A federal circuit court rejected a request Wednesday from a Hamilton County Schools attorney to clarify a recent decision it made in the case of Luka Hyde.
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, ruled in August that Hamilton County Schools violated a federal guideline that protects students with disabilities when it sent then-second-grader Hyde to a Red Bank Elementary program in 2013 where he would spend half his days separated from general education students. Hyde has Down syndrome.
The appeals court sent the case back to Chattanooga U.S. District Court and said attorneys need to have a hearing to determine how much Hyde's family should be recompensated. According to a recent court affidavit, the family moved Hyde to the Montessori School outside the district and spent about $108,000 paying for a tutor and his private education.
Shortly after the decision, though, Hamilton County Schools lawyer Scott Bennett asked the appeals court to reconsider its decision, saying he wanted clarity on whether teachers are committing legal discrimination if they believed they were acting in the child's best interests.
Hamilton County Schools spokesman Tim Hensley said there have been no discussions about appealing it further to the U.S. Supreme Court.