W. Joseph Hatley, Wednesday, June 08, 2011 | Filed under: Special Education Due Process
Here's an interesting twist on a frequently-litigated issue in special education cases.
Parents of a student in California filed a due process complaint, alleging in part that the school violated their rights under IDEA
by not giving the parents a draft of the IEP goals and objectives before the IEP meeting. The hearing officer and the courts rejected this argument, given evidence that the parents were able to contribute to the discussion and modification of the goals at the IEP meeting.
We occasionally see claims that schools violated IDEA's prohibition on "predetermination" by coming to the meeting with a draft of the IEP. These claims almost always fail, because thearing officers expectation that the school members of the IEP team
should have given the IEP some forethought before the IEP meeting, given their more intimate knowledge of the student's day-to-day performance.
This case goes to show that when it comes to special education claims, schools are often faced with no-win arguments. Still, we believe it is generally a good idea, when possible, to formulate a draft of most of the IEP beforehand, with the possible exception of the placement recommendation, and to share the draft with the parents at or before the meeting. This contributes to a more efficient, focused meeting.