LAUSD Failed to Identify Student with PTSD and Emotional Disturbance for Over Two Years Despite Behavior Incidents, Absences, and Suicide Attempt

What Happened

This case involves a student with a devastating history. As a young child, the student suffered prolonged sexual assault at a Los Angeles Unified preschool, resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder. LAUSD placed the student in a nonpublic school (a specialized private school for students with disabilities) starting in second grade. The student attended the nonpublic school through fifth grade.

In August 2016, the parent revoked consent to special education services — not because the student no longer needed them, but because the commute to the nonpublic school was an hour and a half each way and the parent struggled to get the student there every day. The parent wanted the student to attend a neighborhood school, but LAUSD told her the only way the student could attend was if she revoked consent. LAUSD assured the parent that the student could be reassessed for special education in the future.

The student started at an LAUSD middle school for sixth grade in 2019, with a 504 Plan. But the student's behavior problems intensified dramatically. During the 2021-2022 school year alone, the student had 61 full-day absences out of 148 enrolled days. The student made a social media post about bringing a gun to school. He pushed another student over a stairwell ledge about six feet high. He poured chocolate milk on a student and ran away. He pushed another student into a crosswalk.

In July 2023, the student attempted suicide.

By spring 2022, LAUSD had reason to suspect the student — who had PTSD, anxiety, depression, and behavioral difficulties stemming from his trauma history — needed special education. The parent requested an assessment. LAUSD started the process but did not complete it within the 60-day timeline. The parent withdrew the assessment request on May 3, 2022, to transfer the student to LAUSD's virtual school.

In ninth grade (2022-2023), the behavior continued escalating: the student threw a ball at another student's face, had an emotional outburst in health class requiring staff intervention, and got into multiple fights. The parent requested an IEP again on October 6, 2022. LAUSD waited over a month — until November 18 — to create an assessment plan. The parent signed on December 7, 2022. LAUSD did not start the assessment until February 27, 2023 — the very date the IEP meeting should have occurred. The parent revoked consent to the assessment on March 24, 2023, because of the delays.

LAUSD finally completed a psychoeducational assessment and held IEP meetings starting September 22, 2023. But even then, the IEP offered inappropriate goals, inadequate services, and an improper placement. LAUSD did not offer a residential treatment center until February 22, 2024 — five months after it should have.

What the District Did Wrong

Failing Child Find Across Two School Years

The ALJ found LAUSD failed to identify the student as a child with disabilities requiring assessment during both the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years. Despite the student's known autism diagnosis, history of trauma, extensive behavior incidents, and chronic absences, LAUSD failed to complete evaluations within the legally required timelines.

During the 2021-2022 school year, LAUSD should have completed the assessment and held an IEP by April 3, 2022. Instead, it conducted only vision and hearing screenings before the parent withdrew her consent.

During the 2022-2023 school year, LAUSD delayed creating the assessment plan by nearly a month, then waited until the 60-day deadline to begin the assessment. By the time LAUSD started working, the parent had already revoked consent out of frustration with the delays.

Denying FAPE Across Three School Years

Once LAUSD finally assessed the student and held IEP meetings in 2023-2024, the resulting IEPs were inadequate. The ALJ found FAPE denials across virtually every area:

• Inadequate goals for academics, counseling, behavior, and social skills
• Missing accommodations for anxiety, attention, behavior, depression, counseling, and social skills
• Missing services for therapeutic counseling, social skills, and behavior
• Inappropriate placement — LAUSD should have offered a residential treatment center by September 28, 2023, but did not do so until February 22, 2024

Blaming the Parent for the District's Failures

LAUSD argued that the parent's revocation of consent in 2016 absolved it of child find duties. The ALJ flatly rejected this:

"Parent revoked consent to Student's special education services not because she believed he no longer needed them, but because the commute to the nonpublic school was an hour and a half each way and she struggled to get Student to school every day."

The ALJ found that LAUSD's reliance on the 2016 revocation was "unpersuasive given that Los Angeles Unified should have completed its assessment a full month earlier than Parent revoked her request."

What the Judge Found

ALJ Linda Dowd issued a sweeping 84-page decision finding for the student on the vast majority of the 15 issues presented. The student prevailed on Issues 1, 2, 3, 7, 11, 12, and 14 in full, and prevailed on numerous subsections of Issues 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, and 15.

The ALJ's findings can be summarized:

Child Find (Issues 1-3): LAUSD failed to identify, locate, and timely evaluate the student from October 2021 through December 2023, denying the parent the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process.

Goals, Services, and Accommodations (Issues 4-10): For the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, LAUSD denied FAPE by failing to offer appropriate goals for academics, counseling, behavior, and social skills; appropriate accommodations for anxiety, attention, behavior, depression, counseling, and social skills; and appropriate services for therapeutic counseling, social skills, and behavior.

Placement (Issues 7, 11, 15): LAUSD denied FAPE by failing to offer an appropriate placement during both the 2021-2022 school year and the 2023-2024 school year. LAUSD should have offered a residential treatment center by September 28, 2023.

What Was Ordered

The remedies reflected the scope of the two-year failure:

1. Occupational therapy independent educational evaluation — funded by LAUSD from an assessor of the parent's choosing who meets LAUSD's 2024 IEE guidelines

2. 254 hours of compensatory education — funded by LAUSD through a certified nonpublic agency of the parent's choice, to be used for academics, counseling, social skills, or wraparound services, available for three years from the date of the decision

3. Funded placement at the parent's preferred residential treatment center — San Diego Center for Children (if they will still accept the student), or another certified residential treatment center of the parent's choosing, until the IEP team determines the student is ready to step down to a less restrictive placement

4. LAUSD must provide the parent a list of contracted nonpublic agencies within 30 days, and if the parent selects a non-contracted agency, LAUSD must establish direct payment within 30 days

Why This Matters for Parents

This is one of the most comprehensive FAPE denial decisions in recent LAUSD history, and it contains critical lessons for parents.

1. Revoking consent does not eliminate child find duties. The ALJ and federal guidance are clear: even when a parent has previously revoked consent to special education, the district retains its child find obligation. If the district later has reason to suspect the student needs services, it must act — regardless of the prior revocation. LAUSD cannot use a 2016 revocation to excuse inaction in 2022.

2. Behavior problems ARE red flags for assessment. A student who is making threats, getting into fights, having emotional outbursts, and missing 41% of school days is exhibiting clear signs that something is wrong. Combined with a known autism diagnosis and trauma history, these behaviors should have triggered immediate assessment — not years of inaction.

3. Parent frustration with delays does not excuse the district. LAUSD tried to blame the parent for revoking consent to the assessments. But the ALJ found the revocations were caused by the district's own delays. A parent who withdraws an assessment request because the district has failed to act within legal timelines is not the cause of the district's child find failure.

4. Residential treatment is appropriate when nothing else has worked. The ALJ ordered LAUSD to fund placement at a residential treatment center — one of the most intensive (and expensive) placements available. This reflects the reality that when a district fails a student for years, the student's needs may escalate to the point where nothing less than residential treatment is appropriate.

5. The compensatory award grows with each year of denial. 254 hours of compensatory education reflects the accumulated harm of over two years of lost services. The ALJ calculated this based on 45 school days during the 2021-2022 year, 180 days during the 2022-2023 year, and 29 days during the 2023-2024 year before LAUSD finally held an IEP meeting — a total of 254 school days of denied services.

If your child has a known disability, a history of behavior challenges, chronic absences, and the district has not assessed or provided services, do not wait. Document every behavior incident, every absence, every contact with the school. Then file for due process. The longer the district delays, the larger the compensatory award — and the greater the harm to your child.