On July 19, 2004, the Department of Public Instruction received a complaint under state and federal special education law from XXXXX against the D.C. Everest Area School District. This is the department's decision regarding that complaint. The issues are whether the district, during the 2003-2004 school year, ensured no interruption of special education and related services upon transfer and properly responded to a pupil record request.
The student is in the custody and guardianship of the State of Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, and has transferred into and from several different Wisconsin school districts in recent years. On May 11, 2004, the district was notified the student would be leaving a residential care center (RCC), and starting school in the district on June 1, 2004. On May 24, 2004, the foster parent informed the district the student was no longer in the RCC and requested the student start school on May 27, 2004. The student was permitted to start school on June 1, 2004, which was five school days after the district was notified. The district acknowledges there should not have been any delay in beginning to serve the child. In addition, when the child was leaving the RCC, state law required the state, in cooperation with the responsible local educational agency and RCC staff, to develop a reintegration plan for the child, which was not done. The department has contacted and will work with the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services to ensure this state law provision is followed as required. No corrective action is required for the school district.
The complainant also states the D.C. Everest Area School District did not provide a copy of an IEP from a previous district in response to his pupil record request. Because the previous district adopted the IEP from a prior district, there was not a separate IEP, and the D.C. Everest Area School District properly responded to the pupil record request within the required time period.
This concludes our review of this complaint, which we are closing.
//signed 9/16/04
Carolyn Stanford Taylor
Assistant State Superintendent
Division for Learning Support: Equity and Advocacy
Dec/pmw