IDEA Complaint Decision 24-057

On May 7, 2024 (form dated April 29, 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, properly followed special education disciplinary requirements and properly responded to the request of the parents of a student with a disability for student records.

 

After a student has been subjected to 10 days of disciplinary removal in a school year, during subsequent removals, the district must provide each student services to the extent necessary to enable them to continue to participate appropriately in the general curriculum, although in another setting, and to progress toward achieving the student’s individualized education program (IEP) goals. 34 CFR § 530(d)(1)(i). To ensure they can meet this requirement, districts must have policies and procedures in place to accurately document, count, and track disciplinary removals of students with disabilities. If a student goes home based on a decision by the district or when the district encourages the family to take the student out of school due to the student’s conduct, the removals are considered de facto suspensions and should be counted as disciplinary removals.

 

On February 21, 2024, the student was involved in an incident on the school playground with other students, who reported to staff that the student was using threatening language. Staff did not contact the student’s parents regarding the incident that day. The next morning, the parents went to the school for a scheduled IEP meeting. Based upon the concerns raised by other students on the previous day, the assistant principal searched the student for a weapon before the meeting started and informed the student’s parents about the search and the incident from the previous day when they arrived. The IEP team discussed the February 21, 2024, incident at the IEP team meeting. The student did not attend the meeting but waited in the hallway. After the meeting, the parents voluntarily took the student home and did not return the student to school until February 26, 2024.

 

According to a statement from the district, the staff discussed the February 21,2024, incident with the student’s parents but did not suspend the student from school. The student had no previous days of suspension during the 2023-24 school year. Additionally, the IEP team discussed starting a special education reevaluation to conduct a functional behavioral assessment based on observed behaviors. Since the student was not subjected to 10 days of disciplinary removal, special education disciplinary requirements do not apply. The district did not improperly follow special education disciplinary requirements.

 

In their complaint, the student’s parents raised concerns regarding the appropriateness of the search the assistant principal conducted of the student on the morning of February 22, 2024, prior to the IEP team meeting. Federal and state special education law do not address this issue, and as such, the department cannot address this concern through our special education complaint process.

 

A school district must permit parents to inspect and review any education records relating to their children that are collected, maintained, or used by the school district. The school district must comply with a request without unnecessary delay and before any IEP team meeting, and in no case more than 45 days after the request has been made. 34 CFR § 300.613(a). Upon request, a parent must be shown and provided a copy of his or her child’s education and progress records, Wis. Stat. sec. 118.125(2)(a), 34 CFR 99.10(a).

 

On March 1, 2024, the student’s parents emailed the district a request for records of all incidents involving the student. The district acknowledged the request via email on March 1, 2024, and noted it would “initiate a search for responsive records as soon as practicable and without unreasonable delay.” In the complaint to the department, the parents wrote they had not yet received any of the requested records as of April 29, 2024. In its response to this complaint, the district acknowledged they did not provide the records to the student’s parents until June 11, 2024. The district did not properly respond to the request of a student with a disability for student records. The district noted it would provide training to all administrators on how to respond to records requests. Within 30 days of the date of this decision, the district must submit a corrective action plan to train all administrators how to respond to parent requests for student records.

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.