Beth B. v. Van Clay

Beth B. (plaintiff), a nonverbal student with severe physical and cognitive disabilities who used an eye-gaze device to communicate, had spent seven years in a regular classroom with a one-on-one aide but was making almost no academic or developmental progress. Her school district (defendant) recommended moving her to an educational life-skills (ELS) program, which still included regular-classroom time for subjects like art, music, and computer class, and regular interaction with nondisabled students at recess, lunch, and assemblies, while offering a one-to-one teacher ratio for her core instruction. Beth's parents objected and invoked the IDEA's stay-put provision to keep her in the regular classroom during their appeal; a hearing officer and then the district court both upheld the district's proposed placement, and the parents appealed further.

Whether the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires a school to educate a child with disabilities alongside nondisabled peers to the greatest extent appropriate.