J.T. v. Dumont Public Schools
Practice Areas: Civil Rights
In November 2014 Eric Harrison’s Employment and Civil Rights Team obtained from the Appellate Division a published decision affirming summary judgment in favor of the insured school district and articulating the standards applicable to educated-related claims under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. In J.T. v. Dumont Public Schools the Appellate Division ruled that school districts which comply with the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act are by definition in compliance with the LAD as to all matters involving the education of a disabled student. In particular, the IEP team of the student in question was determined to have violated neither the IDEA nor the LAD in centralizing services by educating the plaintiff, a disabled kindergartener, in an elementary school other than the neighborhood school he would have attended had he not required the services available in the special classroom in which he was placed.