Misako Nakamura v. State of Hawaii, Department Of

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiff M.N. appeals the district court’s ruling that she was not entitled, under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”), 20 U.S.C. §§ MOO-1482, to reimbursement for her unilateral placement of her child in a particular private school. Reviewing “de novo the appropriateness of a special education placement,” C.B. ex rel. Baqueriza v. Garden Grove Unified Sch. Dist., 635 F.3d 1155 , 1159 n. 1 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 500 , 181 L.Ed.2d 347 (2011), we affirm.

1. Plaintiff is “entitled to reimbursement only if a federal court concludes both (1) that the public placement violated the IDEA, and (2) that the private school placement was proper under the [IDEA].” Id. at 1159 (alteration in original) (internal quotation marks omitted). It is undisputed at this stage of the proceedings that the public placement violated the IDEA; therefore, the only issue is whether Plaintiffs placement of her child in the private school was “proper.”

A placement is “proper” if it “ ‘provides educational instruction specially designed to meet the unique needs of a handicapped child, supported by such services as are necessary to permit the child to…