On June 11, 2025, the Department of Public Instruction (department) received a complaint under state and federal special education law from #### (parent) against the #### (district). This is the department’s decision regarding this complaint. The issues identified are described below and pertain to the 2024-25 school year.
Whether the district properly developed and implemented an Individualized Education Program (IEP) of a student with a disability to be reasonably calculated to enable the student to make progress appropriately considering the student’s circumstances and whether the district properly implemented the student’s IEP regarding Occupational Therapy (OT), modifications, and accommodations.
School districts must provide a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to each student with a disability by developing an IEP that meets the student's unique needs and by implementing special education and related services in accordance with the student's IEP. 34 CFR §§ 300.323(c)(2) and 300.324. Each student’s IEP must address the student's needs that result from the student's disability in order to enable the student to be involved and make appropriate progress in the general education curriculum and toward their IEP goals and meet the student's other educational needs that result from the student's disability. The IEP must include a statement of the special education services to be provided to the student. 34 CFR §§ 300.320(a) and 300.324(a). The district must ensure that the student's IEP is accessible to each regular education teacher, special education teacher, related services provider, and any other service provider who is responsible for its implementation and that they are informed of their specific responsibilities. 34 CFR § 300.323(d).
The student who is the subject of the complaint moved to a new school district in the summer of 2024, prior to entering fourth grade. The student’s IEP team met September 20, 2024, to review and revise the student’s IEP from their previous school district. The team revised the IEP to include trimester progress reporting (versus quarterly) and changed the description of the service of adult support in specialist classes to “when needed.” The IEP team chose to continue the annual goals from the prior IEP in the areas of language arts, math, social skills, and academic responsibility. The IEP included daily specialized instruction of 45 minutes in language arts, 30 minutes of math, 15 minutes of social skills, and 15 minutes of academic responsibility. The student would also continue to receive 20 minutes per week of OT and 20 minutes two times per week of speech and language therapy.
In the beginning of December 2024, the parent requested a meeting to discuss adding transportation to the student’s IEP due to difficulties the student was experiencing on the regular education bus. The IEP team met on December 9, 2024, to discuss the parent’s concerns. The IEP team agreed to collect data around the student’s transportation and to review at the student’s annual IEP on January 29, 2025, meeting to determine whether the data supported the student’s need for specialized transportation. At the meeting, the student’s classroom and special education teachers shared that although the student met the goals in their previous IEP, the student had been requiring extensive modifications and accommodations in the fourth grade classroom and suggested a re-evaluation to learn more about the student’s needs.
The IEP team met on January 29, 2025, to determine the student’s continuing eligibility for special education and to develop their annual IEP. The IEP team included annual goals for the student in the areas of math, literacy, and a goal to increase independent task initiation. The team decreased the amount of specially designed instruction in literacy from 45 to 35 minutes daily and maintained specially designed instruction in math at 30 minutes and independent task initiation (formerly academic responsibility) at 15 minutes. The team did not include a new social skills goal and discontinued the student’s associated specially designed instruction. The team continued direct speech and language therapy at 20 minutes two times per week. The IEP indicates that the team agreed to shift the student’s OT from direct service to an indirect program modification, which would involve the occupational therapist consulting with staff regarding the student’s assistive technology.
Documentation provided by the district demonstrates the student did not receive any OT services in September 2024, received three sessions in October 2024, three sessions in November 2024, and two sessions in December 2024. Further, from September 2024 to December 2024, four sessions were missed due to the therapist not being available. Additionally, the student received two of four OT sessions in January 2025 prior to the services moving to consult. One of the sessions was missed due to the therapist’s absence and one was missed due to the student’s absence.
The district provided the parent an IEP progress report on December 6, 2024, that included data demonstrating the student met all of their goals. However, the student’s January 29, 2025, progress report was not consistent with the December 6, 2024, progress report that had indicated all of the student’s goals had been met. While the report indicated the student met their communication and social skills goals, the student did not meet their language goal, and the team determined they would be introducing more technology to support this goal for fifth grade. The student also did not meet their math goal, and the team noted intention to focus on adding and subtracting and place value to support regrouping strategies. Finally, the student did not meet their academic responsibility goal, and the team determined the student would focus on a single direction and task initiation to support progress.
The district completed another progress report on March 13, 2025. The team documented that since the goals had been newly implemented on February 11, 2025, there had not yet been adequate time to determine progress. A final progress report completed June 2, 2025, noted the student had met their communication goals, however the student’s literacy, math, and independence goals reflected that “due to a mid-term transition with staffing, there has been limited access to consistent progress monitoring data for this school year…there is insufficient documented data to accurately determine progress toward [these] goal[s] using the data methods defined in the IEP.”
Further, the student’s spring scores on curriculum based measures for vocabulary, comprehension, and oral reading demonstrated no growth or decline in their progress from winter to spring.
The IEP team reconvened June 3, 2025, to discuss the student’s progress in light of the inconsistent special education staffing. The team determined the student required extended school year services due to the inconsistencies in staffing, goal instruction, and IEP goal progress monitoring. The team agreed that the student will attend two hours, three days per week beginning August 4, 2025, and ending August 22, 2025, to focus on math and reading instruction. The student will also be provided specialized transportation in order to access these services.
The district conceded progress monitoring, and some of the student’s specially designed instruction had been provided inconsistently, especially after February 2025 due to staffing changes. While the district properly implemented the student’s IEP regarding program modifications and accommodations, the district did not properly develop or implement the student’s IEP to enable them to make appropriate progress considering their circumstances. Further, the district did not properly implement the student’s IEP regarding OT due to staff absences prior to their revised annual IEP going into effect in February 2025.
Whether the district properly provided special education services using appropriately licensed and trained staff.
Each school board must ensure every teacher, aide, or other professional staff holds a valid certificate, license, or permit issued by the department for the position for which the individual is employed. Special education services must be provided by properly licensed special education teachers. 34 CFR § 300.156; Wis. Stat. § 118.19.
The student began the school year with an assigned special education teacher who held a teacher license with stipulations and certification for early childhood special education through third grade. The teacher did not have cross categorical or other special education certification past grade three and in this case the student was in the fourth grade. Though the district paired the teacher with two mentors, neither mentor held cross-categorical licensure.
The student’s special education teacher changed in mid-February 2025 to a retired teacher who held a lifetime license including certification for cross-categorical special education in middle childhood through early adolescence. The district did not properly provide special education services using appropriately licensed staff from September 2024 to February 2025.
Within 45 days of the complaint decision, the district is directed to hold an IEP meeting to determine whether additional compensatory services are warranted for missed OT services between September 2024 and January 2025 and for not using appropriately licensed staff from September 2024 to February 2025. The IEP should be submitted to the department within 10 days after the meeting. The district is further directed to develop a corrective action plan to ensure students IEPs are implemented as written and services are provided by appropriately licensed staff. The corrective action plan should be submitted to the department for approval within 20 days of the complaint decision.
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 decision is final for the Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA) State Complaint process. These issues may be addressed through other dispute resolution options, 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