SpEd Due Process Specialist?

[Mel]

Hi, 

We received it team meeting notice for our child's IEE meeting. In it we saw some people on there we are not familiar with, one of them was a "SpEd Due Process Specialist" from the school. Has anyone heard of this before? What do they do??

Also, we noticed none of the teachers whose classes our child struggles in are attending. Shouldn't they be included?? Especially as we are going to be talking about how our child's executives function noted in the IEE affects her in those classes at school and accomodations....

[JSD24]

When I saw "SpEd Due Process Specialist", my 1st thought was school district's lawyer.  You might want to Google the name & see what credentials are listed for this person.  I've not heard of this before.  IMO, if the school is inviting their lawyer, they should be more transparent about this.

IDEA requires 'a teacher'.  I've seen the PE teacher or art teacher be invited.  Subs are an issue with getting coverage so a teacher can be freed up to attend an IEP meeting so, my guess is, they invited teachers who have planning periods when the meeting is scheduled.  There is no reason I'm aware of that 'invited teacher' cannot cover the class for 'teacher whose class the student struggles with'.  I'd ask if this can be done since it doesn't seem to be on the school's radar to do this.

It does make sense to have the teachers where the student has struggles attend the IEP meeting where the team plans to discuss what can be done to help.  They should have better data on the struggles and may have even implemented something that has helped where your child could be getting the same accommodation in every class.  Or, it could be, the invited teachers are doing something that helps that's not in the IEP where they will have data on accommodations that will help in other classes.

Can you email the teachers and ask:  Is there something you are doing in your class for my child, XX, that has helped them with executive functioning?  We've seen that XX does OK with English and social studies where they struggle with math and science.  Is there something extra being done in English and social studies that helps - possibly something that aligns with Universal Design for Learning - that can be incorporated into the IEP to help XX with math and science.

[Lisa Lightner]

If a school is going to deny your IEE request, they are required per IDEA to file for Due Process to defend their evaluations.

If this is just to discuss your IEE request, it's kind of a gray area as far as who is required to attend, if you didn't ask for an IEP meeting--and no changes to the IEP are expected.

They can just file for Due Process and send you the PWN announcing as much. Sounds like they're going to give you a chance to back out before that happens.

[Mel]

12 hours ago, Lisa Lightner said:

If a school is going to deny your IEE request, they are required per IDEA to file for Due Process to defend their evaluations.

If this is just to discuss your IEE request, it's kind of a gray area as far as who is required to attend, if you didn't ask for an IEP meeting--and no changes to the IEP are expected.

They can just file for Due Process and send you the PWN announcing as much. Sounds like they're going to give you a chance to back out before that happens.

We are actually meeting to go over the IEE results. Would that be normal to have that person attend for those?

Looking at the duties it looks like this person helps in assisting, planning, implementing due process procedures.

[JSD24]

I'm not aware of another school with a DP Specialist so I'm not sure what the normal is with this person attending IEP related meetings.  I can make an assumption that DP costs the school a lot of money because they need to have an attorney and they charge $180/hour in my area where costs add up quickly.  They might be present so they can avoid DP and these costs.  I can see this person's main responsibilities being to gather paperwork needed for the lawyer - like a law clerk who is paid less than an attorney - which saves the school money.

It might be good to ask them who will be attending from the school so you know what to expect at the meeting.  (I remember a meeting for my son where the psychologist & special ed teacher both had interns/shadows and the school math specialist attended even though there was no reason given for this.  We ran out of chairs and possibly violated fire code.  I wasn't prepared for this big of a crowd.)

[Carolyn Rowlett]

Can you just reach out and ask the team or IEP coordinator (or whoever sent the Notice of Meeting) what a Due Process Specialist is and what the role of this person will be at this meeting?  Seems like a valid question.

[Lisa Lightner]

On 3/10/2025 at 11:22 PM, Mel said:

We are actually meeting to go over the IEE results. Would that be normal to have that person attend for those?

Looking at the duties it looks like this person helps in assisting, planning, implementing due process procedures.

Yes, if the district paid for it.