Robbinsdale Schools/District

Contests Disability Ruling

Files lawsuit to expel assault suspect

By David Hanners
dhanners@pioneerpress.com

Updated: 11/24/2008 09:25:58 PM CST

Angered that a teacher wanted him to get a late pass, the ninth-grade special-education student raised his forearms like a football lineman and pushed her 50 feet down a hallway, pinning her against a wall.

“Don’t you ever stop me in the hall again or else!” the 15-year-old boy allegedly threatened the teacher before he let her go.

Robbinsdale school officials suspended the youth and began the steps required to kick him out. But after the kid’s mom asked for a hearing, an administrative law judge ruled that the youth’s outburst was a symptom of the same disability that made him eligible for special-education class, and he ordered the student re-admitted.

Now, in a suit filed in U.S. District Court, the school district is asking a federal judge to throw out the hearing officer’s ruling so expulsion proceedings can resume. School administrators argue that the hearing officer abused his discretion and made assessments about the youth’s behavior that he was unqualified to make.

“The school has a safety concern about the ramifications of the decision,” said Peter A. Martin, the attorney representing the school district.

The student allegedly assaulted a teacher in another district before the incident last April at Robbinsdale Cooper High School, according to the suit.

Robbinsdale’s superintendent, Stan F. Mack II, did not immediately return a call for comment.

Because of the youth’s status as a minor, he is identified in the suit by his initials,

“B.J.” He and his mother – identified as “B.D.” – are the defendants in the case. The Pioneer Press was unable to contact them.

The suit claims B.J. enrolled at Cooper High last February after he and his mother moved to Minnesota from Texas. He was placed in a special education classroom for students with emotional or behavioral disorders. He also had two regular education classes, including physical education.

The incident that led to the suit occurred April 24, the suit claims. A ninth-grade physical education instructor, Jeannie Koenig, was in a hallway, performing monitor duties between third and fourth periods.

“To minimize disruptions and interruptions caused by tardy students, Koenig had previously been instructed not to allow anyone into the physical education hallway without getting a late pass after the second bell rang,” the suit said.

As the second bell rang, Koenig saw a student at the far end of the hall. He was walking toward her and had “a calm demeanor and was not agitated,” the suit claims.

Koenig allegedly asked the student several times to get a late pass from the office before heading to his physical education class, and the student refused and kept walking.

“Koenig then told the student that a video surveillance camera was positioned on a wall directly behind him recording his actions,” the suit said, adding, “The student turned around, stared directly into the camera and made several offensive gestures.”

The student turned and left, but doubled back a few second later. Koenig stretched out her arm in an attempt to keep the student from walking past her, but he brushed past her. She then grabbed the tail of his shirt, “at which point Koenig was pulled down the hallway approximately 20-25 feet,” the school district claims.

The suit then describes the alleged assault:

“The student stopped, turned and faced Koenig. He held his forearms up in an upright position and in a motion similar to a football player pushing a blocking sled, pushed and maneuvered Koenig down the hallway, steering her in several directions and eventually pinning her against a corner wall some 50 feet away.”

The district claims the student held her against the wall for 20 seconds, then threatened her. Koenig got help by pounding on an adjacent classroom door. When Assistant Principal Claire Vincent arrived, the student released Koenig.

“Vincent directed the student to come with her to the main office and he complied immediately,” the suit said. “He required no restraint. Upon arriving at her office, the student sat down and was very calm.”

The student later told his case manager he had pushed Koenig because he was defending himself.

Robbinsdale’s district policies prohibit physical assaults and verbal threats. The school suspended the youth for five days, and then extended it another 10 days.

The school officials decided – and the parent agreed – that the student’s actions were not a manifestation of his emotional and behavioral disability. The school offered to pay to have B.J. placed in a 12-month special-education program in another district, but the parent declined.

About three weeks after the school officials met, B.J.’s mother asked for a hearing to challenge the district’s determination.

In a ruling issued Sept. 25, Eric Lipman, an administrative law judge with the Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings, said the assault was a manifestation of B.J.’s “pyramiding disabilities,” although the district’s suit notes, “no specific disability was attributed to the misconduct.”

The Robbinsdale school district claims Lipman’s ruling was in error. Among other points, the district said the hearing officer made “psychology-based assessments of behavior which he was unqualified to make.”

The district also contends that the student was not impaired by his disability “and that his conduct was controlled, calibrated and carried out over the course of approximately two minutes.”

David Hanners can be reached at 612-338-6516.
Pioneer Press – 12/02/2008