Welcome to Unlimited Parenting, where we discuss having children with disabilities and special
health care needs.
I'm Allison and joining me today are two of my fellow parent education coordinators, Sarah and Melissa
Hello.
And Melissa.
Hello.
And today we're going to be getting into the weeds regarding dispute resolution.
So without further ado, here we go.
So before we get into specifics regarding options and stories, I wanted to say quickly
what a brief recap of IDEA.
So pop in if I pop off and say something wrong.
Okay.
So Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA is a federal law that ensures
students with disabilities receive a free and appropriate public education, otherwise
known as FAPE, that meets their unique needs.
So today we're addressing various ways parents or guardians can resolve disputes with the
school or the school district or the team when it comes to special education services.
So this information as well as rights and responsibilities are outlined in procedural
safeguards, which should be hopefully given at every IEP meeting, evaluation, et cetera.
Okay so when we're talking about dispute resolution, we're not all of these, the spectrum of options
are available to anyone at any point in time.
Okay.
No, no, please.
Well, I just was going to say facilitated IEPs are not available in every single state.
We are really lucky in Idaho.
I don't know the exact number, but all of these options may not be available in all
states.
Facilitated IEPs being that one that wouldn't maybe be available universally.
Did I jump the gun?
No, you didn't.
You didn't jump the gun.
But you make a good point.
But say a parent is calling one of the three of us.
We're telling them this spectrum of options.
You can choose from anything on this menu.
However, tell me more about your specific situation so we can decide if one may be...
Just a phone call to our teacher or the principal or if we need to go all...
Absolutely.
Exactly.
So lowest level appropriate.
Is that the phrase?
Yeah.
I like that.
Just know that wherever you're listening to this, if you're jumping ahead to a specific
section, just know that you can, just because you've requested facilitation doesn't mean
you can't request due process or vice versa.
Absolutely.
Okay.
So let's talk about...
We have a child.
His name is Chad.
And for the rest of this conversation, he will be named Chad.
Okay.
I got Chad.
And his name is Levon.
His parents are Sandra and David, and he goes to Apple Elementary.
Okay.
So Sandra has called us to Apple.
I need to put in a disclaimer that these are just made up names.
Yep.
We don't know this child named Chad.
Nope.
We don't know Sandra and David.
Just for all intents and purposes of education and educating our listeners.
I wish I would have named it Wayside Elementary.
Do you remember those books, Wayside School?
Yeah.
Or Bayside.
Bayside?
Like...
Saved by the Bell.
Well, we're dating ourselves.
For those listeners who were born after 1985, stick with me at Wayside School.
Okay.
So yes, all of the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Everything is anonymous.
We have even based loosely our scenarios off of scenarios that we've heard of, but they
are non-identifiable, any information that we give, you would not be able to identify
who we were speaking of.
Okay.
So Chad attends Apple Elementary and his mom, Sandra, is giving us a call and she is struggling.
It's the beginning of the school year.
She feels like nobody knows anything about Chad's IEP.
So when we're talking to her, we find out that she hasn't reached out to anyone outside
of the school.
Okay.
So what are we going to say first?
Pop quiz.
Pop quiz?
You didn't tell us that.
Is there like a button for that?
No buttons, no prizes.
Sandra, I'm going to ask Sandra, have you talked to your special education director?
That's my first question.
I am always going to ask when any dispute, they are truly, in most cases, the lowest
level appropriate.
And let's just say for pretend to play devil's advocate here, let's say they're not the most
appropriate.
Yeah, they might not be.
They still want to know what's happening versus when you filed a complaint or something like
that and then they hear about it from the State Department of Education.
Yeah.
Yes.
And no, I would just say in those cases, she gave me a look.
She looked at me like there are reasons this is not video.
The only time that I would say that that may not be appropriate is if the special education
director themselves was involved in some form of the dispute.
So maybe they were just, does that make sense?
Yes.
It does make sense.
So that would be the only time where it maybe wasn't appropriate to first give them a head
up.
Give them that heads up.
Yeah.
If they were part of the state complaint, if they're part of the problem, but typically
you would want to reach out to the special ed director to maybe clarify some miscommunication
or perhaps maybe it's a new kiddo or who knows what the scenario is.
Because making sure that they know that they can answer questions if there's a service
that could be available or maybe the school is not aware of, the special ed director cannot
make those decisions.
Exactly.
And I think that this is a good pause point to just say that we recognize that West Ada
School District, Boise School District look very different than more rural school districts
or even charters where the special education director could also fulfill another role within
the school.
So there's that little caveat too.
So let's say Sandra and David are from a really rural school district.
So when I say, have you reached out to your special education director?
They might also say, yeah, that's also our principal.
Right.
Yeah, we hear that all the time.
So just for everyone out there, there's two different types of school districts and it's
not just the great state of Ada.
Right.
Yep.
So tagging onto what Melissa had said earlier, facilitation is not required.
It is just something that Idaho happens to have out of the goodness of their heart as
an option for schools and parents.
It's offered in 26 states, but it's not mandatory under IDEA.
So let's talk more about facilitation in specific.
And I feel like, correct me if I'm wrong, but we could probably do a whole podcast just
on facilitation because I feel like that's the one that gets selected the most.
Yeah.
Cause it is such a great option for families and districts alike.
It's no cost to families, no cost to districts.
And it really brings teams that it brings teams together.
They are overwhelmingly successful.
I don't know the exact ratio from last year, but overwhelmingly.
Previous years we've had 75, 80 facilitated IEP meetings where, and then you go up your
next level of mediation and you have a few more than that, but, or a few less than that,
but you still have a higher number.
But then you get into your dispute resolution, I mean, sorry, due process where you're now
involved in a hearing with the judge and all of those things.
And we've seen not very many of those, maybe three, three to four a year where facilitation
really just keeps our families out of litigation, keeps our families in the school districts
from having to go that far in solving disputes or communication breakdown or whatever the
case may be.
And really is just having that central neutral party who's going to help keep the meeting
moving along with who at the center?
The child.
Sorry, I don't know.
I sounded like I hadn't spoken.
I was laughing earlier because you were really spot on about the data because I wrote some
data down to add in here.
Facilitations accounted for the majority of the caseload in dispute resolution.
So 74% of anything filed was facilitation.
And in 2019, Idaho, the great state of Idaho had 141 requests and held 134 facilitations,
which resulted in an 87% agreement rate.
And so I say those numbers that I just threw out to you, that's been consistent over the
last five to six years.
So that's kind of why I had that random knowledge in my head is that that's how we've seen the
trends over the years and how effective facilitation is and having someone there to help school
districts and teams and families really communicate on a level that is special education IDEA
specific.
And really not adversarial, I think is what I'm trying to say.
Oh yeah.
I don't think the majority of families are walking out of facilitation with a bull's
eye on their back.
Like they're not that family now.
I think it, you know, we were almost there in so many of these cases.
We were just really, really close to being, you know, in agreement.
And it was just a couple of things that were keeping that from happening.
And that facilitator was really able to kind of punch through and make that happen.
So I think overwhelmingly they are positive and they create those long-term partnerships.
And I feel like we, sorry, Allison, I feel like we hear from families too that were,
are nervous at first to request facilitation or reach out to the state department.
But then once they do, and we hear back from them, they're so grateful and thankful and
they felt like they were taken care of and everyone was so kind and, and respectful.
Even in some pretty, pretty almost adverse situations where facilitation has really come
in and I feel like we're doing an infomercial today.
But no, it's at no cost to families.
No, but actually let's take that time to bring up that really good point, which is Idaho
Parents Unlimited is a nonprofit that supports parents, educators in knowing resources and
rights and responsibilities.
So we are not on anybody's side.
Absolutely.
So if you're, I have had parents who have called and said, you know, I'm worried about
giving information because I don't want it to get back to my school.
And that always shocks me because it makes me recognize that not everybody understands
the scope of what we do and how I can't even communicate to the school on your behalf unless
you give me written permission.
So nothing, everything that you say stays within these four walls, right?
Absolutely.
And I think schools, schools are the same way.
They feel the same when, when we have schools reach out to us just to ask a certain question
or a simple question, they, there's no identifiable information shared whatsoever.
Yeah.
There should not be.
And then they're asking questions like, do you have a resource that I could give to a
parent who was asking me this question in family friendly language?
Yeah.
So you guys want to hear one more year of facilitation?
I do because I'm curious what COVID did.
Yes, exactly.
So school year 2020, 2021, Idaho had 95 requests held 88.
So the year previous 141 requests.
Now we're down to 95, but 94% agreement rate.
Okay.
So that's up a bit from the year before and, but represents a decrease of 32% from the
year prior in terms of requests.
So it was still getting utilized.
I'm actually really surprised.
Allison, can I ask where you're getting this information?
I have been waiting for someone to ask.
Yes, so this information that I am sharing right now is also going to be linked in the
episode description.
So it's from the state department of education's website.
So if you go into their reporting, you click dispute resolution and then it'll pop up and
it is an Excel spreadsheet of years 2016 to current.
Okay.
So it does give you a lot of data to review and reflect back on so that you can, you know,
determine correlation versus causation and stuff.
But I think it's really interesting that when you click on the link, it's not just that
one school year, it's several school years.
So anybody can find it.
It's accessible.
I did not need a password or any kind of encrypted.
I'm not from CSI hacking it.
But yes, I will link that down and all of the information that I talk about in the next
series of steps is coming from the same worksheet.
If a lot of our parents are choosing to go the way of facilitation and they want to hear
about it and they want to know more about it, let's talk more about it.
I know novel thought.
So what would you do to prepare?
What would I do as a parent?
Yes.
I would ensure that I had my students documents.
I had their IEP, their eligibility, progress reports, anything pertinent to the disagreement
that we were going to be talking about.
I'm going to have data to support that so that I can argue my case with data to show
the in support.
But I also want to have all of my ducks in a row.
I want to have all of my documents.
I want to know what is everybody's going to be talking about, what everybody's going to
be referencing.
I really want to know what I'm there for, what I'm talking about.
And that's my student.
I want my student forefront.
That's why we're there.
We're in a disagreement about something in terms of his education.
So I want my student to be forefront.
So I might even take a picture.
Yeah.
Do you have anything you would add?
Loud, loud person in the corner.
A booming excitement.
I think I would just add that I thought about it ahead of time.
I would contact my parent center.
I'd find out anything I could to be prepared.
There are many resources that are in parent friendly language about what facilitation
is, what to expect, where to find information, and what does it look like.
Facilitation is not a fun, easy, unscary word, right?
Right.
Everybody fears what they don't know a lot about.
Some people think it's adversarial.
Some people might think it's not adversarial enough.
So wherever you fall on this decision tree, knowledge is power, right?
Yeah.
And then maybe reach out to someone if I know who's been through it and get their thoughts
and things like that.
I try to put myself in the situation so that I go in as informed as possible.
And it's really unique for everybody.
So the core parts are always going to be the same.
It's voluntary process.
Both sides agree.
The school and the parents.
It's a neutral third party person from the State Department of Education.
But from there, it can kind of get unique in how many facilitated meetings you have,
who is there, how many people are there.
Is it the same amount both meetings?
It really gets really unique based on the reason, the request for facilitation.
Any parting thoughts before we move on to the next step?
I would say the facilitator is also going to reach out to the parents, get that background
information.
They will be doing the same thing to the school and the district.
So the facilitator also will do their due diligence and really learning about the situation.
So I guess I would say just provide the facilitator with as much of that information as possible
so they're getting a really clear picture too.
And they can really help.
The last thing I would add to facilitation because I would assume we're moving up the
chain, right?
Yeah.
And I don't want to say step because you can go back and forth at any point in this process.
I think that I would add in our experience that we have heard is that schools can request
facilitation as well.
And we've heard a lot or we've heard that it's been really helpful for some schools
who struggle to find that good communication middle ground.
Or we've got some new special education teachers or teachers who just might need a little bit
of help in that organization of some of our more complex IEPs.
And yeah, if a family is contacted saying that the school wants to have a facilitated
IEP meeting, I don't know that I would worry too much about, you know, oh my gosh, did
I do something wrong or is something going on that I'm not aware of?
Are they ganging up on me?
What's happening?
It's really a tool for both the school districts and families to really just come together.
And to figure out how to have an effective conversation, like a conversation that is
meaningful and will go somewhere versus just spinning in our chairs.
And sometimes, especially when we need to build back positive partnerships, we can get
lost and kind of make it a parent versus teacher or parent versus school and forget that the
whole reason why we're there and that we both agree that we want to support the child.
Pretend that Sandra and David have called us here at Idaho Parents Unlimited because
they want to know more about mediation.
So mediation is a lot of, you know, if we're talking about like promotional materials or
like blurbs that we would tell people is, you know, we're still talking about decisions
being made by individuals who know the child quicker resolution options than if you were
to pursue, say, dispute or excuse me, due process.
But then some of the things that really make it different than facilitation is that we're
talking about like a legally binding agreement.
We're only having three people for the parent side.
And then I hate saying that because I don't want to make it sound like sides.
But three people on each that represent the family, three that represent the school district.
See, even I struggle to find to make it sound not as adversarial because it's not side versus
side.
Right.
So yes, a total of six people.
Right.
Again, this is still voluntary on both sides.
So if the parents say we want to utilize mediation, then the school would also have to say yes.
I am not getting a lot of families or schools ever requesting mediation.
Well, I think that just goes to show that facilitation is very effective.
And when you're when we're talking about mediation, we're now talking about two to three issues
that really we no one can come to agreement on, we just can't resolve the dispute or the
conflict or whatever the conversation may be, we cannot come to an agreement.
So we need to enter into a mediated conversation where now we're only talking about those two
maybe three at the most hot button items where we are not taking notes at this meeting.
It looks very different.
It might feel very different.
And whatever comes out of that is is is what goes.
So let me ask this, if I've decided to do mediation, I've gone through the entire process
and I don't like the results.
Can I go to do process with that afterwards?
It depends on what comes out of your mediation.
It depends on your NDR.
It depends on what you guys because what will come out of in most cases, probably not.
Which again is when we send these emails and we tell people, you know, please keep us updated.
We want to hear how this goes.
Feel free to reach back out if you want to brainstorm new solutions.
We never hear back from parents who have used mediation because they can't.
Yeah.
They legally cannot.
They will walk away.
You have to sign a confidentiality agreement, which then makes it when when you're asking
if they could go to do process, they could go to do process for additional items.
But none of the points in which, like Sarah said, maybe it's one or two things that we
are in content, you know, that we are talking about in mediation.
Those two points cannot then go to do process.
In my understanding, I'm not an attorney and I do not represent or play one on TV.
Yes, I just want to put that legal disclaimer out there.
We can't offer any kind of legal advice, but we can tell you about resources and provide
you those resources.
However, the reverse is not true in that situation.
So let's say you were doing you're in the middle of due process and you decide, hey,
I'd actually let's stop and do mediation.
You can do that.
Absolutely.
And I think that happens more often than not.
I think people get very excited and gung ho and we are going to stick it to the school.
And then they go, oh, maybe we can just deal with this.
Exactly.
More formal conversation.
Formal, a little bit lower dispute resolution.
Mediation is still dispute resolution.
It's still we're still in disagreement, but it's a little less formal, but still formal.
In the fact that we're not going in front of a hearing officer.
Right.
Yes.
We're not out of the court system.
We're still we're still in that decision making conversation where we can go back and forth
and communicate with each other and not through our representation of of that legal.
That's exactly what I was going to say in terms of there's no we're still within the
school and the school district level.
So people who still know who Chad is and what class he's in and they even know him personally
versus if we were in due process or expedited due process, we're outside of witnesses.
This is someone who's never met this child, has never set foot in Apple Elementary.
That kind of stuff.
So who's ready for some statistics?
Let's do it.
You know us in data.
Exactly.
I'm going to bow out, but you can just geek out.
Surprisingly, there's not a lot because there's not a lot.
So in 2020, so that's school year 2020 to 2021, Idaho had 15 mediation requests and
eight of those were ones that were not related to a due process hearing.
So again, there's that crossover where if you've gone to due process, you can always
take it back.
And then 2021 to 2022, which was last school year, there were 12 and five of those were
not related to due process.
So essentially eight and then the following year five.
So I guess that would really explain why it's not something that's that we get a lot of
calls about.
Yeah, because it's rarely occurring.
But it's still always an option.
And maybe when people call and we talk about their situation, they decide that it's not
the best option for their situation.
So let's move on to state complaint, which is another one that could be paired with a
whole bunch of other different things.
So just because you're on its own.
Exactly.
But just because you're doing state complaint or you are filing a state complaint does not
mean that you cannot also request facilitation.
Right.
To still try to build back what's happening.
So a state you may be interested in pursuing a state complaint if one of the following
applies to you, to your chat and IDA violation within one year.
So there's some time some timelines here that's not related to a personnel.
So this is an ethics complaint or, you know, let's say just as the first example that pops
into my head, you had a teacher that did some form of corporal punishment, more an ethics
complaint.
Well, I could see where I'm strained to two different areas here.
Maybe a teacher or a paraprofessional or someone who had contact with your student said something
or that you know that might you might be offended by.
So but we could be talking about a procedural IDA violation, but it's not something to do
with one specific person.
So this may look like Chad has been found eligible for an hour of speech language therapy
and he has not been receiving it.
And I have data to back that up.
So we're not filing a complaint against the speech language pathologist or the special
education teacher.
We're filing a complaint because he did not receive his free and appropriate education
as outlined in his eligibility.
So these are happening 60 day investigations potentially resulting in a corrective action
plan.
I guess I really want to say the form the state complaint form is really easy to navigate.
It is.
I just had a family say this is it.
Exactly.
That's it.
The point is self explanatory and it and there's a question that literally says what what resolution
do you want?
So what do you want that?
And that's really sometimes that can be really hard for families.
Like what do I want?
Well, some families might say I want you to apologize.
Some families might say I don't want my child to attend this school within this district
anymore.
It might be I want more training.
Right.
Or how about I want the services?
Yeah, exactly.
And this might be where compensatory education could come into play.
So like we said before, mediation and facilitation remain available.
But this process also has it doesn't require people working collaboratively to solve an
issue.
So this could be grandma who's filing a state complaint.
Yeah.
With any interested party.
Yes.
So a teacher or anybody who has maybe it's a paraprofessional who no longer works at
that school anymore.
So anybody can file a state complaint as long as the IDA violation in question has happened
within the last 364 days.
So before we hear we talk about a story, let's talk data again.
So 2020, Idaho had a total of 30 state complaints filed with 24 reports issued and 21 of those
reports had findings of noncompliance.
So what I'm what I'm trying to say here is is that 30 were filed, but 24 of those state
complaints that were filed reported issues.
So maybe six of those could have been filed incorrectly.
21 of those had had IDA violations and six were withdrawn or dismissed.
And then 2021, 34 filed 29 findings of noncompliance and three were withdrawn or dismissed at some
point during the process.
Okay.
So who has a story about Chad?
Well, I was just thinking about I mean, instances where we feel worried or nervous or scared
to file a state complaint.
I mean, it's kind of kind of a big deal.
We're going up against a bit against the man, right?
It might feel like we might feel like we're going to get some backlash or have have that
target on our back.
So what what the data is telling me in that story is that there are some struggling school
districts that might need some training and education on procedure and policy and how
to use their own resources to serve the kids that are found eligible for special education
and related services.
And I will say so Apple Elementary is within Perry Winkle School District.
So I have seen where several parents will call about one school district or one school
and everyone's reporting the same series of problems.
I guess I also want everyone out there to know that you don't have to just talk to
I-Poll.
You can also talk to dispute resolution at the State Department of Education.
So before you make any kind of decisions about what you want to file or who and you want
to really explore all of the resources we can give you all of the phone numbers to the
State Department of Education and they have people there who will happily walk through.
I think it's important to point out that Idaho and a lot of other states are operated under
local control, which means the state isn't allowed to come in and tell our school districts
what to do.
But when we have a state complaint, or we have multiple state complaints, that's when
we can pull in the resources that our State Department of Education has, where our smaller
school districts and our smaller schools might not have the, I'll just say the financial
resources to come in and provide all of these extra trainings and do all of these other
things where if you have these complaints and we file them, then we can pull in the
State Department of Ed where they can come in and do those trainings.
And that's what they're there for.
They're there to educate, train and provide resources to all of our schools.
So they're for everyone and the continuing education for all parties involved.
Yes.
First, you're exactly right.
And second, another thing that I think is an interesting piece to point out is that
after you file a complaint, it doesn't mean that your voice kind of just disappears from
the situation.
So let's say you filed, it's being investigated and as a result of this, there's a corrective
action plan and now Apple Elementary and Perry Winkle School District are creating a family
voice.
So they have like a family group that is a stakeholder and gets to be invited to the
table throughout every step of the process in their corrective action plan.
So it's not just you complain and then some wheels get set into action, motions are happening
and then you're kind of removed from the process.
The parents can still have the opportunity to still be very much involved.
Yeah.
And it's not secret.
So many times I've helped families with state complaints and then they've called and said,
thank you so much.
This is X, Y, Z happened and this is how it is so much better and we are moving on and
everybody is happy.
So state complaints and I think what you kind of were alluding to is that if a problem is
bigger and the state gets in there or more parents kind of get on board, we could potentially
have some state systemic complaints and we have seen those in certain districts when
we've had multiple problems within the same school or the same related service or what
have you and then the State Department of Ed has been able to go in there, provide like
Sarah said, training, education, the supports and resources to get that district back on
track for the families in their district.
We've heard from our State Department as well encouraging if families feel that there is
a legitimate IDEA complainable issue to file those state complaints.
They can't do anything about it if they don't know anything is that things are not working.
Exactly.
I'm sorry, did you just say?
If you didn't put it in writing, it didn't happen.
Right.
And it needs to be documented, right?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I guess also I will say that state complaints very common.
I hear families say, I don't want this to happen to another student.
Therefore I would really like to yes, this is, you know, we've gone to facilitation and
we've made it better for my student.
But by writing a state complaint, it provides those resources and trainings almost for the
district so that it doesn't happen to additional students in some cases.
I'm just saying that is something commonly that we hear from families.
I don't want this to happen again.
So lots of different reasons.
Yeah, sure.
It could be, you know, any IDEA violation, whether that's adaptations, accommodations,
related services, that could be busing.
It could be, we've seen it be a lot of different things.
You can't adjust that caveat is that it cannot be, it's not personnel.
You cannot say that I don't like this principle and she was mean to my student at, you know,
Apple Elementary.
That is a personnel issue.
That's not an IDEA issue.
So very commonly that's the call that we will kind of field.
That's a whole nother podcast.
Yeah, but then I also want to point out that if you get that call, you're never just going
to say, well, no, this doesn't fit.
You know, goodbye.
Have a great day.
Click.
Oh, you don't know.
I don't.
I promise.
Yeah, here are some other options that might better fit your situations.
Let's everyone feel good about a state complaint.
Okay, we'll move on to due process.
So this is something that again, kind of like mediation, I don't really ever, I'm not getting
any questions about hardly ever.
But let's let's talk about it briefly.
It's where the decision is being made by a hearing officer, an administrative law judge
that is not involved with the child's education.
This could be filed within two years of when parties knew of the situation in question.
This is something that is absolutely at cost to the parents instead of being free, non
cost service.
Parties are paying for expenses, attorney fees, and neither the IDEA nor state law provides
authority for a hearing officer to award attorney's fees.
And I'm saying that because that's something that I read sometimes in these hearings, you
know, and these are hearings that are also outside the state of Idaho when I was researching
this.
And I was looking through, let's say our neighbors, California, our neighbors, Montana, Oregon,
sometimes people are listing out their grievances.
And then they're saying, well, I would also like the school district to pay for my attorney's
fees and there's nothing in IDEA law.
IDEA, the social math.
Exactly.
I'm throwing that out there.
So this is definitely a more involved process.
We're gathering witnesses.
We're getting evidence.
We're taking time out of out of the school's resources.
We're out of our own resources, out of time away from providing services to our students
when we're when we're involving all, you know, there is a time and a place.
Don't get us wrong.
But we hear often in our office some calls that we don't we want to skip facilitation.
We want to skip the phone call.
We want to go straight to show me the lawyer.
And like you said, there's a time and a place for everything.
But sometimes families don't realize all of the spectrum of other options that are available
to them first.
And I will say that this is how Idaho has always done things.
Families coming from outside of Idaho, their state potentially did things differently.
And we we do see that.
So it's our job as the parent center to really provide these dispute resolution options.
But yeah, there is sometimes a time and a place for due process.
But it is it is costly.
The school district is going to bring their attorneys.
So you better bring yours and be prepared for that.
And just the emotional drain.
And well, and the timelines are different, too, because then you can also have an extended
timeline added to that due process timeline.
So instead of you know, we're talking maybe two or three facilitated IEP meetings that
might be over a year of things happening.
And again, you know, this is where stay put or pendency would be put in for the child's
IEP.
So it would revert back to the IEP before any of the changes that were disputing.
But still, we're talking about a long drawn out process.
So let's talk about some data.
School year 2020 to 2021, there were seven filed in Idaho, 70 process.
Three of those went all the way to a hearing.
Four were withdrawn or dismissed.
And that includes being resolved without a hearing.
So dismissed or withdrawn also includes being resolved without going to a hearing.
So maybe you move back to mediation or you went with a state complaint or what have you.
And in 2021, four were filed, one in the state of Idaho, four for 2021, 2022.
One is still pending, but the other three were withdrawn or dismissed.
And I just wanted to add that again, that spreadsheet that you'll be able to have access
to in the description includes data from 2016 on.
And so if you look at the average from 2016 to now, it's four a year, essentially four,
four and a half that are filed every year.
And if you were to look at some of our neighbors, which I will link some of that information
below, they are not tracking this by year, they're tracking it by quarter because they
have so many and it can look like over three or 400 a year.
So and again, they're tracking, they're tracking sheets do look a little different.
So it might be they're doing due process with mediation or just due process that goes straight
to a hearing.
And they also track if it was filed by the school or if it was filed by the guardians
or the parents like Sandra and David.
So theirs looks a little bit different.
So let's talk about expedited due process.
And again, expedited is is just saying faster.
So the timelines are quicker.
So this is where it's relating to a student's placement and discipline.
So we're using expedited due process when parents disagree with the school district's
discipline related decision that affects Chad's placement and whether Chad's behavior was
related to his disability.
So school district may use this process if they believe that a child's behavior could
be dangerous to the child or others.
And then here comes a whole bunch of numbers and timelines.
But resolution meeting is occurring within seven calendar days, unless both parties agree
in writing not to have that meeting or here we go.
They're using mediation instead.
The hearing timeline proceeds if the issue is not resolved within 15 calendar days, the
hearing must be held within 20 and the decision must then be issued within 10 days of the
hearing.
So because it is expedited and the process is sped up, there's a lot more guidelines
and numbers and timelines that everyone in the process is following.
But the rest of it is going to follow what due process looks like.
Correct.
Yeah.
So how might, why might Chad's family file expedited due process?
Maybe Chad was expelled from school.
Maybe Chad was expelled for school for a disciplinary measure.
Maybe Chad, um, let's say Chad in a major disciplinary.
Yes.
Yeah.
Chad brought drugs.
Chad brought drugs to school.
Okay.
So if Chad is bringing drugs to school, it's kind of one of those things.
Drugs are weapons, it's automatic.
The student, I don't want to say automatic, the rules are the same regardless.
Exactly.
They're for all students in the case of Chad, because he's a student on an IEP, we need
to have a manifestation determination to determine if this was a manifestation of his disability.
If it was then okay, that goes one way.
Even if it wasn't, it goes another way.
If Chad is a student on an IEP, it doesn't matter, he still has to be supported with
an education.
They could just place him in an alternate education setting, an alternate educational
setting.
So that means that Chad brought something, Chad brought a weapon or drugs and he cannot
go back to school.
Perry Winkle school district is saying no way.
Sorry, but we have to provide you with your education.
We want to do that at home.
And family says no way.
We are, we are disputing that we're disputing the disciplinary decision or the placement
decision or both.
And that's where expedited due process comes in.
Maybe they are, they are saying we would rather have Chad educated in a setting like a library
or the district office somewhere other than the home setting.
So expedited due process is that it's really disputing placement and discipline.
And then a quick turnaround, we have to maintain that forward movement of education because
this isn't something that's going to last a year.
No, because maybe in the other due process situation, when you've got that stay put
and pendency, you're still getting educated, you're following the IEP that you had previously.
You're not getting educated is not an issue, but an expedited due process, it potentially
is.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So the students that are in a due process or something, if there's a stay put, they
are still going to school every day, receiving their education, might not have any idea that
this is all going behind the scenes.
A student like Chad, who has been expelled for a disciplinary measure, potentially is
going without school for that 10 days.
And then that 45 days is that timeline where we still owe, Perry Winkle School District
still owes him an education, but where?
Because of those related services that are indicated in his IEP.
Exactly.
So that's why it has to be fast because yes, this is now a student who potentially is not
getting this free and appropriate education.
Which then could be an IDEA violation.
So we're trying to navigate all the systems while also keeping everybody safe and making
sure everybody's supported.
100%.
So some data on this 2020, none, none were filed expedited due process.
And in 2021, so that's 2021 to 2022 school year, one was filed and it was either withdrawn
or dismissed.
That was a lot of information on all of the different steps and linked in the description
will be a padlet where you can go through everything piece by piece if you would like,
or if you want to know more information about it.
But instead of just ending on kind of a heavier note, I would like to brainstorm.
And we talk about this in webinars, we talk about this in trainings, prevention is key,
right?
And there's some that we can implement some tactics, strategies to not get this far.
Into the dispute resolution weeds.
Yeah, exactly.
So I'm thinking of and again, you will have a link to this, but Cadre's A Tale of Two
Stories.
It's their videos on what a meeting can look like without effective communication and what
it could look like with effective communication and really, you know, like listening for understanding
instead of listening to talk, remembering why we're here.
I think a lot of things that I've heard everyone in this room say to educators is, you know,
this might be just another task you check off in your day, but this parent may have
been on the phone with Medicaid for two hours before this.
So they're already like really tightly wound.
They don't have any frustration threshold.
And again, the same can be said for the teachers, right?
Maybe the teachers have had a really hard day.
And that's really where that open, honest communication comes in and that you trust
that your team is really doing what is right for Chad and right by Chad.
And maybe that can also look like really requesting to see the data or asking that data be
reported on more often or there's all kinds of different strategies that you can use to
build up the relationship versus having to build it back.
Yeah.
I mean, one of my favorite things is just to ask for rather than just the bad, I want
to get good reports too.
So hey, can you send me some pictures when we're having a great day rather than just
when there's problems?
And I like to be really reciprocal of that as well, because I know that what my students,
teachers are doing in the school setting are affecting him at home.
So when we have a really positive, something really positive happens, I like to share that
with them just so that we are communicating positive and negative back and forth.
So it doesn't seem like the only time I'm ever coming at them is with the negative.
I really like to foundationally set that up.
That helps build those relationships and those ongoing open relation, communicative relationships.
I've seen great things come out of state complaints, relationships built out of facilitation and
wonderful things happen.
Schools are putting together or school districts are putting together family advisory councils
as some as corrective action plans.
But then I've really turned that into building a better community for for all of their students.
I think I would just say it's not us versus them, we're a team for Chad.
Everyone has the same end goal is how do we support this student?
Yep, make Chad at the middle.
That's just it.
Chad, I just imagine Chad sitting in the middle on the table.
Yeah, he should.
It could be a picture of Chad sitting.
Could be.
Criss cross applesauce in the middle of the table.
There we go.
Thanks for coming, Chad.
And thank you everyone for listening in.
If you are in Idaho or are planning on moving to Idaho and have any questions on systems
or services for children with disabilities, please reach out to us on our website at ipulidaho.org.
That's I P U L Idaho dot org.
Thanks for listening in.
Until next time, this is Allison with Sarah and Melissa on Unlimited Parenting.
Thanks for listening.