Your Rights! An overview of Special Education Laws Presented by: The Individual Needs Department

1.General Information 2.Confidentiality of Information 3.State Complaint Procedures 4.Due Process Complaint Procedures 5.Hearing on Due Process Complaint 6.Appeals 7.Procedures When Disciplining Children with Disabilities Rhode Island Special Education Procedural Safeguards

 Your school district must provide written notice to you within a reasonable time, 10 school days before:  Proposing/refusing to initiate or to change:  Identification, evaluate, placement, IEP meeitngs  Content of notice:  Action that school is proposing or refusing to take  Explain why  Describe tools and reports used to make the decision  All Information needs to be in the Native Language (Language normally used by that person) General Information

 Parental Consent: Must first provide prior written notice of the propose action.  Initial evaluation  provide special ed. and related services for the first time  Reevaluate  Make reasonable efforts to obtain consent  Detailed records of phone calls  Copies of correspondence sent home  Records of visits made to the home General Info. Cont.

 If the school does not receive written informed consent, “the school may seek to conduct an initial evaluation of your child by utilizing the RI Special Education mediation or due process complaint, resolution meeting, and impartial due process hearing procedures.” (RI Special Education Procedural Safeguards Notice, 6)  Revocation of Parental consent:  If you wish to revoke your consent (Evaluation, re-evaluations, provision of Special education/related services), you may do so in writing. The school may NOT use procedural safeguards to obtain agreement  Independent Educational Evaluations(IEE):  If you disagree with the evaluation that was obtained by your school district, you may request an IEE.  The district must provide you with information about where you may obtain and IEE. General Information Cont.

 Access Rights:  You have the right to inspect and review education records  Upon your request, the school must provide explanation of records, copies of the records, and allow your representative inspect and review records.  Amendments of Records at Parents Request:  You may request the school to change information on your child’s records if you believe that it is inaccurate, or misleading.  You must decide to change the information within a reasonable time.  If the school refuses to change the information it must inform you of the refusal and advise you of the right to a hearing.  “A hearing to challenge information in education records must be conducted according to the procedures for such hearings under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)” (RI Special Education Procedural Safeguards Notice, 13). Confidentiality of Information

 An organization or individual may file a signed written State complaint alleging a violation of any Part B requirement by a school district.  RIDE will…  carry out an on-site investigation  Provide the school with the opportunity to respond to the complaint  Review all relevant information  Provide written decision to the complainant, including findings and reason for final decision  The district must resolve any findings within 60 calendar days from the time they receive complaint State Complaint Procedures

Why?  Proposal or refusal to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of your child, or the provision of free appropriate public education (FAPE)to your child.  General:  You or the school must submit a due process complaint to the other party. The party filing the complaint must provide RIDE a copy of the complaint.  Content of complaint  See page 19 of Safeguards Notice  Amendments  Changes to complaint can be made if the other party approves of the changes in writing  By not later than five days before hearing begins, permission by hearing officer. Due Process Complaint Procedures

 Notice Required:  A due process hearing may not be held until a complaint is filed including all required information.  Sufficiency determined:  If the receiving party believes that the due process complaint does not meet the requirements listed under Content of Complaint, it must notify the other party within 15 calendar days. At that time the hearing officer must decide within 5 calendar days of receiving notification, whether the complaint meets the requirements. Due Process Cont.

 Within 15 calendar days of receiving notice a due process complaint, the school must convene a meeting with you and members of the IEP team.  Purpose: To discuss due process complaint, and the facts that form the basis of the complaint. (Both parties can agree to waive the resolution meeting, or may agree to use the mediation process)  If the school has not resolved the due process complaint within 30 days of receiving the complaint then a due process hearing may occur. (Exception to timeline: your failure to participate in resolution meeting, school can request a hearing officer to dismiss your complaint if it is able to present sufficient documentation of efforts to contact you)  If parties reach an agreement during the resolution meeting, you and the school must sign a legally binding agreement. (May be voided within three business day of time agreement was signed) Resolution Process

 Impartial Hearing Officer: Not an employee of RIDE or school district, may not have a conflict of interest, must be knowledgeable of IDEA, and Federal and State regulations.  Subject to Due process: Issues that were not addressed in the due process complaint may not be discussed at hearing unless the other party agrees to it.  Hearing Rights: you have the right to represent yourself, have an attorney, by accompanied by a knowledgeable trained individual, present evidence, witnesses, obtain written record of hearing and obtain written findings of facts and decision.  Parent Rights: have your child at hearing, open hearing to the public, receive record of hearing at no cost. Impartial Due Process Hearing

 Hearing Decisions:  Decision must be based on evidence and arguments that directly relate to FAPE.  You can file a separate request for a due process hearing on an issue separate from the one already filed  RIDE must, after removing personally identifiable information, provide findings and decision of the due process hearing to the state special education advisory panel, and make them available to the public. Impartial Due Process Hearing Cont.

 General:  Allows you and the school district to resolve disagreements involving any matter under Part B of IDEA.  Requirements  Voluntary for both parties  Not used to deny/delay your rights to due process hearing  Conducted by a qualified and impartial mediator  May meet with disinterested parties, such as parent information centers.  State is responsible for the cost of mediation Mediation

 Any decision made in a due process hearing is final unless any party involved wishes to appeal the decision by bringing a civil action to the State or district court of the US.  Must be done within 90-calendar-days from the time of the due process hearing final decision.  Child must remain is current educational placement until a final decision is made.  Attorney’s fee: the court may award reasonable attorney’s fee if you prevail. However, the court can also award reasonable attorney’s fee to the school, if it finds your court case to be frivolous/without foundation. Appeals

 Case-by-case determination  School may remove a child with disability from current placement as a result of incidents of misconduct.  School must provide services to the child if removed for more than 10 school days in a school year, if the behavior is not a manifestation of the child’s disability. Procedures when Disciplining Children with Disabilities

 Manifestation Determination meeting must be held within 10days of decision, the team must meet to determine if behavior was a direct result of the child’s disability.  If the behavior was a manifestation of the child’s disability, the school must conduct a functional behavior assessment, implement a behavior intervention plan for the child or review and modify plan if one is already in place. District must return the child to the placement from which your child was removed, except under special circumstances (carries a weapon, use of illegal drugs on school grounds, or inflicts serious bodily injury to others) or if you and the school have agreed on the change of placement as part of the behavior intervention plan. Disciplining Children with Disabilities Cont.

 Rhode Island Special Education Procedural Safeguard Notice.  Rhode Island Department of Education  Rhode Island Parent Information Network References