Hey guys

I hope everyone had a very happy Memorial Day and a great start to summer.

I am going to start checking folders next week, so don't be surprised if you come back to some sticky notes. I am going to try to email you a note about each of your folders I check letting you know big things that need to be fixed and any patterns I see that are in need of correction. Hopefully we will have a lot of time this coming up year for discussions about due process issues and any and all questions can be answered. Generic issues that I see across the paperwork will be addressed on the blog.

Today's tip:
When we come back to school in the fall, I'm sure there will be several students who walk in with Independent Evaluations from outside providers. I get a lot of questions about how we are to deal with these evaluations.

1. Always date stamp the report so we can prove when it was received. These reports must be addressed in a "timely" manner.
2. The District must "consider" the evaluation when making decisions concerning the provision of FAPE (programming and placement). Failure to "consider" the independent evaluation violates the paren't right to have the opportunity to participate. So, we will need to hold (at least) a separate programming conference to acknowledge the report and review the new information. Any placement or programming changes (IEP- PLOP, goals, mods, etc...) based on the new report should be documented.
3. Add the new information to the Evaluation Programming Conference Decision Form.
4. Also, do an Existing Data Review to determine if any additional information is needed.

Remember, the IEE does not have to drive the decision of how to provide FAPE. That decision is the committee's! However, we need to be sure we can document the parents had "meaningful participation" and the new report could possibly hold some valuable information.

If the student is not already placed in special education, clarify with the parent if the Independent Evaluation should be considered a referral. If it is, the District must deal with it as any other referral.

As always, if you have any questions about this, please comment or email me!