Graduation is not necessarily the end of the story

Doe v. MARLBOROUGH PUBLIC SCHOOLS, Dist. Court, D. Massachusetts 2010:

Reimbursement and compensatory education cases live on after a child graduates. This case takes it one step further. Child had an IEP and received special education services. Parent challenged the legitimacy of the child’s graduation. The Court ruled that satisfaction of graduation requirements does not necessarily terminate a school district’s obligations under the IDEA. “ [A] school district may not properly graduate a student with disabilities if the student was not provided with FAPE as required by IDEA (e.g., a student did not receive appropriate transitional services or his IEP was not reasonably calculated to provide him educational benefit).” Pendency during such a challenge is the placement and program that the child was in at the time of the challenge.