District Failed Child Find Duty for Suicidal Student, Ordered to Reimburse Provo Canyon Placement

What Happened

Student was a high-achieving junior at Escondido High School who had earned a 4.5 GPA as a freshman and was on track to apply to Harvard. During the summer before her junior year, Student attempted suicide by ingesting over-the-counter medication and was hospitalized. Before the 2006-2007 school year began, Mother called a school counselor who had a close mentoring relationship with Student and informed her of the suicide attempt, the subsequent psychiatric hospitalization, and the fact that Student was on psychotropic medication. Mother asked the counselor to monitor Student and alert Parents to any warning signs. Despite this, no one at the District referred Student for a special education evaluation or even flagged her as a student who might need support.

As her junior year progressed, Student's condition visibly deteriorated. She was drinking vodka daily on campus, forging excuse notes, missing classes, being caught in sexually compromising situations at school, stealing money from a beloved teacher, plagiarizing papers, and ultimately refusing to do any work in AP Statistics — a nearly unheard-of situation in an elite AP course. Her GPA dropped from 4.0 to 2.5, and she failed Statistics entirely. In June 2007, Student was hospitalized again after expressing intent to kill herself. Parents immediately enrolled her in Provo Canyon School, a residential treatment facility in Utah, at their own expense. On September 20, 2007, the District finally found Student eligible for special education under the category of emotional disturbance and agreed to place her at Provo Canyon. Parents sought reimbursement for the costs they had already paid for the placement prior to the District's eligibility determination.

What the District Did Wrong

The ALJ found that the District had sufficient information by mid-April 2007 to trigger its "child find" obligation — the legal duty to identify, locate, and evaluate children who may need special education. The school counselor who received Mother's call before the school year was found not credible in her testimony that she didn't recall the details of the conversation. The ALJ found she was fully aware of Student's suicide attempt, ongoing psychiatric treatment, and psychotropic medication. That knowledge was legally attributed to the District.

Beyond what was reported by Mother, multiple staff members observed serious warning signs during the school year but failed to act. Student's AP U.S. History teacher noticed dramatic changes in her behavior and even sought out her friends to ask what was wrong, yet never referred her to a counselor. Her AP Statistics teacher had never seen an AP student simply refuse to work, yet did not notify Parents or a counselor. A teacher whose desk Student stole money from never reported it. An attendance clerk who noticed a pattern of unexcused absences and had to set up a password with Mother to verify her identity never reported it either. District policy required staff to refer "at risk" students — defined as those with emotional or behavioral problems interfering with success — to a Student Support Team. None of these mandatory referrals were made.

The ALJ concluded that by mid-April 2007, the combined picture — known suicide attempt, ongoing psychiatric care, psychotropic medication, sexual misconduct on campus, theft, cheating, rising absences, and academic collapse — gave the District more than enough reason to suspect emotional disturbance and refer Student for evaluation. Its failure to do so was a violation of federal and state child find requirements.

What Was Ordered

1. The District was ordered to reimburse Parents $24,693.97 within 45 days of the decision.
2. This amount included $24,030.00 in Provo Canyon School placement costs and $663.97 in mileage reimbursement for transporting Student to the facility (685 miles each way at the IRS rate of 48.5 cents per mile).
3. Reimbursement for lodging and meals during transport was denied because Parents did not submit receipts or testimony to support those costs.
4. The 10-day prior written notice requirement — which can reduce or eliminate reimbursement — did not apply because the District never provided Parents with their required IDEA parental rights notice.

Why This Matters for Parents

1. A school's "child find" duty is triggered at a low threshold. Districts are not allowed to wait until a child has an obvious, documented disability. Under the law, the question is simply whether there is reason to suspect a disability — not whether the child will definitely qualify. If your child is showing emotional, behavioral, or academic warning signs, the District has an obligation to investigate.

2. What you tell school staff counts — even informally. The ALJ found that Mother's phone call to a counselor before the school year legally put the District on notice of Student's psychiatric history. You don't need to hand-deliver a formal letter to trigger District responsibilities. Document every conversation you have with school staff about your child's mental health, and follow up in writing to create a paper trail.

3. Multiple unreported warning signs can add up to a child find violation. No single incident — the absences, the theft, the academic collapse — was dispositive on its own. It was the totality of what staff knew or observed, combined with the psychiatric history, that created the obligation to act. If your child's teachers, coaches, or counselors are all seeing pieces of a troubling picture, they have a duty to connect those dots.

4. You may be reimbursed for a private placement even if you didn't follow every procedural rule — but keep your receipts. Parents were not penalized for skipping the 10-day notice because the District had failed to provide them with their parental rights paperwork. However, the ALJ denied reimbursement for travel meals and lodging because no documentation was submitted. Always save every receipt related to your child's private placement costs.