Parents all want what is best for their children. We want them to have the best education possible in a safe, professional environment. As a parent of a child with special needs, you have rights granted to you by the state. These rights are often confusing, filled with legal terms and referrals and form after form after form. There are dozens of pages and websites devoted to breaking down parents rights and oftentimes, this information can be overwhelming. My goal here is to help you understand your rights so that we can all work together to ensure that your child receives the best possible education and we all maximize our resources to see that that happens. Over time, Special Education Rights and Rules have been created and developed to ensure that children with special needs receive a proper education that will help them advance through school. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires schools to provide parents of a child with a disability with a full explanation of the safeguards provided by both IDEA and the U.S. Department of Education. As a parent, you are legally required to be given a copy of this information once a year, unless there are extenuating circumstances. These circumstances include but are not limited to: 1.) Upon initial referral or parent request for an evaluation to determine if their child qualifies as a student with a disability 2.) Upon receiving the first written formal complaint involving the system of a student 3.) Upon receiving the first due process complaint involving the system of a student within a single school year 4.) When the school has come to a decision to enforce a disciplinary action that involves changing a student's placement 5.) Upon a parent's request to receive a copy of this information.
As the parent of a child with a disability, you have the right to confidentiality regarding your child's personal records. Under the IDEA, your child's special education and related services is confidential and is never shared with others within the system unless they are a party with a legitimate need to know. As a parent, you have the right to restrict third party access to your child's records, the right to be notified and receive copies of information pertaining to your child before the file/information is destroyed, the right to be told when and to whom your child's information has been shared, as well as the right to review and receive copies of all information shared between agencies regarding your child's future enrollment.
When a system refers to 'education records,' they are referring to records that are directly related to the student and maintained by an educational agency or institution. 'Education records' does not refer to records that are kept only by whoever created them, records of law enforcement units, nor records to an individual who is employed by an education agency. In addition, records on a student who is eighteen years or older or is attending a post secondary educational facility.
In relation to these education records, you as a parent have the right to examine all of these records relating to your child without delay after you make your initial request. You also have the right to view your child's records before any meeting regarding an IEP or a hearing. In any case, you have the right to review your child's records within forty-five days of your request.
If you have a representative such as a lawyer or an outside physician, you have the right to allow them access to your child's records.
If at any point, you feel that having multiple copies of your child's records will help you make a better decision for your child, you are entitled to copies of these records without unnecessary delay. Unless the education agency has been told otherwise by a state authority, the agency should assume that you have the right to inspect and review the records of your child.
You have the right to know who, besides yourself, is reading and reviewing your child's records. You have the right to know the name of the group or individual, the date your child's records were accessed, and why the party was given the right to review the records of your child.
You are entitled to copies of your child's record free of charge. If you are charged a fee for copies that you cannot pay, you are still entitled to these copies. You are not to be stopped from viewing your child's records due to money.
You have the right to know where your child's records are being kept and maintained.
If at any point, you believe there is an error in your child's records, you have the right to ask for an amendment or change to be added to the record. You are also entitled to an explanation of any part of the record. If the agency decides to deny your request for an amendment or change, you are entitled to be told that within a timely fashion. As long as the record is maintained, you have the right to have your opinion placed within the record for as long as the record exists. You have the right to disagree with any statement made within the record. This disagreement should be noted within the particular record.
As a parent of a child with disabilities, you are entitled to request an Independent Educational Evaluation. An Independent Educational Evaluation is an evaluation which is given by a qualified examiner who is not employed by the school district that your child is in. If you request this evaluation, your school system must either file a due process complaint to request a hearing to show that what they are already doing for your child is appropriate or they must provide the hearing at public expense. Public expense means that the evaluation will be given at no cost to you.
If your child's school holds the evaluation, you have the right to: 1.) Obtain an evaluation from an outside source by a qualified examiner 2.) Have the evaluation obtained at either public or private expense. 3.) Be told by the school system where you can obtain a free or low cost evaluation 4.) Question the school's evaluation results, knowing that the school may also request a hearing to argue with your claims 5.) An evaluation with a hearing officer present
There's nothing worse than having important information and details given to you with little to no warning. Thankfully, as a parent of a child with disabilities, you're entitled to Notice, which is written information about meetings, planned evaluations, and changes in your child's programs and eligibility. Any information pertaining to your child's services under the IDEA is provided to you ahead of time so that you are able to make the best possible decisions for your child. You have the right to be notified and present at all meetings regarding your child or any possible changes regarding their services.
You're entitled to have any and all notices provided to you in your native language, ensuring maximum understanding between you and your child's school. As a parent, you have the right to receive your notice in any translated form, including other languages or braille. You have the right to understand the information provided in your notice and evidence that shows that these requirements have been met to fit your needs.
You have the right to know what options are available to your child. As a parent, you want to know what your child is being given and why. In addition to knowing what programs your child has available to them, you have the right to know what those programs entail and why certain programs are chosen for your child over others.
If your child is given an evaluation, test, assessment, or procedure, you have the right to know when it will occur, what will be done during the process, as well as the results of the process. If the results are used as guidelines for action, you have the right to know what the action will be and why it was chosen.
You have the right to be present at each of your child's IEP meetings. This includes having the meeting at a mutually agreed upon time and place. The school must notify you beforehand of the meeting up to three times before the meeting can take place. You also have the right to know who will be present at your child's IEP meeting ahead of time.
If your school has an emailing system, you have the right to be notified by email if that is your choice. If the service is available, you may choose to be notified about parents rights, future meetings, due process complaints, and anything pertaining to your child's education via email.
In order for you child to begin receiving any special education services, you as their parent must give consent to the school district. The process to obtain special education services is a long, difficult one. In order for this process to begin, you must consent to it. You have the right to deny consent as well. Consent means that you have been completely informed - in your native language or preferred mode of communication such as sign language, Braille, or oral communication - of all information about the action which is taking place. By giving consent, you understand and agree in writing to whatever action, process, or procedure was described to you. You also give consent for records to be released and to whom. Please know that your consent is 100% voluntary. If you give consent at one point, you make take back that consent at any point.
If your child is being reevaluated for disabilities at any point, you have the right to give consent before that reevaluation is conducted. However, please know that if your school system can prove that it took reasonable steps to obtain your consent and you did not respond, the school may be allowed to go forward with their reevaluation.
If for some reason you refuse to consent to a reevaluation for your child, your school may pursue your child's reevaluation by seeking to override your refusal. Please remember that just because your school may choose to do this does not mean that they will. If your child's school chooses not to undergo a reevaluation, they are not violating their obligations under the IDEA.
If your child is home schooled or placed in a private school that you pay for yourself, the public agency is not to override your refusal and seek evaluation. However, if you refuse to give consent in this situation, the public agency is not required to consider your child for special education services.
You have the right to either give consent or not for you child to be placed in special education. Without prior consent, your child cannot be placed in special education. If you do not give consent, the public agency may not use mediation or due process hearings to obtain that consent. If you do not give consent, you do not give consent. No one can force you to give consent for something that you do not feel is right for your child.
Again, please remember that you have the right to revoke your consent at any time. We all want what is best for our children and if at any point you feel that your child is not receiving the best available services and education, you have the right to revoke your consent. If consent is revoked, the public agency may not continue to provide special education services to your child. However, they must:
1.) Provide written notice to you that they are ending your child's services 2.) Not attempt to gain your consent through due process or mediation 3.) Not violate the provision of FAPE 4.) Not convene an IEP team meeting or develop an IEP for future services, as they are no longer provided due to you revoking consent
Consent is not required in order to view existing data as part of an evaluation or reevaluation. Consent is also not required if your child is being administered a test that is administered to all students.
If, at any point, you wish to refute a claim that has been made in your child's record, you have the right to do so. As the parent of a child with disabilities, your right to dispute your child's record is given to you. You have the right to file a Formal Written Complaint or a Due Process Complaint. The differences are: Formal Written Complaint -Must be a signed, written complaint that claims an alleged violation of IDEA -Shall include a statement that the local system has violated requirements of IDEA -Shall include facts about the alleged violations of IDEA -Must allege that a violation occurred not more than ONE (1) YEAR prior to the day that the complaint was received After filing a formal written complaint, you have the right to mediation, if both parties agree. Written complaints are investigated by the Georgia Department of Educators or its contractors. During the investigation, both you and the public agency have the opportunity to provide the Georgia Department of Education with information pertaining to your complaint. Decisions for written complaints must be made by the Georgia DOE within sixty calendar days unless extended for other circumstances. Once a decision based on a written complaint is made, it cannot be appealed. That is, once a decision is made, no one can ask for the decision to be changed or reconsidered. Due Process Complaint -Complaint that says an alleged violation occurred not more than TWO (2) YEARS before the date the parents knew or should have known about the alleged action -A request for a hearing to resolve the matter mentioned above -The two year time limitation does not apply in cases where the school system misunderstood that an issue had been resolved or the school system withheld information with you that they were lawfully required to provide
Aside from filing either a formal written complaint or a due process complaint, you have the right to file a complaint if you disagree with something that was determined by the school system as a need for your child. If the school system deemed a service necessary but you disagree with it, you have the right to file a complaint and have that particular service ended.
You have the right to an expedited due process hearing whenever you file a due process complaint.
You have the responsibility to file a due process complaint. When filing a due process complaint, the parent or school alleging a violation under IDEA - or either party's attorney - must provide a due process complaint notice to the other party in question. The Georgia DOE is also required to be given a complaint notice. The notice must include: 1.) The child's name and home address*** 2.) The name of the school attended by the child 3.) A description of the problem that is occurring 4.) A proposed resolution ***In the case of a homeless child or youth, the child's contact information and the name of the child's school must be provided.
You have the right to prior written notice regarding the subject matter of a due process complaint. That is, you have the right to know what's going on in a complaint before a hearing occurs. By the time the school receives the due process complaint, you should have already received notice of the complaint. The school is responsible for determining whether or not it provided prior written notice regarding the actions in the complaint. If the school has not provided notice at this point, they have ten days to do so.
You have the right to a resolution session. A resolution session occurs so that the parents and the school systems can attempt to resolve the issues regarding the due process complaint. By resolving the issues during a resolution session, both you and the school system can avoid a due process hearing and provide immediate benefits to your child. The resolution session must be held within fifteen days of the complaint being filed. The resolution session must occur before the due process hearing unless both parties agree to wave the resolution session or they agree to the mediation process.
If you require any legal assistance or other help, you have the right to be given information about low-cost legal services in your area. If you request this type of information, the local school system has to grant your request and provide you with answers.
If you go forward with a due process complaint and there is a hearing, you have the right to have your child present with you at the hearing. You are also entitled to request a hearing officer or administrative law judge be present at the hearing. You also have the right to receive a list of hearing officers and administrative law judges from the local education agency.
Both party's - you and the school system - are entitled to be accompanied and advised by members of a legal council who have training and experience in cases with children with disabilities.
In order to be considered for special education services, your child must be evaluated. These evaluations occur so that the school system can have evidence to support that your child is indeed a child with special needs. A child who is receiving special education services may also be reevaluated. These children are reevaluated to measure their progress. Reevaluations help us as educators determine whether or not a child is making satisfactory progress or if their services need to be adjusted to better suit their individual needs.
Your child's school may refuse to evaluate your child. If this occurs, the school must provide you with a full, written explanation as to why they refuse to evaluate your child. This notice must make clear to you that you are entitled to a due process hearing to challenge the school's claim. Regarding evaluations and reevaluations, you have the following rights as a parent: 1.) You have the right to a full and individual evaluation of your child 2.) You have the right to have your evaluation conducted by a team of individuals from multiple disciplines, including at least one person who specializes in the area of your child's suspected disability. 3.) You have the right to have your child tested in all areas related to their suspected disability. 4.) You have the right to have qualified examiners administer tests to your child. 5.) You have the right to have your child evaluated by a variety of means used to gather relevant functional, developmental, and cognitive information to determine your child's eligibility. 6.) You have the right to have your child evaluated by more than one assessment. 7.) If you have information from an outside source such as a qualified examiner or a psychiatrist, you are entitled to give that information to the school system and have it considered alongside your child's evaluation. 8.) You have the right to have your child's evaluation given in your child's native language. 9.) Your child is entitled to a reevaluation every three years. 10.) If you or your child's teacher requests it, you are entitled to have your child reevaluated in less than three years. If your child's teacher requests a reevaluation and you do not give consent, your child will not be reevaluated at that time. 11.) You have the right to have your child's evaluation results within sixty days of the initial evaluation. 12.) Right to have the eligibility decision for initial determination based on (a) the presence of a disability as defined in the IDEA and (b) the documentation of the impact of the disability on the education of the child. 13.) If you revoke your consent and then a new referral is made, you have the right to have that new referral treated as an initial evaluation.
Your child has the right to learn in their least restrictive environment. The least restrictive environment refers to the right of your child to remain in a classroom with his or her peers to the maximum extent that is appropriate for their education. This means that your child should remain in their typical classroom with their typical peers as much as possible. This environment is different for every child, as every individual child has different needs. A child should remain in their regular classroom with their supports and services provided to them, unless there is significant evidence that this type of environment is not conducive to their learning, even with their supports and services.
If you are a surrogate parent, you have rights, too. A surrogate parent is defined as someone appointed for a student for whom no parent can be identified or is a ward of the state. A surrogate is also appointed for a student for whose's parents whereabouts cannot be discovered, after reasonable efforts have been made by the local system. As a surrogate parent, you may represent the child in all matters pertaining to identification, evaluation, and placement of the child. You also have a right to inquire about the child's Free Appropriate Public Education.
Under IDEA, a school system is not required to pay for the cost of an education, including special education and related services, if you have chosen to place your child in a private school setting that you are paying for. If the public school system has offered your child a FAPE and you keep your child enrolled in a private school setting, the public school system does not have to pay for your child's special education services. However, if your child is attending a private school, that school system must include your child in the list of students with needs addressed by the IDEA. More information about your rights pertaining to private school placements can be found online at the Georgia Department of Education's website, located here: http://archives.doe.k12.ga.us/_documents/doe/legalservices/160-4-7-.13.pdf.
Your child's school district must follow certain guidelines and procedures when they are disciplining a child with a disability. These rights are designed to protect you, your child, and the school district. Your child may not be removed or suspended for more than ten days - consecutive or not - in a single school year without the child's IEP team being consulted.
A school may remove a child to alternative programs or placement if there is any danger to the child themselves, other students, or school faculty. Regardless of this new placement, you have the right to a FAPE for your child. The school must provide a FAPE for your child.
Disciplinary actions will occur if your child has violated school rules regarding drugs, violence, alcohol, or weapons.
As a parent, you want what is best for your child. You want to know that they are safe and receiving the best possible education that there is. It is very important that you know your rights as a parent. Being familiar with your rights as a parent of a child with a disability will help you help your child. An overview of your rights can be found here: http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Special-Education-Services/Documents/Parents%20Rights/Special%20Education%20condensed%20Parents%20Rights%20Revised%20July%202014.pdf. I know that these rights can seem extensive and repetitive but it is my goal to help you know what your rights are in regards to your child. We all want the best for our children and students and if we work together, we can provide them all with the best education possible.
In addition to your rights as a parent, you also have certain responsibilities. By upholding these responsibilities, the school system that your child is placed in can better help your child with their education. Education is all about the children and we all want what is best for them. Your responsibilities include:
1.) Allow evaluations to take place. 2.) Participate in the IEP/IFSP committees 3.) Cooperate with the school and all school personnel 4.) Reinforce procedures at home 5.) Assist with contracting 6.) Be open to communication 7.) Be willing to work with the teachers at your child's school.
Below is a list of Do's and Don'ts for teachers that I hope will help them as they begin their education careers.
DO:
>Provide the parents with information in a timely manner. *Don't wait until the last minute to get something done. If a parent needs a form, give them the form as soon as possible. Waiting around could delay a child's evaluation and you don't want to do that.
>Keep the parent informed. *Keep the parent informed on the progress of their child. They want to know what's going on with their child. Progress keeps us going forward.
>Document everything. *Keep a record of everything that you do, from inviting parents to meetings, holding meetings, making decisions, making changes, and holding evaluations.
>Hold yourself accountable. *You have to accept the responsibility that comes with this job. You need to be able to hold yourself accountable to meetings, timelines, deadlines, and record keeping. You have to be responsible for your own work.
DON'T: >Hold meetings without inviting the parents. *A parent must be invited to meetings a minimum of three times before the meeting can go forward without the parent present.
>Delay a child's evaluation. *In order for a child to begin receiving special education services, they must be evaluated. If you delay this evaluation, you are denying them the right to the possibility of services.
>Be offended by disagreements. *Everyone has different opinions. If someone's - a parent, personnel, or administrator - has a different opinion on what should be done for a child, do not be offended. No one is trying to undermine you or your abilities. When this happens, be prepared to work with others to come to some sort of agreement.