On November 10, 2014, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) received a complaint under state and federal special education law from XXXXX against the Shullsburg School District. This is the department’s decision regarding that complaint. The issue is whether the district, beginning in December 2013, properly implemented the child’s individualized education program (IEP) in the area of speech/language.
The student’s IEP in effect during the second semester of 2013-14 and the beginning of the 2014-15 school year called for 30 minutes weekly of speech and language therapy. The services were provided through the end of the 2013-14 school year. The speech therapist left the district at the end of the 2013-14 school year and the district was unable to fill the position. As of the date of this decision, the student had not received any speech and language therapy during the 2014-15 school year. The district failed to properly implement the student’s IEP in the area of speech and language during the 2014-15 school year. An IEP team meeting was held on December 12, 2014, for the student named in this complaint. The parent participated in the meeting and compensatory services were discussed and determined. The district will provide to the department a copy of the IEP by January 16, 2015.
During the course of the complaint investigation, the district verified there were other students who have not received speech and language services during the 2014-15 school year. On December 15, 2014, the district hired staff to provide speech and language services to students. The district has notified the parents of all student’s affected by the lapse in services of its intent to hold IEP team meetings and discuss the need for compensatory services to address the district’s failure to provide speech and language therapy to the students. The district is continuing to look for additional staff to provide speech and language therapy services and will notify the department immediately when all positions are filled.
Within 30 days from the date of this decision, the district must provide documentation that compensatory services were determined to address the district’s failure to provide required speech and language therapy services to all affected students.
All noncompliance identified above must be corrected as soon as possible, but in no case more than one year from the date of this decision. This concludes our review of this complaint.
//signed CST 1/6/2015
Carolyn Stanford Taylor
Assistant State Superintendent
Division for Learning Support
Dec/pfv