Legal Briefs from Matt Cohen

Can a paraprofessional service IEP minutes?

Dear Lavonne:

As a general matter, the duties of teachers versus paraprofessionals are spelled out in state law. However, under both NCLB and IDEA, instruction must be provided by highly qualified teachers that meet state standards for teachers. Paraprofessionals may assist the teacher and student under the supervision of the teacher, but should not provide ongoing direct instruction themselves, particularly without direct ongoing involvement by the teacher.

If the IEP specifies a certain number of instructional minutes by a teacher, those minutes should be provided by the teacher.

(November 2009)

If my son's school did not make adequate yearly progress, do I have a right to send him out of district to a school that will better meet his needs?

Dear Dawn:

Under NCLB, there are circumstances where students at a school that is consistently failing to make adequate yearly progress can request transfer to a school that is meeting state guidelines. However, the transfer to an adequately performing school would be based on the overall school failure and would allow transfer to an adequately performing school. It would not trigger an automatic right to transfer to the school with the program for children with Asperger's.

On the other hand, if your child is not making adequate progress on his IEP on a consistent basis, the school is obligated to provide your child with an appropriate education. If that can't be accomplished at the current school, they are obligated to provide a program that does, whether within the district, or, if not available in the district, potentially in another public or private school outside the district.

The right to placement in a special program under IDEA due to the child's inability to receive an appropriate education is not limited or governed by the transfer provisions of NCLB.

(November 2009)

What kind of "safety net" do parents have after their child has been terminated from special education?

Your question addresses parental concerns about the absence of a safety net when their child's special education eligibility is being terminated because the child has made adequate progress.

First, it is possible for a student that is making good progress and functioning at a level suggesting special education may no longer be needed to have an IEP that gradually reduces the level of service prior to formal termination. This can reduce the risk that the student goes from a needed level of support to no support and suffers regression or other problems as a result.

Another option for students in these situations is for the student to shift from an IEP to a 504 plan as an interim measure. This also allows for some greater degree of protection and/or attention as the student shifts from a higher level of special education service to regular services.

Finally, in many schools, a student should be able to receive a variety of study supports and other accommodations available to regular education students, even in the absence of formal special education eligibility or 504 status. In addition, if the student begins to experience serious problems after eligibility is terminated, the parents can request that the child be reevaluated for renewed special education or Section 504 eligibility.

(November 2009)

Are summer school teachers required to follow a student's IEP?

Dear Stephanie:

First, if a child is not making adequate progress and loses progress during breaks, he/she is entitled to receive extended school year services over the summer to address the disability. These services should be spelled out in the IEP and should be sufficient to allow the child to make progress.

Even if your daughter was in regular math class, if she has an IEP due to her math disability, it would be likely that she would be entitled to accommodations and other assistance to help her with the math in the regular summer school program.

Further, given that she has an IEP, you should question the adequacy of her math instruction during the regular school year, as the IEP should be designed so that she will make progress. If she is failing, that is an IEP issue, and the IEP team should determine why she is failing and what is needed in order to allow her to make adequate progress.

(November 2009)

The school district wants me to use a curriculum that has not been effective for my students with special needs. What can I do?

Dear Richard:

Your question addresses how to address the school administration's requirement that you teach students with disabilities using a curriculum or methodologies that have not been effective for them.

Under both No Child Left Behind, which applies to all students, and the IDEA, which applies specifically to students in special education, the schools are required to provide peer-reviewed, scientifically-validated instructional programs to the extent practicable. Equally important, under the IDEA, schools are required to provide specialized instruction, including adapting as necessary, the method, content, and mode of delivery of instruction to assure that the student's program is reasonably calculated to provide the student with a free appropriate education.

Assuming you have data on the ineffectiveness of the school's program (and the effectiveness of your methods), you could potentially file a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights for a violation of Section 504 (which also requires the provision of FAPE), you could file a complaint with the state education agency, or you could share information with the parents of your students to inform them about this information and their right to request a special education due process hearing.

You may also conceivably have a right to a grievance through your collective bargaining agreement, but that would depend on the language of the agreement. However, you may wish to get legal counsel before taking any steps that would lead to a dispute with the school administration.

(November 2009)

Should accommodations and modifications that affect grading be documented on report cards?

Dear Debbie:

When a school is providing accommodations or modifications that affect a student's grades, these accommodations should be noted in the student's IEP or Section 504 plan. As a general matter, however, school are not supposed to share information on a transcript or a diploma that has the effect of disclosing that the student has a disability or flagging him/her as a special education student, unless the educational program has been modified to such an extent that the student is not receiving a regular diploma.

(October 2009)

How can I get the school district to put my son in a more appropriate out-of-district placement?

Dear Audra:

The primary legal issue in any dispute over the adequacy of a special education placement, whether in the school district, in an adjacent public school district, or in a public school funded placement in a private special education school, is whether the placement is providing the student with a free appropriate public education (FAPE).

You have raised a variety of concerns indicating that your child is not receiving an appropriate education and that there is an appropriate education available in other schools. The school district is obligated to show that the program offered provides FAPE, including that the program is based on scientific peer-reviewed research to the extent practicable.

Unfortunately, because the legal standard for FAPE requires that the program be reasonably calculated to allow the student to make meaningful progress, but not the most progress, schools can often argue that they are providing FAPE, even if the program is much less effective than other options.

At the outset, you may want to ask the school for information that supports that the program they are providing is a research-based program. Beyond that, you may need to gather information that documents that your child is making little or no progress, particularly in comparison to what he may be able to accomplish, taking into account his disability.

It may also be helpful to obtain outside clinical evaluations of your student, particularly psycho-educational evaluations, to determine if your child is making appropriate progress and to evaluate whether the school's program is adequate to address your child’s needs.

As part of this evaluation, it would be important for the clinician to review school testing, IEPs, and progress reports and, if possible, to actually observe the student in the class.

(September 2009)

My son's IEP states he will not take math, science, or social studies. Is this permissible by law?

Dear Lorraine:

First, if you have questions or disagreements with the school about your child's disability label, level of functioning, or capability of learning, or the reasons that he may not be making appropriate progress, you may want to consider either requesting a reevaluation from the school district or seeking a private psycho-educational evaluation.

I am also concerned about any statement by a teacher that his/her students "never learn to read over a fourth grade level." Even children with severe disabilities are sometimes capable of learning beyond expectations.

If a student is not severely cognitively impaired, such statements or limitations are especially inappropriate and often establish self-fulfilling prophecies. Each student's educational program should be individualized based on his/her needs and capabilities. A one-size-fits-all rule is not consistent with the requirements of IDEA or Section 504.

In addition, students should not be excluded from academic subjects by rule or practice. This also must be individualized. In fact, students should be mainstreamed to the maximum extent appropriate, including the provision of supplemental aides and supports to the extent necessary to allow the child to be successful.

Unfortunately, in this difficult economic period, budget concerns are becoming a bigger factor in many schools' decisions about placement and services. Despite this, the IDEA still requires individualized programming in the least restrictive environment appropriate to the student, including use of supplementary help to facilitate participation in regular education.

(August 2009)

Is a parent entitled to a written transcript of an IEP meeting that was recorded?

Dear Julia:

As a general matter, you have a right to a copy of whatever means of record keeping was used at the IEP meeting. Your right to the tape is because it is a part of your child's school record, not because there is a special rule entitling you to a written transcript of the recording of the meeting.

However, you should consult your state's special education and privacy/taping laws and regulations to see if there are any state-specific rules in this regard.

(August 2009)

Can a school deny a student assistive technology because he/she is not failing?

Dear Pam:

Children are entitled to be evaluated for the use of assistive technology, such as the Kurzweil scan/read program, if it is suspected that they may benefit from the technology. If it is determined that the assistive technology is needed for them to benefit from their education, it should be provided as part of the IEP.

The need for assistive technology should be based on the needs of the individual student and certainly should not be based on a rule that the student must be failing. In fact, the 2006 IDEA regulations explicitly stated that the fact that the student is getting passing grades or progressing year to year does not, by itself, mean that the student is receiving a free appropriate education. In other words, total failure is not a permissible prerequisite for receiving particular special education or related services.

(August 2009)

Is a child due compensatory services if his general education teacher was given his 504 plan late in the school year?

Dear Kathleen:

Neither Section 504 plans nor IEPs are automatically retroactive. The 504 or IEP team can build in procedures that allow for some degree of retroactive activity to address a child's needs. However, if the school should have identified the child as being eligible for an IEP or Section 504 plan earlier, and failed to do so to the detriment of the child's performance or progress, the parents may argue that the child is entitled to some form of compensatory services to make up for the lost time.

(August 2009)

Can a school ask parents for a "co-pay" to help cover services listed on the IEP?

Dear James:

Your school district is apparently insisting that you utilize some form of public or private health benefits to subsidize the cost of a one-to-one aide, referenced in your son's IEP.

Schools may ask the parents if they are willing to utilize third party coverage to pay for covered therapies or other related services. However, under no circumstances can schools require parents to use third party coverage if there is any out-of-pocket expense to the family, including deductibles, co-pays, exhaustion of lifetime maximums, or triggering any exclusion or pre-existing condition problems.

Under the IDEA, the child is entitled to a free appropriate public education. This means that the education, including any services listed as needed in the IEP, must be provided at no cost to the family.

(July 2009)

Can a school district forbid parents from meeting with teachers to discuss an upcoming IEP meeting?

Dear Jan:

There are no federal rules (and generally no state-specific rules) governing or limiting the circumstances under which parents and teachers can discuss issues concerning a student. As a general matter, parents and teachers are and should be free to talk about any issue at any time if they mutually wish to participate in the conversation.

If either party does not want to participate in the conversation, that is their option, unless the conversation is part of the standard procedure for teacher/parent communication. For example, a teacher must participate in conversations with parents at parent/teacher conferences, if the school uses this procedure for sharing information at specific times during the year. A teacher may also choose to call or receive calls from parents to discuss any issue on an ad hoc basis.

In addition, under some circumstances, the IEP or Section 504 plan may specify that the staff generally or a particular staff person will share information with the parents under specified circumstances, such as a weekly call about homework completion, a plan to call whenever there is a behavioral incident, a monthly team meeting, or the like.

However, schools may adopt policies which set forth how or under what circumstances communication should take place, which may limit the timing or frequency of communications (unless otherwise specified in the IEP or 504 plan). That said, whatever policies the school chooses to adopt must be shared with all parents and implemented in a consistent and non-discriminatory or punitive way.

In other words, it is inappropriate for an individual staff member to unilaterally make a decision that parents' access to teachers should be limited or restricted, whether in anticipation of an upcoming IEP meeting or otherwise. As a practical matter, such communication should be encouraged, rather than discouraged, and can help to facilitate more efficient and productive IEP meetings.

(June 2009)

Can a student opt out of an accommodation that is listed on the IEP?

Dear Pam:

Your question addresses the meaning of the phrase "mandated accommodations." I am not sure of the specific circumstances in which the phrase is being used, but as a general matter, accommodations are mandated if they are listed in the child's IEP. They may be listed as applicable under all circumstances or the IEP may describe them as applying under some circumstances, but not others.

Generally, though, if there is a need for an accommodation, it should be provided consistently in the various settings where it would be relevant to the child's ability to function in relation to the specific task.

In addition, there are various ways that accommodations are sometimes qualified, through language such as "as needed," "at teacher discretion," "at student request," or the like. If the parents and team feel that the child needs the accommodation, it should be written in declarative language. If the accommodation is only needed from time to time, some language should be included to describe the circumstances and to ensure that it will be used when needed.

If a child opts out of using an accommodation, it may be because they don't need it (as evidenced by their succeeding without it). However, many kids may opt out of an accommodation because they are embarrassed, don't want to be viewed by their peers as different, or may have unrealistic awareness of the importance of the accommodation.

Under these circumstances, and depending on the child's age and level of understanding, this is an issue to be addressed in relation to their self-awareness and self-advocacy. Whether the accommodation should be "required" in the face of the student's objection would need to be determined based on the situation.

(June 2009)

Can I get my son's IEP removed at any time?

Dear Susan:

A student's school records, including their special education status, are protected from unauthorized disclosure without parental consent under several federal laws and most state laws. In the real world, these legal protections are not always completely effective, even where the school is trying to maintain confidentiality, as errors are made in record-keeping or disclosure of records that result in unauthorized disclosures.

Further, in some situations, it is operationally impossible to totally protect confidentiality. For example, if the student is participating in a special education program or receiving services from special education staff, other people (adults and students) may figure it out simply from observation.

With respect to your question of whether you may remove your child from special education at any time, the law recently changed in this regard. Prior to 2008, a parent could not remove a child from special education back into regular education without the school's agreement or an order from a hearing officer. However, in 2008, the U.S. Department of Education amended the federal special education regulations to provide that parents now have an absolute right to withdraw their child from special education at any time.

That said, if the parents make this choice, the school district is no longer obligated to provide the child special ed services and cannot later be held legally responsible by the parents for the school's failure to provide an appropriate special education program.

(May 2009)

How can I challenge statewide tests that I feel are in violation of my students' IEPs?

Many people are concerned about the negative and discriminatory impact of high-stakes tests on children with disabilities. Litigation has been spreading on this issue throughout the country. You are to be commended for your interest and commitment to your students.

You may want to contact your union, though they may not be interested in getting involved in this issue. There are several not-for-profit legal advocacy groups that are working on this issue. They include the Center for Law and Education, in Washington, D.C., the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund in Berkeley, California, and other groups.

You may also find information on this issue on the website of the National Disability Resource Network.

(May 2009)

What should we do if we disagree with the school's interpretation of the IEP accommodations?

Dear Linda,

Your question relates to concerns about ambiguities in the IEP that are resulting in conflicts over appropriate accommodations. Unfortunately, because the IEP is based on what is written and how those words are interpreted, there often are disagreements as to what the provisions of the IEP mean.

These disagreements are unavoidable, but can be reduced by careful attention to the wording of the IEP. As much as possible, it is useful to spell out the detail of what the various accommodations mean - how will study guides be provided, by whom, and when. If an accommodation is specified as "as needed," how is that decision made and by whom? Under what circumstances will a student be given extra time for homework or tests or be allowed to use a quiet room? What are the criteria for deciding if a student needs reduced quantity of work and who will modify the work? When may a student use a word processor or tape recorder instead of writing things by hand? If books on tape are needed, who will order them and when will they be available (before the material is being addressed in class)?

There are an infinite number of variations, but the more that ambiguity is removed, the more accountability there will be and the less chance there will be for conflicting interpretations. However, sometimes there is a risk that micromanagement of the language of the IEP will itself produce conflict and disagreement, so it is important to pick your battles.

In addition, if there is dispute over the meaning and implementation of an accommodation, you always have the right to ask that the IEP be modified to reflect your interpretation and/or that an IEP meeting be held to discuss the problem. The school is not obligated to accept your position, but this at least creates a means to put the problem on the table and try to resolve it.

If it can't be resolved, you retain the right to seek a due process hearing to prove that the accommodation, carried out in the way you feel is needed, is necessary for your child to receive an appropriate education. You will need to be able to prove why this is needed and should consult with a knowledgeable special education attorney or advocate before taking this step. However, sometimes, schools will reconsider their position in mediation or a resolution session in order to avoid having to go through a due process proceeding.

(May 2009)

Can the Board of Education overturn an IEP?

Dear Liz,

If the school district does not follow the IEP that has been agreed upon, it is in violation of the IDEA. Among other things, the decisions about your child’s education are supposed to be made by the IEP team, with your involvement. A decision by others outside of the IEP meeting would be inconsistent with this requirement. You could file a complaint with the state department of education, a complaint with OCR, or request a special education due process hearing. You should consult a knowledgeable special education lawyer about the specific issues in your case.

(February 2009)

What should a parent do if their child is socially promoted to a grade beyond their abilities?

Dear Michelle,

Your question doesn’t mention whether your child has been evaluated to determine whether she is eligible for special education. Rather than holding her back, you might want to request that she be evaluated to determine why she is having difficulties and to identify what extra help she might need in order to make more progress. If she is already in special education, you should investigate whether the IEP is appropriate, whether she is getting sufficient services and the right kinds of services and whether it is even being implemented as written.

You might seek either an updated school evaluation or obtain a private psychological evaluation to try to determine why she is having academic difficulties. The decision as to whether a student should be retained is complex. You may want to research whether this is generally a good idea or may make things worse in the long run. There is a lot of research available on the internet about grade retention that might help you to answer this question.

(February 2009)

How does a parent handle a “cookie-cutter IEP” with goals that are not specific to the child's needs?

Dear R.B.,

Under the IDEA, special education is defined as specialized instruction, including adapting, as needed, the content, method and mode of delivery of instruction. This puts methodology on the table if the school’s programming is not working. In addition, under the 2004 IDEA amendments, the school is required to provide a program that is based on scientific research to the extent practicable. This also can and should be discussed at the IEP meeting. If the school’s program doesn’t use a specific method that is supported by the research (or doesn’t use a particular method at all), the program can be challenged.

(February 2009)

For more information on this topic, please visit the IEPs section in LD InDepth.