On April 24, 2017 (form dated April 20, 2017), the Department of Public Instruction (department) received a complaint under state and federal special education law from XXXXX against the XXXXX School District. This is the department’s decision regarding that complaint. The issue is whether the district, during the 2016-17 school year, properly implemented the individualized education program (IEP) regarding the provision of compensatory services.
On June 15, 2016, the district was ordered by the department to submit the names of all students whose school days were shortened to accommodate transportation, and a plan to determine whether compensatory services are required for each affected student based upon the amount of missed instructional time since April 18, 2015. The student in the complaint was identified as having a shortened day to accommodate the transportation schedule. On August 29, the IEP team met to develop the annual IEP and review the results of independent educational evaluations (IEEs) that were completed from an outside provider. The assessments for the IEE took place during the month of May and completed prior to the 2016-17 school year. On September 23, the IEP team met to determine whether or not the student needed compensatory services based on the instructional minutes that were missed to accommodate the transportation schedule. The parents did not agree to the services that the district presented to the parents. On November 1, the IEP team met again to determine whether compensatory services were needed for the student. The team decided that additional data was needed and would discuss additional compensatory services at the next IEP team meeting. On November 28, the IEP team met again and determined that the student would receive additional sessions of speech and language services and occupational therapy from an outside provider. The district provided a total of 10 sessions from an outside speech and language pathologist and occupational therapist from September 2016 to March 2017. The district properly implemented the IEP regarding the provision of compensatory services.
This concludes our review of this complaint.
//signed by CST 6/16/17
Carolyn Stanford Taylor
Assistant State Superintendent
Division for Learning Support
CST:sao