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IDEA Complaint Decision 07-062

On September 6, 2007, the Department of Public Instruction received a complaint under state and federal special education law from XXXXX against the Racine Unified School District (RUSD). This is the department’s decision for that complaint. The issue is whether the district properly changed the placement of a child with a disability.

On June 1, 2007, the district conducted an individualized education program (IEP) team meeting to develop an annual IEP and determine continuing placement for a child with a disability. The child's mother attended the meeting. The IEP team determined that the child’s placement would continue at the child’s current school because the child’s home school did not have the special education services described in his IEP.

On August 24, 2007, the district approved staffing adjustments including the closing of the special education class the child was attending. On August 27, a district special education supervisor called the child's parents and left a message to inform them of the closing of the class and that the child would be assigned to a class in the school closest to his home. The special education services to be provided to the child were not changed; only the location at which the services were provided changed. On August 27, the district special education supervisor sent the child’s parents a notice of school assignment and placement. On August 28, the child’s mother returned a call to the supervisor regarding the closing of the class and school location assignment. On September 5, the first day of school for students in the assigned class, the child attended the new school. On September 7, a special education supervisor and a district area superintendent met with the child’s parent and discussed the child’s reassignment. It was agreed that the child was doing well and the parent did not want the child returned to his previous school. The district provided the child’s parent notice of the change in the location at which the child’s special education services, which remained unchanged, would be provided following the closing of the program the student had been attending.

This concludes our review of this complaint, which we are closing.

//signed CST 10/29/07
Carolyn Stanford Taylor
Assistant State Superintendent
Division for Learning Support: Equity and Advocacy

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