Board+of+Education+in+Sacramento,+CA+vs.+Holland


 * Case || Board of Education in Sacramento, CA vs. Holland ||
 * Date || 1994 ||
 * Citation || 14 F.3d 1398 (9th Cir. 1994) ||
 * Outcome || Children with disabilities must be educated in the "least restrictive environment appropriate” as required by IDEA. ||
 * Story || This case involves an 11 year old girl, Rachel Holland. Rachel was mentally retarded with an IQ of 44. From 1985-1989, Rachel participated in various special education programs, but Rachael's parents desired for her to increase her time in the regular classroom. For the year of 1989-1990, the Hollands requested that Rachel be placed in the regular classroom full-time. The District denied this request and counter-proposed that Rachel split her classroom experience 50/50--placed in a special education classroom for academics and in the regular classroom for non-academic classes. This proposal would require Rachel to switch classrooms six times a day. Instead, the Hollands enrolled Rachel in a private school in a regular classroom.

The Hollands attested that Rachel benefits most in regular classrooms and NOT in special education classrooms. The district attested that Rachel was too severely mentally retarded to be successful in a regular classroom. The hearing officer found not only that the district made inadaquate efforts to place Rachel in a regular classroom, but they also overstated the cost of mainstreaming her. Through an examination of four factors, the officer also found that Rachel would benefit most from being in a regular classroom. 1.) Educationally, regular classrooms were to her favor. She was more motivated and performed better by mimicking her classmates. 2.) Non-academically, regular classrooms were to her favor. Her social skills and communication skills improved, and her self-confidence was greatly increased. 3.) She did not display any negative effect on the teacher or the other children in the classroom. 4.) Cost was not a factor against mainstreaming Rachel. The court affirmed the officer's findings by placing Rachel in a regular classroom full-time with support services. || [|Story] ||
 * Link(s) || [|Special Education Inclusion Info]