By CEDAR ATTANASIODecember 19, 2020 GMT
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) State education officials will have one less lawsuit to contend after a suit representing a disabled student demanding in-person education services was dismissed Friday.
The lawsuit had also represented plaintiffs in rural counties where COVID-19 rates were high and the chance of resuming in-person schooling under state rules is very low.
U.S. District Judge James Browning ordered the Public Education Department to intervene in the case of a 13-year-old girl with special needs in Hobbs in October but did not certify a class-action lawsuit.
ADVERTISEMENT
Browning closed the case Friday, writing that the parties had agreed to dismiss it. In separate court documents, it was stated that the girls’ educational services were addressed and that part of the case was moot. Lawyers representing her had argued that students with emotional learning challenges needed to be in classrooms with other students, not just online.