Law Offices of Anne I. Eason, LLC
Curriculum Modifications and Adaptations
Info on the IDEA Improvement Act of 2004
Outcomes Research that Support Inclusion
logo designed by Maija Riekstiņa
Did Your School Follow The
New Requirements
|
The 1999 IDEA regulations that are now in effect made significant changes in Extended School Year services. Did your school follow the rules? They are at 34 C.F.R. 300.309.
Extended School Year (ESY) services can only be determined by an IEP meeting. Did someone else tell you "your child does not qualify?"
ESY must be available for your child if "the services are necessary for the provision of Free Appropriate Public Education to the child." Does your school district have written guidelines for how they determine ESY? Write for them.
ESY must "meet the standards of the State Education Agency." Does your SEA have written guidelines for ESY services? Write for them.
ESY may not be limited to "particular categories of disability." Have you been told ESY is only for students in "the severe and profound class" or something like that? Wrong.
Did your school district try to "limit the type, amount or duration of those services?" They cannot. Did your school district say only non-academic services, or only in groups, or only twice a week for two hours, or only four weeks out of the summer, and so forth? Those are violations of the law. The decision has to be individualized. Did your school say we will only look at one or two areas that were dealt with over the regular school year but not all of the issues that were the basis of programming during the regular year? That would be a violation of the individualization requirement of the statute.
All special services must be on an IEP and the IEP team determines the ESY services. ESY IEPs must have goals (just like on any IEP) and must report out progress in segments (just like any IEP). Some schools state that ESY is only to prevent severe regression over the summer. Even with that minimal standard, there must be a statement of a goal for the services (exactly how do you define what would be so "severe" that it must be prevented) and a procedure to report out to the parent what is happening in time for them to act to correct it if it is wrong.
Have your school personnel ever said "we just do not have any funding for that service over the summer, or any staff available over the summer?" If so, then the IEP should specify where those needed services will be purchased through private service providers.
Finally, ESY must be geared to what the school district has said will be the IEP for the 2000-2001 school year. If your school has based your child's 2000-2001 IEP on the evaluation of where your child is this May, and they assume that your child will pick up and start at that level next Fall, then the goal for ESY services must be to keep your child at least at that level. Otherwise, the 2000-2001 IEP will be a fraud and your child must receive compensatory services at the start of the school year to get them back up to the levels that your Spring IEP meeting promised they would be in the Fall.
This information is educational and not intended to be legal advice.
Reed Martin is an attorney with 33 years experience in special education law and recognized as one of the nation's leading experts. He can be reached through email at connie@westco.net or http://www.reedmartin.com