On April 15, 2024, the Department of Public Instruction (department) received a complaint under state and federal special education law from #### (complainants) against the #### (district). This is the department’s decision regarding that complaint. The issues are whether the district, during the 2023-24 school year:
● Improperly used physical restraint with the student,
● Properly responded to a parent’s request for student records, and
● Properly developed and implemented the individualized education program (IEP) of a student with a disability regarding the student’s behavioral needs.
Whether the district improperly utilized physical restraint with the student.
State law prohibits the use of physical restraint with students at school unless a student's behavior presents a clear, present, and imminent risk to the physical safety of the student or others and is the least restrictive intervention feasible. Physical restraint means a restriction that immobilizes or reduces the ability of a student to freely move their torso, arms, legs, or head. Wis. Stats. §§ 118.305.
On January 25, 2024, the student refused to get on the bus at the end of the school day. School staff carried the student to the bus. The district acknowledges that staff carrying the student to the bus constituted physical restraint as defined in § 118.305(1)(g) Wis. Stat. The district agrees that the student’s conduct at the time of the restraint did not present a clear, present, and imminent risk to the physical safety of the student or others as required by § 118.305(3)(a) Wis. Stat. The district further agrees it did not make a written report of the incident of restraint available to the parents within the timeline required by § 118.305(4)(b) at the time of the incident, but has since produced a report and provided it to the parents. As corrective action, on February 23, 2024, the district provided professional development training to staff members involved in the incident on the proper use of physical restraint. In addition, the district has scheduled a professional development training for all district staff on de-escalation strategies and the proper use of physical restraint and seclusion to be completed by August 28, 2024. These steps are sufficient corrective action for the above noncompliance. The district will provide copies of all training materials used and records demonstrating staff participation in these activities no later than September 6, 2024.
Whether the district properly responded to the parents’ request for student records.
Following the incident of January 25, 2024, the parents requested to see any video tape recordings in the district’s possession depicting the incident. A school district must comply with a parent’s request for records relating to their child without unnecessary delay and before any meeting regarding the child’s IEP. 34 CFR § 300.613(a). The video tape was made available to the parents and viewed by the parents on February 7, 14, and 16, 2024. The student’s IEP team met on February 21, 2024. The delay in responding to the parents’ request was not unreasonable in light of the district’s concerns about protecting the privacy of other students depicted in the video. The district properly responded to the parents’ request for student records.
Whether the district properly developed and implemented the student’s IEP regarding the student’s behavioral needs.
Each student’s IEP team must develop a program based on the student's unique, disability-related needs that is reasonably calculated to enable the student to make progress appropriate in light of the student's circumstances, document that program in the IEP, and implement the program as articulated in the IEP. 34 CFR § 300.324. If a student’s behavior impedes the learning of the student or that of others, their IEP team must document those needs and identify special education services, including positive behavioral interventions, strategies, and supports, to address those needs. 34 CFR § 300.324(a)(2).
The student’s IEP team met on February 21, 2024, to discuss the student’s social emotional learning. The IEP contains the following statement:
“It was decided that the following supports will be put in place, but outside of the IEP because there is not a disability related need in this area:
1. When [the student] needs assistance or becomes dysregulated, he may meet to discuss and or problem solve the issue with [district staff].
2. [The student] will meet with [the school resource officer] two times per month.
3. If [the student] is upset or expresses concerns during the school day, his parents may be called to help de-escalate.”
The district agrees that the actions of the IEP team did not comply with the requirement that IEP teams address any behavior that affects the student’s learning or that of other students by considering the appropriate use of positive behavior supports and interventions as required by 34 CFR § 300.324(a)(2). The district agrees that the services the IEP team did specify do not clearly describe the frequency and amount of those services that is clear to the parents and those responsible for implementing the IEP as required by 34 CFR § 300.320(a)(7). The district also acknowledges that it did not implement the visits with the school resource officer during March 2024. As corrective action the district has scheduled an IEP team meeting for the student on August 21, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. to appropriately revise the IEP. The district shall submit a copy of the revised IEP to the department documenting an appropriate discussion of the student’s behavioral needs, positive behavior supports and interventions with appropriately described frequencies and amounts, and a determination as to whether any compensatory services are due as the result of the two missed meetings with the school resource officer August 26, 2024.
All noncompliance identified above must be corrected as soon as possible but in no case, more than one year from the date of this decision. This concludes our review of this complaint. This decision is final for the IDEA State Complaint process. These issues may be addressed through other dispute resolutions, including mediation and due process hearings. For more information, visit the department’s website at http://dpi.wi.gov/sped/dispute-resolution or contact the special education team at (608) 266-1781.
For questions about this information, contact dpispeddata@dpi.wi.gov (608) 266-1781