Dale M. v. Board of Education of Bradley-Bourbonnais

The district judge held that a public school district in Illinois had violated its duty under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to provide Dale M. with "a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet [disabled childrens] unique needs," where "related services" include "transportation, and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services (including. .. psychological services. .. [and] social work services.. .) as may be required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education." 20 U.S.C. sec.sec. 1400(d)(1)(A), 1401(22). Dale became a student in the district in 1993, when he was 14 years old. He soon became a serious disciplinary problem. He disrupted classes and was truant. The following year he was placed in a "therapeutic day school" designed to deal with disruptive and truant students, but in his first four months he attended school only 20 days, though when he did attend he behaved himself, did the assigned work, and got good grades. For some time he had been drinking alcohol to excess and also consuming marijuana, cocaine, and other illegal drugs, and in January of 1995 he was hospitalized for depression and at the same time charged with residential burglary and theft of a car. He was placed on probation for these offenses. When he got out of the hospital he refused to return to school, but received home instruction until November, when he was again charged with residential burglary and this time sent to jail. He was examined by a psychologist who found that Dale has no learning disability but instead what the psychologist called a "conduct disorder," along with depression and substance abuse.