy and his parents, an individual education plan and to deliver to Jeremy the education and supplementary services required for him to benefit from his education and achieve his educational potential.
- Award plaintiff compensatory and punitive damages. App. at 122.
The defendants then filed a motion to dismiss the Hunters’ complaint for failure to state a claim, or, in the alternative, to have the court order a more specific pleading. The motion cited nine grounds for dismissal, one of which was that the Hunters’ IDEA claims were barred by the statute of limitations and by failure to exhaust administrative remedies.6
On May 30, 1995, in a brief memorandum, the district court dismissed all of the Hunters’ claims. The district court began by noting that section 1983 crеates no substantive rights, and that the court would therefore focus on the underlying statutory claims. As to the Hunters’ IDEA claims, the district court found that a two-year statute of limitations applied. The Hunters’ complaint was filed on November 17, 1994; thus, the district court found that the plaintiffs were “entitled to recover only for alleged IDEA violations that occurred after November 17, 1992.” Because the only administrative proceeding brought by the Hunters was initiated in October, 1991, the court found that the Hunters had not exhausted their administrative remedies as to post-November 17, 1992 events. Finally, the court found that the Hunters were barred from pursuing their ADA and Rehabilitation Act claims because they had not exhausted the administrative remedies provided by Title VII.
On appeal, the Hunters assert that these findings were error. We have jurisdiction over the Hunters’ appeal pursuant to
In Part II of this opinion we address the statutory bases of the Hunters’ claims. First, we will outline the relevant provisions of IDEA, of the ADA, and of the Rehabilitation Act. Then we will discuss thе Hunters’ section 1983 claim, which, we conclude, does have substantive content. In Part III of this opinion we address the statute of limitations aspect of the Hunters’ IDEA claims. Finally, in Part IV, we address questions of exhaustion.
II. THE STATUTORY BASIS OF THE HUNTERS’ CLAIMS
A. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
As we have already noted, IDEA guarantees that all disabled children in states ac-6
As the final stage of this enforcement procedure, IDEA permits “any party aggrieved by the findings and decision” of the state appellate procedure to “bring a civil action with respect to the complaint presented pursuant to this section, which action may be brought in any State court of competent jurisdiction or in a district court of the United States without regard to the amount in controversy.”
In part, the Hunters’ complaint seeks to contest adverse decisions by the state hearing officer and the appellate panel.8 To the extent that this is the relief that the Hunters seek, their complaint would seem to be properly brought under
B. The Rehabilitation Act
IDEA sets forth a positive right to a “free appropriate public education.” By contrast, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act,
No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States ... shall, solely by reason of his or her disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance or under any program or activity conducted by any Executive agency or by the United States Postal Service.
has been interpreted, “[t]here appear to be few differences, if any, between IDEA‘s affirmative duty and § 504‘s negative prohibition.” 67 F.3d at 492–93. We also found in Matula that both injunctive relief and monetary damages are available under section 504. See Matula, 67 F.3d at 494.
C. The Americans with Disabilities Act
The Hunters do not cite a specific provision of the ADA in their complaint. We will assume, however, that it was their intention to rely upon
Subject to the provisions of this subchapter, no qualified individual with a disability shall by reason of such disability be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity.
D. Section 1983
Section 1983 provides a civil remedy for acts taken under color of law that deprive “any citizen of the United States or person within the jurisdiction thereof” of “rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws.”
In the present case, whether or not an IDEA decision of a state hearing officer or appellate body is enforceable under IDEA directly, such a decision would seem to be enforceable under section 1983. The Fourth Circuit found, in Robinson v. Pinderhughes, 810 F.2d 1270 (4th Cir.1987), that a section 1983 action could be brought to enforce the decision of an IDEA administrative proceeding.12 We agree with the reasoning of Pinderhughes, and note that the Supreme Court‘s present methodology for ascertaining whether a section 1983 action is available to redress a violation of federal law produces the same result.13
We have, it is true, recognized that even the broad statutory text [of section 1983] does not authorize a suit for every alleged violation of federal law. A particular statutory provision, for example, may be so manifestly precatory that it could not fairly be read to impose a “binding obligation[ ]” on a governmental unit, Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman, 451 U.S. 1, 26, 101 S.Ct. 1531, 1544, 67 L.Ed.2d 694 (1981), or its terms may be so “vague and amorphous” that determining whether a “deprivation” might have occurred would strain judicial competence. See Wright v. Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority, 479 U.S. 418, 431–432, 107 S.Ct. 766, 774–775, 93 L.Ed.2d 781 (1987). And Congress itself might make it clear that violation of a statute will not give rise to liability under § 1983, either by express words or by providing a comprehensive alternative enforcement scheme. See Middlesex County Sewerage Authority v. National Sea Clammers Assn., 453
114 S.Ct. at 2083.
In the рresent case, section 1415‘s hearing and appeal procedures cannot be said to be precatory. Not only would it be curious for Congress to have established section 1415‘s detailed procedural apparatus solely to generate advisory opinions, but section 1415 provides (1) that the results of a hearing “shall be final,” except that the parties to that hearing may appeal, and (2) that the results of the appeal “shall be final,” except that the parties may bring a civil action.
III. THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
In Tokarcik v. Forest Hills School District, 665 F.2d 443 (3d Cir.1981), this court found, drawing on Pennsylvania law, that either a two-year or a six-year limitations period applied to the filing of IDEA actions.14 We did not then have occasion to decide between these two periods, although we suggested that a two-year period might be appropriate. See id. at 454–55.15
The district court, citing Tokarcik, applied a two-year limitations period to the plaintiffs’ IDEA claims. It stated that the plaintiffs had filed their action on November 17, 1994, and that they therefore could not recover for any alleged IDEA violations that had occurred before November 17, 1992—in other words, for virtually all of the events at issue in their complaint.
We find that the district court‘s application of the limitations period in this manner was error. IDEA requires that a plaintiff exhaust state administrative remedies before initiating a civil suit. In the present case, thаt process took some eighteen months, from October 1991 to May 1993. (Indeed, the Hunters apparently first requested a due process hearing in February 1991, over two years before the appellate panel issued its decision in May 1993.) As it was applied by the district court, the limitations period could, in combination with the exhaustion requirement, operate to deprive a plaintiff of much or all relief under IDEA.
There remains the question—not explicitly answered by Tokarcik—of how the statute of limitations is to be applied. There would appear to be two principal alternatives: (1) that the period begins when the acts complained of occur (and is tolled while exhaustion occurs), and (2) that the period begins once the state administrative process has run its course. The first approach has many flaws; for instance, it requires a complex tolling analysis, and allows different plaintiffs widely varying (and perhaps difficult-to-ascertain) periods in which they may bring suit. It might therefore interfere with the statutory policy—cited by Tokarcik in declining to apрly a thirty-day limitations period—of allowing parents ample time to work together with school authorities in evaluating and implementing administrative decisions, and then, if necessary, to prepare an appeal. See Tokarcik, 665 F.2d at 451–53 (1981).16 Accordingly, we find that the second approach is preferable, that the limitations period for the initiation of the present
IV. EXHAUSTION
IDEA requires, in
After finding that the statute of limitations barred all of the Hunters’ IDEA claims based on events occurring before November 17, 1992, the district court went on to conclude that all of their claims based upon events occurring after that date were barred for failure to comply with IDEA‘s exhaustion requirement, as the only administrative proceeding that the Hunters had initiated began much earlier, in October 1991. The district court also, citing Spence v. Straw, 54 F.3d 196, 201 (3d Cir.1995), held that the plaintiffs were required to exhaust the administrative remedies provided by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 beforе bringing their ADA and Rehabilitation Act claims, and that the plaintiffs’ failure to do so barred those claims. We will begin by considering the latter holding.
A. Exhaustion under the ADA and Rehabilitation Act
The exhaustion rule applied in Spence was the result of what we termed an “incongruent enforcement scheme.” 54 F.3d 196, 199 (3d Cir.1995). The Rehabilitation Act provides two avenues by which a plaintiff may sue to redress employment discrimination. The Act contains a provision, section 501, directed specifically at employment discrimination. See
Spence involved very unusual circumstances, which do not obtain here. The provisions of the Rehabilitation Act and of the ADA invoked by the Hunters are not, by the terms of those two statutes, subject to any
B. Exhaustion under IDEA
As we have just pointed out, the Hunters have, with respect to their ADA and Rehabilitation Act claims, exhausted IDEA‘s administrative remedies. But the Hunters have also advanced two other groups of claims which call for a somewhat more extended exhaustion analysis. These are: (1) their effort to enforce the decision of the state administrative process, and (2) what appears to be an effort to raise claims that they did not raise in the state administrative process.
1. Efforts to enforce the decision of the state proceeding.
The defendants argue that the Hunters’ effort to enforce the decision of the state administrative proceeding is subject to a specialized exhaustion requirement. They assert that claims of this type must be exhausted through a “Complaint Mаnagement System” established by Pennsylvania‘s Bureau of Special Education, an administrative procedure distinct from the “due process hearing” procedure discussed above.
The defendants have furnished the court with a general description of this “Complaint Management System,” but with no documentation as to its specific elements or legal basis. The defendants’ description suffices, however, to persuade us that the system to which they refer is the system established by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to implement a set of federal regulations that require that state educational agencies establish procedures for receiving and resolving complaints relating to IDEA implementation. See
The Ninth Circuit, in Hoeft v. Tucson Unified School Dist., 967 F.2d 1298 (9th Cir.1992), suggested in dicta that a plaintiff could, as to certain types of claims, be required to exhaust the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (or EDGAR) procedures, a regulatory forerunner of
2. Claims not raised in the state proceeding.
As to events that occurred after the conclusion of the state administrative proceeding, the Hunters have, of course, had no opportunity to exhaust their administrative remedies. For this reason, the district court dismissed all of the Hunters’ claims based on such events.21 The district court also stated that it was “not persuaded by plaintiffs’ conclusionary averment that their pursuit of administrative remedies would be a futile gesture.” The Hunters appeal this ruling.
The district court did not provide a detailed listing of which elements of the Hunters’ complaint it was dismissing on this ground. However, an examination of the complaint reveals that the only event which it desсribes that occurred after the termination of the administrative proceeding was Eugene and Jeremy Hunter‘s temporary move to
As noted in the text (see supra, typescript at 13–14, 16–17), we have found it unnecessary to decide whether the Hunters’ enforcement claim may be brought only under section 1983, or whether an enforcement action is also available directly under section 1415. Should it be the case that section 1983 is the only available basis for the Hunters’ enforcement claim, however, we observe that the policies of section 1983 strongly disfavor the imposition of additional exhaustion requirements. See Patsy v. Board of Regents, 457 U.S. 496, 516, 102 S.Ct. 2557, 2568, 73 L.Ed.2d 172 (1982); see also Mrs. W. v. Tirozzi, 832 F.2d 748, 758 (2d Cir.1987) (rejecting, on this ground, the argument that a predecessor of
Finally, it appears that one element of the Hunters’ complaint, the Hunters’ request that MLSD not be involved in evaluations or programming for Jeremy, was not raised in the state proceeding. The state appellate panel specifically rejected a request by the Hunters that MLSD not perform evaluation and programming, on the ground that this issue had not been raised before the hearing officer. App. at 99. Assuming that the appellate panel‘s finding was correct, we find that it would be appropriate for this claim to be exhausted before it is examined in the district court.
We reach this conclusion with some reluctance, as it could entail further delay in an already much-delayed case. However, the issue of MLSD‘s involvement in evaluation and programming for Jeremy seems to be central to the Hunters’ complaint. Accordingly, the administrative process should be allowed an opportunity to address that central issue. A principal purpose of IDEA‘s administrative procedure is to permit “state and local education agencies[,] in cooperation with the parents or guardian of the child,” to take “primary responsibility for formulating the education to be accorded a handicapped child,” Board of Education v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 207, 102 S.Ct. 3034, 3051, 73 L.Ed.2d 690 (1982); thus, we find that it is appropriate to permit the Commonwealth to address this issue before it is considered in the district court.23 We also note that the IDEA hearing and appeal process currently includes strict time limits, and that the entire exhaustion process should take no longer than a few months if these limits are observed. See
V. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, then, we find that:
(1) The Hunters’ section 1983 claim does have substantive content, as it can form the basis of a claim for damages, and as section 1983 is an instrument by which the Hunters
Exhaustion is intended to serve the goal of ensuring disabled childrеn a free, appropriate public education, not to thwart it. If the Hunters diligently pursue their administrative remedies, and the exhaustion of administrative remedies is nevertheless not complete within the time limits provided by federal regulation, the district court should not hesitate to excuse exhaustion and permit the Hunters to reinstate their claims. In order to expedite the resolution of this case, the district court may also wish to consider elements of the case that have been successfully exhausted while exhaustion of the remainder of the case proceeds.
(2) Because the IDEA statute of limitations does not begin to run until the termination of the state administrative proceedings, the Hunters’ IDEA claims were timely brought.
(3) The Hunters need not exhaust Title VII administrative remedies as to their ADA or Rehabilitation Act claims.
(4) The Hunters need not exhaust the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania‘s “Complaint Managemеnt System.”
(5) The Hunters must exhaust their claims based upon Eugene and Jeremy Hunter‘s move to Ohio.
(6) Assuming that the Hunters did not raise their claims relating to the involvement of MLSD in Jeremy‘s evaluation and programming in the state administrative proceedings, they must exhaust those claims before they may raise them in the district court.
We will therefore reverse the district court‘s order dismissing the Hunters’ complaint, and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Notes
From the time of the Appeals Panel decision to the present, MLSD has continued its deliberate and reckless disregard of Jeremy‘s educational rights. This includes failure to provide the parents with notice of further evaluations and the purpose of them, failure to convene a multidisciplinary team evaluation, failure to convene an IEP conference with members designated by the hearing officer‘s order, failure to implement compensatory education based on evaluation and an IEP, and failure to allow another agency to assume responsibility for evaluation/programming when requested by the parents. App. at 113–114.