In April of 2011, a hearing officer issued decisions in due process hearings for PV and MM, two of the named plaintiffs in PV v. SDP. Parents of the two Richmond Elementary third-graders opposed the district’s automatic transfers and requested due process hearings to stop them. They also argued that the school has failed to provide necessary supports and services, and that there was no real plan for including or meaningfully educating MM or PV.

In addition to finding that the school failed to implement the students’ IEPs, kept them segregated from their non-disabled peers, and were kept in an over-enrolled classroom, the hearing officer found that the district’s automatic transfer policy had violated the parents’ rights by not sending the parents proper notice. The District was ordered to issue notice whenever proposing building reassignment for the students; to provide each student with an independent evaluation; to hold new IEP meetings where the parents could participate fully; and to provide the students with compensatory education services.