Carolyn Rowlett

I think the first question to ask is if the 504 is being implemented correctly. If so and she is still struggling, that means she needs more. You might request an FBA (Functional Behavioral Assessment) in order to determine the underlying causes of the school refusal and the supports that are needed to correct the situation. If the FBA shows that addressing the underlying causes requires more than supports (specialized instruction), then advocate for an IEP again and a BIP (Behavioral Intervention Plan). What areas did they evaluate her in? If the reason for the IEP denial was "she's too smart," did they only do an academic assessment? They should also have done social/emotional/behavioral assessments. Another option you have if you disagree with the school's evaluation or feel it was insufficient is to request an IEE (Independent Educational Evaluation) at no cost to you. Keep a log of what is going on with your daughter - dates you struggle to get her to go to school and how long it takes, struggles at school she tells you about, etc. Use the log to show impact. Also speak with the general education teacher about incidents and ask if her grades are dropping.

My guess would be that the refusal was based on safety protocols, so yes. I would ask for the policy in writing just to make sure it wasn't a way to keep him out of the meeting. (It's unclear from your facts if it was the front desk or someone else, but I would assume it was the front desk and they were just following protocol and it had nothing to do with preventing him from joining the meeting.) Also, parents in this day and age should know an ID is required before entering a school building.

Following the Virginia code and IDEA is not optional for school districts. I have not read the Virginia code, but you are correct that removing a child from a general education classroom with accommodations into a special education classroom does not appear, from these facts, to be the least restrictive environment. This is what we have been fighting for for decades - children with physical (and other) limitations should be educated alongside their peers to the extent possible EVEN IF accommodations are required. This is possible in your scenario. Sounds like the school just doesn't want to provide the 1:1 aide. Sometimes state departments of education have a continuum graph that shows least restrictive to most restrictive. Wherever your child falls on the continuum and can still access the educational curriculum (with accommodations) is where she should be. See if you can get a copy of that. Or even call the state and get an opinion. Also, take the definitions from the Virginia code and IDEA with you to the next meeting or copy and paste into an email. This school needs to be "schooled."

I'll try to answer your questions/issues in order. First, you are absolutely entitled to a copy of the incident report with the other student's name redacted. You are entitled to all educational records of your child under FERPA. So ask for this again. As far as a manifestation meeting not being held, this is not required until there have been 10 school days in which he has been removed from his placement (so an in-school suspension, out of school suspension, expulsion, or sometimes even having to stay in the principal's office all day). If there have not been 10 days, your question then becomes can they change his placement without an IEP meeting (as opposed to changing it without manifestation hearing). And the answer is no. An IEP meeting must be held and a PWN (Prior Written Notice) must be given to you after the meeting regarding the decision. In order to change his placement, there needs to be data that this is necessary. If this is the only incident this school year, they probably don't have sufficient data to change his placement. Ask for documentation of past incidents in other school years prior to the meeting just in case they use that. You will also definitely need to get the documentation of the incident before the meeting, but you also need to obtain a copy of the school's code of student conduct and ask which provision was violated. Then look to see what the consequences are for this violation. It is doubtful that a regular education student would be removed from the classroom after one such incident, so it would be discrimination to remove your student. They must follow the code of conduct regarding discipline until the 10 days of removal from placement kicks in. If there have been 10 school days of removal, the manifestation hearing must be held within 10 school days. Required participants are the LEA, parent, and "relevant" members of the IEP team (this being determined by the parent and LEA, so you could invite your child). Two questions are asked: 1) Was the behavior a manifestation of the disability or 2) was it a direct result of the LEA not implementing the IEP? So you absolutely need to know the facts surrounding the incident. If the answer to number 1 is yes, the IEP and/or BIP needs to be revised to put supports in place to avoid future incidents. If no FBA and resulting BIP have been done, it may be time for those. If the answer to number 2 is yes, steps need to be taken by the school district to ensure that the IEP is followed in the future. With respect to the IEP document, you definitely need to have that revised to include the additional diagnoses - not as a comment, but in the Present Levels under "diagnoses." If you want him to be found eligible under those categories, you would need to ask for an evaluation in those areas. It might be worth it if you wanted his eligibility category to be Autism rather than ED. But the IEP team would need to find (after an evaluation) that Autism is the primary cause of his behavioral issues and thus the primary eligibility category.

Just keep in mind that in order to change placement they have to have the data to justify the decision. Sounds like they don't have that if he had a great year last year. If they bring up a change in placement, ask to see the data.

I have never encountered a Committee for Special Education (I assume that's what CSE stands for?). But I don't see how there is a conflict of interest problem. When doing the evaluation, she must abide by the standards of her school phycologist role. Are you thinking the committee will have ulterior motives in terms of placement or other things that would create a conflict of interest? Unfortunately, I don't think you can assume that right off the bat and will have wait until you have some type of proof that her dual role is biasing her evaluation.

So the parents want a guaranteed 1:1 - for what? An aid to assist in the classroom? 1:1 instruction in a certain subject? Was anything in place in pre-K? It sounds a little unreasonable to me for the parents to keep their child from attending school without a "guaranteed 1:1." Nothing can be guaranteed until data is gathered, and the school has a right to gather such data. And I would think if they're asking for a 1:1 aide, that classroom observations would be necessary, which cannot occur unless the child is in class. 1:1 is even hard to get WITH data. School districts usually want to start out with something less restrictive (1:3) to see if that will work before agreeing to a 1:1 aide. As I said, I don't know all the facts, but I don't see the parents on the winning side of this issue.

First, I am very, very sorry for what you are going through. I wish the best for your son. Second, I get the feeling that there is "disconnect" between the school and the parents. They started putting restrictions in place without your knowledge and tried to get medical information improperly, and you "called them out" for their acts (totally get it!). I'm wondering if an in-person meeting with the people who are making these decisions would help. I would email the principal and ask for one. You could explain what your hopes are for your son in the school setting, ask what information they need from you and his medical team, ask what their concerns are, and insist on better (and direct) communication. I understand your concerns with a 504 Plan, but it sounds like as of now he would not qualify for an IEP. You do not have to consent to an evaluation for a 504, but I'm not sure you will be able to avoid this in the future. Even though parents are not required members of a 504 team, it is the rare school district that does not include parents in such decisions. They also have to consider the opinions of his medical team which sees him on a regular basis. They cannot just put him in a wheelchair unless the evaluations show a need. Every restriction they place on him must be backed up with data. Bottom line, as I'm sure you are aware - by law, your son is entitled to the least restrictive environment that allows him access to the educational setting. This is NOT about what is convenient for the school. I would start out "nice" because that really is the best path for getting your son what he deserves and needs. But know your rights.

I don't think not having an IEP in place when the school is doing all it can is ever a reason to not attend school. Of course, I don't know all the facts. What is it the parents want in place before their child goes to school? Is there a fear of elopement or some other safety issue? If so, that would be a valid reason, but have they asked the school to put something in place informally until the IEP can be put in place? Would a 504 (that process is usually faster) work until the IEP could be put in place? If there is a valid reason, have the parents asked for ways to instruct the child at home until they feel comfortable enough to send him/her?

I'm a little confused because you state you have an "upcoming" Initial Evaluation for Eligibility, yet you can't tell what the present levels are. So has the evaluation been conducted already and the meeting to go over the results is what is "upcoming?" But having said that, you absolutely can and MUST ask for the present levels. That's the whole point of the evaluation and if you don't understand it, the school has a legal obligation to explain it to you. You should also ask for the eligibility criteria in your state (or just go to your state department of education's website to get) for each potential disability. It might be called something like "Standards and Indicators." Because you are correct - they have to know the present levels in order to determine eligibility. They have to compare them to the criteria for finding a student eligible under all applicable disability categories. As far as examples of present levels, I'll give some based on my areas of "expertise" only (specific learning disabilities). It very much depends on the assessment that is given. Besides the below, all assessments will give a percentile and a score in order to compare with peers. Spelling - A Spelling Inventory Test could determines where a student is in terms of spelling by assessing knowledge of initial consonants, final consonants, digraphs, blends, short and long vowel sounds, etc., and even assign a grade level equivalent. So for example, the present level would be the student knows his/her initial and final consonants, but if not proficient beyond that. Reading Comprehension - The present level would state the grade level passage that was used along with the correct number of answers given to comprehension questions, which might be 4 out of 5, 8 out of 10, etc. Written Expression - The present levels would indicate if student is using appropriate capitalization, punctuation, grammar, etc. It might state this in terms of percentages; i.e., received 1 out of 3 possible points for capitalization, etc., or it might be a composite score of everything. It might also look at syntax to see if the student is creating well-formed sentences. Vocabulary - The present level could be what grade level the student is with respect to vocabulary knowledge. Phonemic Awareness - The present levels would indicate the student's proficiency in multiple areas of phonemic awareness, such as rhyming, segmenting words and syllables. A grade level might be assigned in addition to the percentile and scores based on how many answers they got correct in each area (ex: 4 out of 10 rhyming correct). Basic Reading Skills - The present level would be based on how many words on a word list the student was able to decode correctly, how many sight words they have mastered at a specific grade level, and word accuracy on sentences and passages. The present level should be expressed with both the grade level of the words, sentences, and passages, as well as the accuracy percentage (70%, 80%, 95%, etc.) Decoding - The present level would be based on accuracy on decodable words on a certain grade level passage, sentence, or word list and stated as a percentage.

You ask for an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) for the reasons set forth in this post. This would be at no cost to you, and school district either has to agreed to one or take you to due process to show why they shouldn't provide an IEE (so 99% of the time the request is granted).

Sorry. Did not mean to submit yet. Common practice is to include the following: - Name, address, phone, DOB, age, grade, student ID #, home district, primary language, and parent name and contact info for student. - Date of previous IEP review, date of most recent evaluation, projected date for triennial evaluation initiation date of IEP, projected date of annual IEP review, date of IEP meeting. - Primary disability. - Services, amount/frequency/location, begin and end dates, and related services. - Minutes and/or percentage of time in and out of regular education. - Meeting participates, titles, role. But often state departments of education have their own forms. So you might check with yours to see what is suggested or required by your state.

I could find no requirements nor restrictions as to what should or should not be included on the "profile" page of an IEP. Common practice is to include the following: -name, address, phone, DOB, age, grade, student ID #, home district, primary language, and parent name and contact info for student. ate of previous IEP reviewdate of most recent evaluation, and projected date for triennial evaluation.

Others may disagree, but my feeling is that if something is no longer a parent concern, it can be removed. If it comes up again, it can always be added back in. The prior IEP's are your proof of informing the school of the parent concerns for that IEP year.

I don't see why not, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to ask the 504 team if this could be added as an accommodation. However, I don't know if the school will agree. When you say he was "tested," was he tested for academic achievement or just behavior? You might reach out and ask for additional testing - something else might be going on such as dyscalculia. Also, depending on how low his scores are in math, he might qualify for an IEP, which would give him specialized instruction in math - hopefully in a manner that works for him.

This is a hard one. If going up the chain of command in your school district (all the way to the school board and superintendent) doesn't work, I believe your only recourse at that point in filing an OCR complaint (but speak with your state department of education to see if they have any suggestions). But OCR complaints, even when you win, are not very helpful. Also, both of these tactics (going up the chain of command and filing a complaint) will likely make things even worse for your granddaughter in terms of retaliation. No, they're not supposed to retaliate and it's illegal to do so. But they're also supposed to implement a 504 Plan, and they're not. The law is pretty clear that you can't discriminate against a student due to their disability, but if you don't have a government agency that will back you up and keep retaliation from happening, they're not much good.

Wow. Just wow. This is totally unacceptable - as you know. Since you state "unsuccessful in implementing the 504 from last year," I'm assuming there is a 504 in place currently. If so, it has to be implemented. Period. There is nothing that says "the teacher has to get to know her." When schools say things like that, ask them where is says that and what they're basing that on. Your granddaughter has disabilities for which she was given 504 accommodations - getting to know the teacher is not a prerequisite for implementation. Now the teacher might have questions about the accommodations and how best to implement them with your child, which is fine. What state are you in? I've never heard of a state not allowing meetings with teachers. They can be present at a 504 meeting, I assume? Maybe you need to ask for a 504 meeting and invite the teacher so discussions can be had about implementation of the 504. I also don't understand when you say "there has to be failure and an intervention in a specific subject before any action will be taken." Because it sounds like action was taken, in that you have a 504 in place. The problem is implementation. If the school continues not to implement the 504, I would go up the chain of command - 504 coordinator, then that person's supervisor, etc. If you get no where, your daughter may have to file an OCR complaint for discrimination against a disabled child (not providing her with agreed upon accommodations). She might also call the state department of education to see if they can provide any suggestions or recourse.

You do not have to do anything with respect to a PWN, unless you do not receive one when it is required in your state. A parent concern letter would probably not warrant a PWN, but a request for an evaluation would require either a PWN denying the request or scheduling a Review of Existing Data (RED) meeting to determine if an evaluation is needed. If after the RED meeting an evaluation is denied, a PWN would be required. If approved, you would also receive one, along with an attached consent to evaluate form. The parent does not need to send the form or request one. But in some cases school districts fail to send PWN's when they should. In those instances, the parent should reach out and request one.

My first question would be "Are school A and school B in the same school district"? For now, I will assume different school districts. With respect to the first school district, some of what they did may or may not be ok. Was a meeting held to discuss removing from services? Did that meeting include a review of existing data and did that data support removing the child from services? Were all goals met? Did she receive a PWN regarding the removal of services and a reason? Depending on the answers to these questions, a state complaint might be warranted. After the meeting and/or removal of services, did someone reach out to the 504 coordinator to start the process for a 504 Plan (that team would be different from the IEP team)? Having to be on a 504 for a year before getting an IEP is DEFINITELY NOT A THING. Both can be pursued simultaneously. If school B hasn't started the process for a 504, she needs to contact the 504 coordinator and keep going up the chain of command. With respect to the IEP, yes, she should definitely email a request for an IEP evaluation citing reasons and data for thinking her child needs one. The school then agrees or denies. If denied, make sure she receives a PWN with reasons. Also, at that point she can ask for an IEE.

I personally don't have a lot of faith in OCR following through with anything to make sure that changes are made, even if they agree with your position. I think it would be much more effective to file a state complaint based on procedural violations of not holding an IEP meeting when requested by parent, not having a meeting (or even an email chain) to discuss removal of accommodations, etc. You can pursue both simultaneously.

If the BCBA observations do not prove helpful in coming up with the root causes, I would request an IEE before filing a state complaint or for due process. In a due process proceeding, the state probably won't "explain to school district" what an FBA is. Many administrative hearing officers that handle due process cases don't even know what one is.

Then the modifications are why he is receiving a lower grade - not the accommodations. Therefore, it is not a federal civil rights violation.

When you say director, so you mean director of special education? I would gather data from professionals that without the sibling, the child will need additional resources provided on the bus (so why not just let the sibling ride along?) and that that without the sibling there would be school avoidance, which would lead to not providing FAPE. And get it specifically written into the IEP as an accommodation.

Very good question. It would depend on whether the private school receives any type of federal funding, such as free/reduced lunch. That would make them subject to civil rights rules. But sometimes even with federal funding (such as with school vouchers), private schools are given much autonomy in their curriculum, grading, etc., and may be exempt from federal discrimination laws. Many states have also added language to their education savings account laws specifically stating that acceptance of such monies does not limit the school's autonomy. Remember, unless your private school is under contract with a public or charter school, you also give up your federal right to FAPE and least restrictive environment. Having said all that, this is a very murky area, and I didn't go down the entire rabbit hole.

Call your state department of education (special education department). A quick phone call could let you if you're being told the correct information (one school district does the evals and another does the IEP). If that is, in fact, the case in your state, I agree with JSD above that you need to do more follow up and loop in more people before filing a state complaint.