Transcript No Slide Title

PROCEDURAL DUE PROCESS
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PROCEDURAL DUE PROCESS
• Texas Education Agency provides Notice of
Procedural Safeguards Rights of Parents of
Students with Disabilities
• Download this at –
– http://www.tea.state.tx.us/special.ed/explansaf/
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MAJOR COMPONENTS OF
DUE PROCESS
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Prior notice
Parent consent
ARD/IEP committee meeting
Rights related to identification and referral
Rights related to evaluation and reevaluation
Independent educational evaluation
Rights related to discipline
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MAJOR COMPONENTS OF
DUE PROCESS CONT.
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Rules on confinement, restraint and time-out
Rights related to accessing records
Private schools
Transfer of rights for adult student
Surrogate parent
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MAJOR COMPONENTS OF
DUE PROCESS CONT.
– Mediation
– TEA complaint investigations
– Impartial due process hearing
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WRITTEN NOTICE
• Parent must be notified at least five school
days in advance when the school is
considering making certain decisions or
taking certain actions
• Notice must be written
• Notice must be translated into native
language or other mode of communication
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WRITTEN NOTICE CONT.
• School must give written notice before it
takes or refuses to take any action to:
– Identify child as a student who needs special
education
– Evaluate child
– Placement of child in special ed program
– Change placement
– Change services
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PARENT CONSENT
• Consent is written permission – information
must be provided in native language
• Parents give consent for
– Initial evaluation
– Initial placement
– Reevaluation
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RIGHTS RELATED TO
IDENTIFICATION AND
REFERRAL
• Written notice before initial evaluation
• Information will be gathered
• Evaluation is part of FAPE and at no cost to
the parent
• If parent refers and school refuses to
evaluate, the school must give written
notice that includes the reasons why
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RIGHTS RELATED TO
EVALUATION AND
REEVALUATION
• School must give written notice and obtain
written consent
• Parent receives a copy of the report
• For reevaluation, the ARD committee must
determine the scope of the reevaluation at
least every three years
• School must obtain written consent for
reevaluation
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EVALUATION CONT.
• School must use a variety of evaluation
tools and strategies
• School may not use evaluation materials or
procedures that are biased against the child
because of race, culture, language or
disability
• Must be administered in the native language
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INDEPENDENT
EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION
• If parent disagrees with the school’s evaluation,
they may request an IEE
• School must pay for the IEE or request a due
process hearing to prove their evaluation is
appropriate
• Parent always has the right to an IEE at their
expense
• The ARD committee must review and consider the
IEE
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ARD COMMITTEE
MEETINGS
• Parent does not have to attend ARD meetings but
must be invited
• Must send written notice at least 5 school days in
advance of ARD meeting
• Meeting must take place at a time and place that’s
mutually agreed to
• An interpreter must be provided if parent has a
hearing impairment or different native language
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ARD COMMITTEE
MEETINGS CONT.
• ARD must meet at least once/year
• If parent disagrees with ARD, the school
must offer to recess the meeting for no more
than 10 school days
• After that, if school and parent still
disagrees, school must implement the IEP
that it determines is appropriate
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ARD COMMITTEE
MEETINGS CONT.
• The school must give written notice that this
will happen
• The parent may write their own statement to
include in the ARD
• Parent may then request mediation, file a
complaint with TEA or request a due
process hearing
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MEDIATION
• Option to resolve disagreements between
school and parent
• No cost to parent or school
• TEA assigns a mediator
• If school and parent reach agreement, a
contract is signed by both
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TEA COMPLAINT
• Parent may file a complaint with TEA – this
states the violations that occurred and the
facts on which the complaint is based upon
• TEA has 60 calendar days to investigate and
provide a written decision
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IMPARTIAL DUE PROCESS
HEARING
• Legal process that is similar to a civil court
hearing
• Hearing officer (similar to a judge) hears
evidence from all parties and makes a
binding decision
• Before a parent sues school in court, they
must participate in a due process hearing
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IMPARTIAL DUE PROCESS
HEARING CONT.
• At the due process hearing, the parent has the right
to –
– Bring and be advised by their attorney
– Present evidence, and confront, cross-examine and
require attendance of witnesses
– Have each session conducted at a time and place that is
reasonably convenient
– Obtain written or electronic verbatim record of the
hearing
– Obtain written or electronic findings of facts and
decisions
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IMPARTIAL DUE PROCESS
HEARING CONT.
• TEA must ensure that a final hearing
decision is reached and mailed to the parties
within 45 calendar days after the receipt of
request for the hearing
• Hearing officer may grant a specific
extension for a good reason
• Decision of hearing officer is final, unless a
party appeals to state or federal court
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IMPARTIAL DUE PROCESS
HEARING CONT.
• Child must generally remain in the
education placement during due process
hearing – unless disciplinary issue or school
and parent agree otherwise
• This is called stay-put
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IMPARTIAL DUE PROCESS
HEARING CONT.
• If parent is prevailing party, the judge may
order the school to pay for their attorney’s
fees and related costs
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RULES ON CONFINEMENT,
RESTRAINT, AND TIME-OUT
• State law prohibits schools from confining
students with disabilities
• Child cannot be locked in room, closet or
other designated space
• One exception - if child brings a weapon
and confinement is necessary to prevent
harm to self or others
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RULES ON CONFINEMENT,
RESTRAINT, AND TIME-OUT
CONT.
• Restraint – use of physical force or
mechanical device to restrict the child’s free
movement.
• Can only be done in an emergency that
involves the threat of serious harm to child
or others or threat of serious property
damage
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RULES ON CONFINEMENT,
RESTRAINT, AND TIME-OUT
CONT.
• School must try to notify the parent on the
day the restraint is used
• Written notice of the restraint must also be
provided to the parent
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RULES ON CONFINEMENT,
RESTRAINT, AND TIME-OUT
CONT.
• Time-out – child cannot be placed in a
locked setting and cannot be physically
prevented from leaving time-out
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RIGHTS RELATED TO
ACCESSING RECORDS
• Parents have the right to review all
educational records
• Records must be made available within 45
calendar days -- earlier if an ARD is
scheduled
• School may not charge a fee to search or to
retrieve any education record – a fee may be
charged for copying
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RIGHTS RELATED TO
ACCESSING RECORDS CONT.
• School must keep records of everyone
(except parent and authorized employees of
the school) who reviews the child’s records
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AMENDING RECORDS
• Parent may request the school to correct (amend)
information they believe is inaccurate, misleading
or violates the rights of the child
• School must decide whether to amend the
information
• If the school refuses, the parent must inform the
parent of the refusal and the right to a records
hearing
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AMENDING RECORDS CONT.
• If parent requests a hearing, the school
arranges and schedules this
• This is not a due process hearing
• After the hearing, if the school refuses to
make the corrections, the parent must be
informed and may place a statement in the
child’s education records
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PRIVATE SCHOOLS
• Parents have the right to place their child in
a private school (including home schools)
• If this happens, child is not entitled to FAPE
• Some special education services may be
available to the child – type and amount is
determined by the school district
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PRIVATE SCHOOLS CONT.
• School districts are not required to pay for
the private school if they have an
appropriate special education program for
the child
• Parent can request a due process hearing to
challenge this
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TRANSFER OF RIGHTS
• At the age of 18, the child becomes an adult
• All rights transfer to the adult student at that
time
• If parent wants to retain rights, they must
obtain guardianship
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SURROGATE PARENT
• If the school cannot identify or find a parent
of a child, they must assign a surrogate
parent
• This person represents the child in all
matters relating to identification, evaluation,
educational placement and the provision of
FAPE to the child
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DISCIPLINE ISSUES
• Discipline issues are complex – see next
video and powerpoint presentation
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PROCEDURAL DUE PROCESS
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