Florida Department of Education

Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services

Dispute Resolution and Monitoring Unit: Due Process
325 W. Gaines Street, Suite 614
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400
Phone (850) 245-0475
Fax (850) 245-0953
[email protected]

REQUEST FOR DUE PROCESS HEARING

Date of Request: 04/24/2024 District: Flagler County

Student’s Name: Brendan Depa Date of Birth:

Student’s Id #: 1821001452 School: Matanzas High School

Parent’s Name:

Exceptionality: OHI, EBD

Address of Student:

Home Phone Number:

Name of Person Completing the Form:

Stephanie Langer, Esq. Maria Cammarata, Esq.

Langer Law. P.A. Cammarata & Cammarata, P.L.
15715 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 205 2598 E. Sunrise Blvd. #2104
Miami, Florida 33157 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
305-570-0940 (telephone) 954-802-8423 (telephone)
305-204-9602 (fax) [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Is this a request for an expedited due process hearing related to discipline issues? No
 STATEMENT OF ISSUES AND PROPOSED RESOLUTION

This request for hearing is being brought by Brendan Depa (B.D.) against the Flagler County
School Board (“District”) pursuant to Section 1415(b)(6) and (b)(7)(A) of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) and in accordance with 20 U.S.C. §1415(b)(7)(A)(I).

STATEMENT OF FACTS

1. B.D. is an 18-year-old student with Other Health Impaired, Emotional Behavioral Disorder,
Intermittent Explosive Disorder, Mood Disorder and ADHD who resides in
Flagler County, Florida, within the boundaries of the Flagler County School District.
2. B.D. has a date of birth of 08/22/2005 and a student Id # of 1821001452.
3. The School Board of Flagler County, Florida (“district”) is a corporate body and
governmental agency, duly empowered by the Constitution and statutes of the State of
Florida to administer, manage and operate the public schools of Flagler County, Florida.
4. The district receives state and federal funding for the education of children with disabilities.
The district and charter school meet the definition of a public entity under 42 U.S.C. section
12131.
5. B.D. was found eligible for exceptional student education (ESE) services, has an
Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and remains eligible to date.
6. On February 21, 2023, B.D. was suspended out of school for five days. He is accused of
attacking a paraprofessional.
7. The incident was caught on video tape and made national news.
8. B.D. never returned to Matanzas High School.
9. He was eventually arrested. At the time of the arrest, he was a juvenile.
10. Because Flagler does not have a juvenile facility, he was transported to Jacksonville.
11. Before his arrest, a manifestation determination hearing was held, and the district found
that the conduct was a manifestation of his disabilities.
12. Before his arrest, but with the belief that the district knew an arrest was imminent, an IEP
meeting was held that changed the student’s placement. He was unilaterally and over the
objection of the parents, removed from the public school system and placed in a virtual
home instruction program. He received four hours weekly of instruction. The student’s IEP
was stripped of most of the supports and services that he clearly needed.

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13. Once arrested, the student was transported to a juvenile facility in Duval County. Duval
County drafted an IEP for the period of time B.D. remained in Jacksonville.
14. After approximately six months, B.D. was returned to Flagler County. Upon his return,
Flagler County School District, did nothing. No education has been provided to B.D. since
his return to the county.
15. In addition to failing this student after this incident occurred, the district failed this student
before the incident occurred.
16. The student’s disabilities, triggers and problem behaviors were well known.
17. The district’s failure to address B.D.’s needs lead to the violent incident with the
paraprofessional.
18. The district should be held to account for its failures which have forever changed the
trajectory of this young man’s life.
19. B.D. has an IEP that identifies, in part, his educational needs and the supports and services
the district is required to provide with fidelity.
20. B.D. has a long history of trauma and mental health issues along with several diagnosis of
disabilities that impacted him in the school setting. He was often Baker Acted and
eventually sent to a residential program for stabilization. He spent almost a full year in a
residential placement that provided 24/7 supervision, care and treatment.
21. When B.D. was released from his residential placement, he entered the Flagler County
School District.
22. B.D. was discharged from Springbrook (the residential facility) on or about November 2,
2020 and was accepted to a level 6 Florida behavior group home (ECHO) under the care
of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities Med Waiver Program. B.D. was assigned his
own Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (“BCBA”) to help control his behaviors while at
home and in the community.
23. On or about December 2020, B.D. was enrolled at Matanzas High School in Flagler
County, but he did not start school right away.
24. B.D.’s mother provided the district with B.D.’s private psychological evaluation and
information about his previous hospital setting.
25. The private evaluation provided among other things that B.D. had a history of mood
difficulties, expressing mainly anger and anxiety, concrete thinker, difficulty with

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 emotional control, ADHD, ASD and depression. Some recommendations included to focus
on prevention strategies, conduct a functional behavior assessment (FBA) in this new
setting, individual and family therapies, increased social positive social interactions, and
social skills development. The report highlighted, that B.D.’s “mental health, anxiety and
sadness need to be a core component of treatment.” and further stated that B.D.’s “sources
of anxiety and sadness need to be a core component of treatment.”
26. It is not clear that the school district did anything with this report or its recommendations.
27. It was not until February 12, 2021, that Matanzas High School conducted a Speech and
Language Evaluation and a Psychological Evaluation.
28. The school psychological evaluation noted the parent’s report that “he has been observed
to have destructive and aggressive behaviors and acting without thinking... he has excessive
mood swings, temper tantrums, angers easily, and threatens others.”
29. It was not until March 3, 2021, that B.D. was found eligible for an IEP with the eligibilities
of Other Health Impaired (“OHI”) and Emotional Behavioral Disorder (“EBD”).
30. The BCaBA who oversaw B.D. at his behavior group home attended the IEP meeting and
shared that B.D. attempted to assault staff or students in 4 different incidences and needed
to be restrained by 2-1 adults against a wall or prone in all instances during the first month
of residence. Since then, he has been restrained from assaulting a student 1-2 times and
needed to be restrained by 3 adults and placed against a wall. He was also engaged in
property destruction when upset…unable to deescalate without restraint often involving
law enforcement. The team agreed B.D. needed a paraprofessional for safety and a
Functional Behavior Assessment (“FBA”) would be conducted.
31. There was further delay before B.D. was permitted to start school since the school was “not
ready” to implement the IEP until the very end of March 2021.
32. The FBA was finally completed on April 19, 2021. The only behavior addressed was task
refusal. No Behavior Plan was developed at that time. A behavior plan was not developed
until March of 2022.
33. It is unclear why Flagler did not place him in a more restrictive placement.
34. Once he was allowed to start school, he was almost immediately suspended out of school
for five days for making threats to other students and for harming a district employee. He
pushed an adult aid who fell down and was injured. The police were called.

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35. An IEP meeting was held on December 7, 2021. The team agreed that a new FBA would
be conducted due to this violent behavior. The team agreed to meet again in 60 days. But
before they could meet again, B.D. was again disciplined for harassing and intimidating
the school staff. He would use aggressive language and approach the staff in an aggressive
manner, putting his finger in their faces. His response, “This is not physical aggression. I
am not touching you.”
36. B.D. is smart, but he has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and has
communication deficits that were not properly addressed. His explosive nature was also
ignored and his need for social and pragmatic language interventions were not sufficiently
addressed. B.D. could have and should have received direct instruction on how to problem
solve and express himself in a manner that is appropriate and which followed social norms.
As a large black male student, he is subjected to misperceptions and racism. He needed to
be taught how his presence, even if there was no physical touch, could and would be seen
as scary and intimidating. He needed to be taught how to problem solve, communicate and
interact with people in positions of authority or with his peers.
37. A month later B.D. was again disciplined for spit at another student. He verbally threated
the other student saying that the student should die and that he should have shot the other
student. B.D. received a one day suspension.
38. All behavior is communication and B.D. often spit at people when he was mad or upset or
unregulated. He spit at the paraprofessionally on the day of the incident that resulted in the
paraprofessional being hurt and B.D. being removed from school forever and incarcerated
indefinitely at this time.
39. B.D. was never provided any direct instruction or effective supports and services to replace
the spitting with a socially appropriate means to express his frustration and anger. The
district is tasked with not only identifying problem behaviors but also with teaching the
student to replace those problem behaviors. In this case, the district failed to properly or
effectively address B.D.’s needs. Discipline was minimal and does nothing to address the
student’s needs. It is a temporary removal of the student but does nothing to educate the
student or address the student’s needs.
40. A month later, B.D. was again disciplined for leaving class without permission and grabbed
a female employee. When redirected by the staff, B.D. ignored all directives. B.D. learned

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 that he could basically do whatever he wanted in the school setting. The district failed to
provide the direct instruction, supports and services to teach B.D. how to not only function
in the school setting but how to regulate his emotions, communicate his wants and needs
and be an independent productive member of his community.
41. Just the next day, B.D. was again disciplined for yelling at his teacher and again leaving
the classroom. His refusal to follow the school rules continued to escalate with little to no
intervention from the school district.
42. A few days later, B.D. again refused to stay with his class, his paraprofessional, and the
school administrators. When confronted, B.D. just laughed and ran away. He said, “don’t
tell me that, I hate it”. The school did not seem to have any control over B.D. and B.D. was
allowed to do whatever he wanted with little to no intervention or consequences.
43. The district had the responsibility to intervene. If the plans in place were not working, they
needed to be reviewed and revised. If the placement was not appropriate, the district had
an obligation to change it. If the supports and services were not sufficient, the district had
an obligation to increase or change them. To allow B.D. to continue to escalate only lead
to the incident where the paraprofessional was harmed and B.D. was arrested. Had these
issues been addressed in real time, B.D. would not have harmed the paraprofessional and
would not have been arrested and facing significant time incarcerated.
44. The next school year, 2022-2023, began with more of the same. Just a few days into the
school year, B.D was disciplined for verbally and aggressively interacting with the
paraprofessional. He threated to punch her in the face and he spit at her. Another student
stepped in between B.D. and the paraprofessional. It should be noted that this
paraprofessional was the same one he eventually did harm. B.D. showed no changes in
behavior. He was aggressive both inside and outside the classroom. He would not follow
his teachers, paraprofessionals or school administrators’ instruction or directives. He was
suspended out of school for one day but no significant changes were made to his IEP or
behavior plan, his placement was not addressed and his supports and services were not
reviewed or revised. There was no increase in supports and services.
45. This continued into September 2022. He would run away, ignore directives, spit at adults
and peers, and physically charge at people. He did receive a few days of suspension but
discipline alone does not work to change problem behaviors. Discipline removes a student

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 temporarily but does nothing to address the problem behaviors and provides no instruction
on how to express oneself, regulate oneself or follow the classroom and school rules. The
district’s failure to properly intervene is the reason the paraprofessional was injured and
the student was arrested. The trajectory is clear. Had the district intervened at any of these
points, would have prevented the eventuality of what occurred.
46. It is almost a predictable outcome when the student is allowed to continue to escalate
without meaningful intervention.
47. October 2022 saw a few more incidents and they continued into December 2022, when
B.D. was caught on camera physically pushing another student. He was again suspended
for one day but nothing else was done to address his needs.
48. This led to the incident on February 21, 2023. This incident started with a paraprofessional
and the student exchanging words and the student being reprimanded in front of his peers.
He was punished by being denied his electronic device, even though other students were
allowed theirs. The paraprofessional and the teacher began discussing his ability to bring
electronics to school, in front of him and in front of his classmates. Brendan attempted to
defend himself. The teacher and the paraprofessional ignored him and continued to talk
about him in front of him and his classmates. The paraprofessional threatened to take his
electronic device and Brendan got even more upset. The matter continued to escalate.
Brendan eventually spit on the paraprofessional. The paraprofessional got mad and accused
him of assaulting her and stormed out of the classroom presumably to report him for
assault. The video shows the paraprofessional leaving the classroom and this student
following her out.
49. The paraprofessional should not have interacted with the student in this manner. Her and
the teachers actions caused a predictable outcome. While her anger at B.D. for being spit
on is understandable, her response is not an evidence based intervention to address the
spitting or defiance by B.D. The IEP and behavior set out the evidence interventions that
should be utilized when a student misbehaves. The paraprofessional did not follow the
plans and did not utilize an evidence based strategy putting herself in a dangerous situation.
An avoidable situation.
50. It should be noted that the school and staff working with him and the district knew that the
electronics, specifically the Nintendo and its use on a school campus was a trigger for

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 escalating behaviors. Its usage was sometimes allowed as a reward and in free time but
sometimes it was not allowed. There was no consistency, and it would be confusing for
any student, but especially B.D. It was a source of great problems and problem behaviors.
This was never addressed in the student’s behavior plan and the private BCaBA’s
documentation, concerns and warnings appear to have been completed disregarded by the
district and staff working with B.D.
51. Had the student’s needs been properly addressed and had the staff around him been
properly trained, this incident would not have occurred.
52. B.D. was a ticking time bomb. The district’s failure to address his needs or have staff
around him with the proper training resulted in the incident were the paraprofessional was
hurt and B.D. was eventually arrested.
53. The district’s failure to address the whole child, failure to address the student’s needs and
failure to provide staff with the proper training is a denial of FAPE.
The Petitioner has engaged Cammarata & Cammarata P.L. and Langer Law, P.A. to assist
in having B.D.’s legal rights enforced and are obligated to pay a reasonable fee for their services.
Evidence supporting these allegations includes a review of the available records and interviews
with his family. We reserve the right to supplement our hearing request upon receipt of student
records from the school(s) and district and any new information revealed through this process or
otherwise.

The student seeks to address the available remedies under:

a. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as amended, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et
seq. (“IDEA”);
b. Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act, (“ADA”) 42 U.S.C. § 12132,
c. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794 (“section 504”);
d. Section 1983
e. Fla. Stat. § 413.08, through the Florida Civil Rights Act (“FCRA”);
f. § 760.07, Fla. Stat., and their implementing federal and state regulations;
g. 34 C.F.R. § 300.001 et seq.;
h. 45 C.F.R. §§ 84.31-37;
i. §1001.215, Fla. Stat;
j. §1002.20 et seq., Fla. Stat;
k. §1002.22 (3)(a)(4) Fla. Stat;
l. §1003.02 (1)(d), Fla. Stat;
m. §1003.55, Fla. Stat;
n. §1003.57, Fla. Stat. (2005);

8
 o. §1006.28(3)(a), Fla. Stat;
p. §1006.40(2), Fla. Stat;
q. §108.22(3)(c)(6) & (8), Fla. Stat
r. §1008.25, Fla. Stat;
s. §1011.62, Fla. Stat; and
t. Fla. Admin. Code R. 6A – 6 et seq.

Finally, the student has protections under a number of statutes in regard to payment of
prevailing party attorney fees, including the IDEA, Section 504, Section 505, Civil Rights
Attorney’s Fee Award Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C § 1988, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 28 U.S.C. § 1927, 29
U.S.C. § 794a (b) and the Civil Rights Act of 1871, which is a federal statute in force in the United
States. Several of its provisions still exist today as codified statutes, but the most important still-
existing provision is 42 U.S.C § 1983.

We reserve the right to raise additional deficiencies as records are made available to
us and additional issues arise or are identified in these proceedings.

PROPOSED RESOLUTION TO THE EXTENT KNOWN

In resolution of the complaint, Petitioner seeks a determination that the actions and
omissions of the Flagler County Public Schools constitute procedural and substantive violations
of the IDEA resulting in denial of FAPE and resulting in significant harm to B.D. Petitioner asks
that he be declared the prevailing party in this proceeding. The Petitioner is further seeking
compensatory education for academic, communication, independent functioning and social
emotional supports and services, placement in a behavioral therapeutic school with wrap around
services designed for students with severe behavior disorders paid for by the district,
reimbursement for any out of pocket expenses included but not limited to tutoring expenses and
mental health supports and services; reimbursement of costs, including fees, and any other relief
this court deems just and equitable. The petitioner further reserves the right to seek such other or
additional relief as the Hearing Officer may deem just and proper. Petitioner further reserves the
right to seek leave to amend the Complaint pending full disclosure by the school district of school
records.

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 Should the District be unwilling to accept the proposed resolutions cited above, B.D.
demands a due process hearing to be completed by an Administrative Law Judge of the Division
of Administrative Hearings. This case should be styled:

“B.D., v. Flagler County School Board”

DUE PROCESS HEARING CONSIDERATIONS

Petitioner estimates that four (4) days will be required for such a hearing.
Petitioner elects to open the hearing to the public; sequester witnesses, and reserve the right
to have B.D. present at the hearing. Petitioner invokes his right to have the hearing “conducted at
a time and place that is reasonably convenient to the parents and the child involved.” 34 C.F.R.§
300.515(d).
The Petitioner hereby requests a copy of the transcript of the hearing as provided under
State and federal law.

Mediation
Prior to initiating the above due process hearing, I understand that I have a right to participate in
the mediation in an attempt to resolve my dispute with the district. Mediation is voluntary on the
part of both parties, not used to deny or delay a parent’s right to a due process hearing, conducted
by a qualified and impartial mediator who is trained in effective mediation techniques, and at no
cost to the parents.

X I would like to participate in mediation in order to resolve this dispute, but only on the
condition that such mediation not in any way delay eithis the filing or the hearing of this complaint.

REVOCATION OF CONSENT
Please be advised that to the extent that the Flagler County Public Schools and its agents
have previously received consent from the family to evaluate the student or disseminate or obtain
confidential information regarding B.D., other than materials released to his legal counsels or
parent, that consent is hereby revoked.

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CONTACT INFORMATION
The student requests that all communication in this matter proceed through legal counsel,
whose contact information is listed below:

Stephanie Langer, Esq. Maria Cammarata, Esq.

Langer Law. P.A. Cammarata & Cammarata, P.L.
15715 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 205 2598 E. Sunrise Blvd. #2104
Miami, Florida 33157 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
305-570-0940 (telephone) 954-802-8423 (telephone)
305-204-9602 (fax) [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Thank you for your prompt attention to this complaint.

Very truly yours,

/s Stephanie Langer
Stephanie Langer, Esq.
Fla. Bar. 149720

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

WE HEREBY CERTIFY that on this 24th day of April, 2024, we filed the foregoing document
with the Florida Department of Education and the Flagler County School Board Attorney.
Date of Request: 04/24/2024 District: Flagler County

Student’s Name: Brendan Depa Date of Birth:

Student’s Id #: 1821001452 School: Matanzas High School

Parent’s Name:

Exceptionality: OHI, EBD

Address of Parent:

Home Phone Number:

Name of Person Completing the Form:

Stephanie Langer, Esq. Maria Cammarata, Esq.

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Langer Law. P.A. Cammarata & Cammarata, P.L.
15715 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 205 2598 E. Sunrise Blvd. #2104
Miami, Florida 33157 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
305-570-0940 (telephone) 954-802-8423 (telephone)
305-204-9602 (fax) [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

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