Stay Put Provision Applies After Student is Graduated by the District

B.A.W., a 19-year-old student with learning disabilties, and his mother, R.Y.W., met with the East Orange School District CST to develop an Individualized Education Plan (“IEP”) for B.A.W. for the remainder of the school year. During that meeting, Plaintiff’s mother requested that B.A.W. be provided with services beyond the current school year. This request was discussed and ultimately rejected by the district at the meeting and through written communications, including a notice of his pending graduation at the end of the current school year.

B.A.W. filed for mediation and subsequently emergent relief, and received a reply from NJDOE acknowledging receipt of his request and noting that Stay Put provisions applied.

The Administrative Law Judge denied B.A.W.’s request for emergent relief and dismissed with prejudice his underlying due process claim.

An appeal was filed in US District Court for New Jersey seeking Preliminary Injunction against the school district. The Court concluded that B.A.W.’s removal from his district program during the pendency of the instant administrative and judicial proceedings violated the Stay Put provision of IDEA, and his motion for Preliminary Injunction was granted. The East Orange Board of Education was ordered to immediately reinstate B.A.W. during the pendency of these proceedings.

This case is significant because it upheld the application of IDEA’s Stay Put provision even after the student has been graduated by the school district.