Students of California School for the Blind v. Bill Honig, in His Capacity as Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of California

This law suit concerns the seismic safety of the new Fremont campus of the California School for the Blind. The testimony of a court-appointed expert convinced the district court that additional tests were needed to determine the seismic safety of the Fremont school. The court entered a preliminary injunction ordering the state defendants to perform the additional tests or to close the school. We affirm.

I. Statement of Facts

This litigation arose when the California Department of Education decided to move its residential school for the blind from Berkeley to Fremont. The students sought to block the move. In June 1980, they brought suit in federal court against California educational authorities under the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (codified at 20 U.S.C. §§ 1232 ,1401, 1405, 1406, 1411-1420 and 1453 (1983)), § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (codified at 29 U.S.C. § 794 (1982)), and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 . The students challenged the move on a procedural ground, alleging that the state defendants failed to give proper notice of a change in the students’ educational placement. The students also challenged the move on the substantive grounds that the…