Education Law Reports

That post elicited a number of comments before dropping off the sidebar. Recently, a school psychologist added comment about reasons why she did not provide parents with a copy of reports before IEP meetings. Her comment included inaccuracies so we decided to start a new thread on this topic.

As a school psychologist who serves over 2, 000 students and writes over 120 reports a year, I have to say that in most cases in which I do not provide a copy of my report when such a report is requested, it is because it is not complete until the day (or shortly before) the meeting.

I would add that there is no legal mandate for such a report to be provided BEFORE the team meets.

On the other hand, by not providing the team with external reports with some time for perusal, you (the parent/client) risk those data being less than fully taken into account.

The relationship may not be a fully reciprocal one, but such is the nature of the beast.

Pete: The school psychologist stated that there is no legal mandate to provide the parent with a copy of the report before the meeting. This is not correct. If a parent requests a copy of the evaluation report before the IEP Meeting, there is a legal mandate to provide a copy.

The psycho-educational evaluation is an education record. See 34 CFR 300.613(a) which states that if a parent requests those records, “The agency must comply with a request without unnecessary delay and before any meeting regarding an IEP. . .” There is no wiggle room about this requirement – including poor time management practices by the school district. (The reg is located on page 272 in Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Ed.)