By Sheila Wolfe IEP Services
THE ABC’S OF IEP’S HOW TO FILE AN IEP COMPLAINT WITH THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (DOE)
“I keep telling my school that my child’s IEP is not being followed.” “My son isn’t getting any speech therapy because the SLP is on maternity leave.” “I keep asking how my daughter is doing in math, but the school just ignores me.” Does this sound familiar? Maybe it’s time to file a complaint with the state Department of Education (DOE). In previous articles, we covered various administrative remedies available to parents. The state complaint is, in Family owned & operated
Indiana DOE also provides guidance on filing a complaint at https://www.in.gov/doe/students/special-education/ special-education-complaint-511-iac-7-45-1/. Parents should review the requirements for a complaint and make sure they have all the necessary information and documentation to complete the complaint form. It helps to make sure you communicate by email with your school so you have documentation to share with your complaint. Verbal conversations amount to nothing more than “he-said-shesaid” when supporting a claim against the school. Typically, the most successful use of the complaint process will involve a direct violation of the IEP. If a parent has data, documentation, emails, or written records demonstrating a violation of the IEP, filing a complaint is a quick and free way to correct a school’s lack of compliance.
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my opinion, the easiest and perhaps most effective way to get your child’s program back on track when communication with the school breaks down. The complaint form itself can be accessed at https://www. in.gov/doe/files/filing-special-education-complaint.pdf.
There are many ways a school might directly violate the provisions of a student’s IEP. Here are just a few examples: 1. A therapist is on leave or quits and has not been replaced, leaving students without services. 2. A school consistently fails to follow the Behavior Intervention Plan for a student. 3. The school does not have an appropriately licensed teacher to provide services. 4. The school fails to provide progress monitoring assessments/data as required by the IEP. 5. The school fails to modify work/homework as required by the IEP. 6. The school fails to provide the required accommodations.
