Special Education Law Developments Every Board Member Should Know Karen Haase Steve Williams Harding & Shultz (402)

Why talk about SpEd?

Special Education: The Statutes

?Rehabilitation Act (“section 504”) ?Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) ?Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

So how does this work in your district?

?Struggling students referred to SAT Interventions planned and tried Response to Intervention (RTI) ?If kid not successful Team refers for eval. IEP or 504 Plan ?IEP Heavily regulated Binding legal document

Legal Requirements of IEP ?Must follow statutory and regulatory process for meetings ?Free, Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) ?Must be designed to provide “some education benefit” ?In the least restrictive environment

Staff Failure to Read/Follow IEP ?IEP is staff’s “safe harbor” ?District liable for failure to follow: -Due Process -OCR Complaint -Rule 51 Complaint ?Personal Liability -Legally complicated -PPC claim

Grades & SpEd Students

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act “No qualified handicapped person shall, on the basis of handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity which receives benefits from federal financial assistance”

OCR’s Interpretation of Section 504 ?Office of Civil Rights -Charged with 504 enforcement -Interprets “benefits” as class rank, academic honors and awards ?Broader than IDEA -IDEA and non-IDEA students -Similar to Americans with Disabilities Act

So What does this all mean? ?SpEd kid cannot be designated as such on transcript ?SpEd curriculum cannot be designated as such on transcript ?Grades reflect student’s mastery of material (not comparative) ?Problems with class rank and graduation awards

FERPA

?Prevents release of “personally identifiable information ?New regulations take expansive view of this definition ?Prevents staff from giving boards much information

Special Education and Student Discipline

?Before “changing placement for more than 10 days” ?Manifestation Determination ?Then Stud. Disc. Act. ?Still gets sped services ?Guns, drugs, serious personal injury – 45 day max.

Enforcement of SpEd Laws

?Rule 51 Complaints NDE is fair and reasonable Self-correction can preempt state remedial action ?Complaints to the Office of Civil Rights ?Due Process Proceeding under Rule 55 ?Federal court litigation

No big money litigation Birmingham v. Omaha School Dist., 220 F.3d 850, 856 (8th Cir. 2000) (general and punitive damages not available under the IDEA) Money changes hands only if: –Private school reimbursement –Attorney’s fees BUT SEE M.P. v. Indep. Sch. Dist. No. 721, 439 F.3d 865 (8 th Cir. 2006)

You’re not mushrooms anymore….

Special Education Law Developments Every Board Member Should Know Karen Haase Steve Williams Harding & Shultz (402)