On October 7, 2004, the Department of Public Instruction received a complaint under state and federal special education law from XXXXX against the Burlington Area School District. This is the department's decision regarding that complaint. The issue is whether the district, during the 2004-2005 school year, provided required special education services to a child with a disability utilizing properly licensed teaching staff.
The student's individualized education plan (IEP) requires special education services for visual impairment. The parents allege these services were not provided by a properly licensed special education teacher. If a special education teacher has a license in the child's area of disability, the teacher generally is presumed to be qualified to teach the child. In this case, the teacher providing the services required by the IEP graduated with a certification in vision impairment from an Illinois university. The teacher currently holds a valid Wisconsin license for visual impairment, which is effective from July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2009. Therefore, the services are being provided by a properly licensed teacher.
This concludes our review of this complaint, which we are closing.
//signed 11/17/04
Carolyn Stanford Taylor
Assistant State Superintendent
Division for Learning Support: Equity and Advocacy
Dec/pmw