A Federal court in Pennsylvania, in Aja N. v. Upper Merion Area School District, refused to exclude days from the calculation of compensatory education award due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The school district in the matter argued that because the district was legally mandated to halt its in-person instruction (due to a Governor’s order) and instead provide instruction in a remote manner, that the remote instructional days should not be counted as part of the compensatory education award. The Federal court disagreed, arguing that federal guidance from the U.S. Department of Education did not give school districts a pass on providing FAPE within the COVID-19 timeframe, and so those days should be counted in the calculation of compensatory services.
October 2022
