Onaney Polanco, Individually and as Parent and Natural Guardian of A. D. v. David Banks, in His Official Capacity as Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, et al.

This case raises a question of exceptional importance for some of our most vulnerable citizensdisabled children and their parents. Here, the Parent filed a due process complaint alleging that the New York City Department of Education failed to provide a free appropriate public education to her child. The child was wheelchair-bound and was assigned to an inaccessible school. The Courts below held that Parent waived the issue of handicapped accessibility by not specifically listing it in her due process complaint, despite the location’s closure during COVID, and despite the fact that Parent raised the issue of lack of trained staff to perform wheelchair transfers. The questions presented are:

1. Whether the courts below properly applied State Law in the spirit of cooperative federalism which places the burden on the Department of Education to prove they provided a free appropriate public education.

2. Whether a Parent must forfeit her claim that a school district failed to provide a free appropriate public education for her child by objecting to the location but not specifically listing accessibility in her due process complaint.

3. Whether equities require remand.