TSCHM

The accommodations that were removed were extra time, breaks every 30 minutes, 1:1 testing, he is visually impaired so he also gets a paper copy of the test, enlarged, and it is very different test from what other students get (directions are different than computer tests and directions are read out loud—which is another reason to have 1:1 testing). We weren’t super positive that his enlarged versions were even ordered, since his teachers kept telling him he had to take it on the computer, which was wrong in and of itself. These accommodations were removed completely and the team refused to meet with us so he could have these accommodations (like he had for all his other tests all year) we feel out of retaliation for filing due process and for previous OCR complaints. We are still in process and hoping OCR gets this right.

I’m not sure which would have been more effective, a state complaint or an OCR complaint. The state did advise us that we could file a complaint. We decided to go with an OCR complaint. Now I’m hoping we did the right thing. This shouldn’t happen!

Hi, thanks for the response. They had no data to support. In fact, the district person actually quoted that ‘he didn’t use it last year, so no…’ and again, they denied us a meeting to even talk about it. Since I posted this, this gets even more dramatic since the district I guess has refused to mediate offered by OCR. We agreed to mediate, but they will not. Now apparently OCR will continue the investigation. We have submitted emails where they refuse, we even reached out to the state (not for a complaint, but for clarification on this issue) and the state agreed. OCR has all this evidence and I’m hoping they do something about it. Praying actually because no parent or child should have to go through this.

Hi all. I need some help with an upcoming OCR mediation meeting for my son who is disabled. In the state and district we are in, we have had to file two due process complaints in the same year. Both of these settled, fortunately, however, within a month after settling, problems still continued. We noticed that accommodations were removed (completely removed) from his IEP. As our sons advocates, we reached out to the IEP team and requested a meeting. Three days went by and no one from the team responded. So, we reached out again, to a person higher up in the district, detailing our concerns (accommodations were missing for state testing and state testing was quickly approaching), and in the end, the team just flat out refused to meet with us for an IEP meeting at our request. This caused my son to not have needed accommodations for state testing, caused him a lot of anxiety and stress before, during, and after testing, and of course forced me to file an OCR complaint, which has since been pushed into mediation. My question for you all is what would you ask for in mediation? I have very strong feelings about all of this. I feel that since we had previously filed due process complaints, the school both discriminated and retaliated against both of us and especially our son. The LEA, the principal, never even bothered to respond to our request for an IEP meeting. He seemed to not care and knew full well, my son needed the accommodations, but just flat out refused to meet as a team to discuss. Even when we went over his head, we were still denied a meeting by other district (policy) officials. My son was getting the accommodations in the classroom, all school year, but for the state tests, he would not be getting. We even pointed out that the accommodations for in class should match accommodations for state testing, but that didn’t matter, they did not grant us a meeting before testing so we could correct the errors. In our state, these tests are required. Even if I kept him out on testing days, the minute I brought him back, they would have been required to test him. Keeping him home I understand was an option, but how is that fair to him keeping him out for the rest of the year? Again, what would you ask for in mediation if this happened to you and your child? This has been such an uphill battle for both him and us. I want to make a statement with them so that they think twice about doing this to another family and child. The law is pretty clear that (my understanding) you cannot just refuse to meet or not bother to respond to parents when they request an IEP meeting. You also cannot just remove accommodations in an IEP. I’m trying to wrap my head around as to how to handle this. Any thoughts are appreciated.