On April 8, 2009, the Department of Public Instruction received a complaint under state and federal special education law from XXXXX against the Marshall School District. This is the department’s decision regarding that complaint. The issue is whether the district properly afforded the parent an opportunity to participate in an individualized education program (IEP) team meeting in April 2009.
A district must take steps to ensure a parent of a child with a disability is present at each IEP team meeting or afforded the opportunity to participate. Each public agency must ensure the IEP team reviews the student’s IEP at least annually. The district, in correspondence dated February 23, 2009, informed the parent of the need to schedule the student’s annual IEP review, which would expire on April 5, 2009. Since that date was on a Sunday, the IEP team meeting needed to be held no later than April 3, 2009.
The district, beginning February 23, 2009, made multiple contacts to the parent offering several possible dates to ensure an annual review was conducted prior to April 5, 2009. The IEP team meeting was ultimately scheduled for April 1, 2009, at 1:00 p.m. The parent arrived for the meeting at 1:05 p.m. and stayed for the entire meeting. The parent provided input throughout the meeting, and parental concerns were documented in the IEP. The department concludes the parent was afforded an opportunity to participate in an IEP team meeting in April 2009.
This concludes our review of this complaint, which we are closing.
//signed CST 6/4/09
Carolyn Stanford Taylor
Assistant State Superintendent
Division for Learning Support: Equity and Advocacy
Dec/tag