Office of Civil Rights Receives Record Number of Special Education Complaints

The United States Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Education enforces civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, sex, disability and age.  A new OCR report for the period 2009-2010 states that from 2009 to 2011, the agency received more complaints about disability issues than in any previous three-year period.  Of the nearly 11,700 complaints concerning disability issues, almost 4,700 involved the rights of children to receive a free and appropriate public education (FAPE).  The remaining 7,000 disability-related complaints concerned issues including school district violations of Child Find, denial of access to academic programs and extracurricular activities, access to assistive technology, denial of academic adjustments, and harassment and bullying.

The data used in the report covered 85% of U.S. public schools.  The data for 2011-2013 will include every public school in the nation.  Matters described in the OCR report include:

·         A school district that required parents to get medical documentation, at their own expense, supporting the existence of disabilities for their children. The district also required parents to show that their children were being discriminated against before it would conduct an evaluation for disabilities.

·         A charter school that failed to properly evaluate whether a 6th grade transfer student with a severe, potentially life-threatening peanut allergy to determine if she had a disability.

·         A school district that had not fully implemented an IEP for a child with a mood disorder.

·        Investigation of whether children who ride school buses specifically for children with disabilities receive less instructional time than children who do not have disabilities.

·         Data collected showing that students with disabilities are twice as likely to be suspended out of school in comparison to their peers without disabilities.

·         Cases involving the bullying and harassment of students with disabilities.

·         School denial of access to academic programs and extracurricular activities to students with disabilities.

The entire report is available at:  http://www2.ed.gov/documents/news/section-504.pdf

How to Register Your Objection to an Inappropriate IEP

I wish I had thought of this great tip myself.  But since I didn't, I want to give credit to and heartily thank Pete and Pam Wright, adjunct professors of law at the William and Mary Law School, and their excellent Wrightslaw website, http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/strategy.disagree.htm#rules for the following tip on how a parent may register his or her objection to the IEP Team's decision to implement what s/he believes is an inappropriate IEP.  Although in Iowa and some other states, parents are not asked to sign the IEP, when provided with a copy of the finalized IEP that will be implemented, a parent may still take the following action:

"When the team asks you to sign consent to the IEP, pick up a ball point pen and put the IEP on a hard table top. Write this statement on the IEP:

I consent to this IEP being implemented but I object to it for the reasons stated during the meeting.
(Sign Your Name)

Do not be surprised if someone gets upset and claims that you are not allowed to write on the IEP because it is a legal document. This is not true - you can write on your child's IEP (although the person who objects may not know this). You are a member of the team and a participant in the IEP process. The law requires you to make your objections clear. The IEP is the best document to use when you need to make your objections clear.

If someone tries to stop you, continue to write. If someone tries to pull the IEP out of your hands, press down hard with your ballpoint pen and continue to write. If someone yanks the document away from you, continue to write as the IEP tears.

Stay calm. Take your copy of the IEP (whatever is left), stand, say 'Thank you. I guess this meeting is over.' Extend your hand to shake theirs. Pick up your tape recorder and leave.

The IEP team has a problem. You have advised them in writing that their proposed program is not appropriate for your child. You also consented to their implementing the program so they should implement it."

Special Education Time Frames Part 2

This is the second article about time frames under special education law.  While some federal and state special education regulations describe the timeframes in which a school district and area education agency must take certain actions.  While some of these regulations state a specific number of days, others indicate that actions should be taken in an unspecified but timely way.  In this post, I will begin setting out some of the time frames that apply to specific actions under the special education regulations contained in the Iowa Administrative Code.

Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE)                      See 281—41.502

An IEE is an evaluation conducted by a qualified examiner not employed by the AEA. After a school district/AEA have performed an evaluation, if the parents of a child with a disability disagree with the outcome of that evaluation, they have the right to obtain an independent educational evaluation (IEE) of the child at public expense, subject to the conditions set out in the Iowa Administrative Code. 

If a parent requests an IEE at public expense, the AEA must, without unnecessary delay, either:

(1) File a due process complaint to request a hearing to show that its evaluation is appropriate; or

(2) Ensure that an independent educational evaluation is provided at public expense, unless the AEA demonstrates in a hearing pursuant to these rules that the evaluation obtained by the parent did not meet agency criteria.

The school district and AEA may not unreasonably delay either providing the IEE at public expense or by delaying before filing a due process complaint to request a due process hearing to defend the public evaluation.

Determination of Eligibility for Special Education and/or Related Services  See 281– 41.306

Upon completion of the evaluation, a group of qualified professionals and the child’s parent shall determine whether the child is a child with a disability, as defined in accordance with subrule 41.306(3) and the educational needs of the child; and the school district/AEA shall provide a copy of the evaluation report and the documentation of determination of eligibility at no cost to the parent.

Initial Provision of Services          See 281--41.323(3)      See 281—41.103(3)

Within 30 days of the date the evaluation team determines that a child needs special education and related services, the school district and AEA must hold a meeting of the IEP team to develop an IEP for the child, and begin services.

There shall be no delay in implementing an eligible individual’s IEP, including any case in which the payment source for providing or paying for special education and related services to the child is being determined.