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Sample Complaint Letter - IEP Violation
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<Your address>
<Your City, State Zip>
<Your area code/phone number>
<Your e-mail address>

<Date>

Mr/s. <name>, Director
Office of Special Education Services
<Your State>Department of Education
<Address>
<City, State Zip>

Dear Mr/s. <Name>:

This letter is a formal complaint against the <Name of District> Schools, on behalf of our son, Roger Smart . Roger is a 14 year old hard of hearing student in the eighth grade. He attends <Name> School and also receives special education programs and services through the <Name> Program for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students. We allege that <Name of District> Schools violated the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the <State> Administrative Rules for Special Education.

 

Allegation #1: Failure to provide related services

Roger 's IEP, (attached) requires that he receive speech therapy twice per week, 30 minutes per session, and PT once per week, 45 minutes per session. Since January 15, 2000 no speech therapy has been provided to him at all, and he has only had two session of PT, each for 25 minutes. Those sessions occurred on January 26 and February 7, 2000. The IEP clearly states that Roger is to receive services from August 28, 1999 through June 12, 2000. The principal of <Name>Junior High School, <Name>, informed us that speech services are not available while the speech therapist is on maternity leave. (See attached letter of confirmation, dated January 30, 2000.) Roger's homeroom teacher, <Name> stated that she will only allow Roger to go to PT if she feels that Roger has been particularly clumsy during the week (See attached letter of confirmation, dated February 12, 2000.) We do not believe that this meets the requirements of Roger's IEP, and thus violates both the IDEA and the <State> Administrative Rules for Special Education. We request that you direct <Name of District> Schools to immediately begin providing Roger with all the therapy services to which he is entitled, as per his IEP. Additionally, pursuant to §300.660(b)(1) of the implementing regulations pursuant to IDEA, we request that you direct the district to initiate the provision of additional hours Speech Therapy and PT to Roger. In order to compensate for the missed services, this additional therapy should be equivalent to the number of hours of therapy services the district failed to provide to Roger, to which he was entitled. We further request that the schedule for the provision of these compensatory services be approved by us before taking effect.

 

Allegation #2: Failure to provide supplementary aids

Roger's IEP requires the provision of an FM unit at all times that Roger is on school property. Roger is mainstreamed for all academic classes, except English. Beginning with the second semester of this academic year, his math teacher has been Mr. <Name>, who refuses to wear the FM microphone. As a result, Roger is unable to understand what he is saying, and is falling behind in math. He failed the first two quizzes of this semester. Roger has always done well in math and claims that he failed the quiz because Mr. <Name> will not wear the FM microphone. Roger is therefore is unable to benefit from any instruction given to the rest of the class. We request that you direct Mr. <Name> to wear the FM microphone at all times when Roger is in his class. We further request, pursuant to §300.660(b)(1) of the implementing regulations pursuant to IDEA, that you direct the <Name of District> Schools to either provide Roger with after-school tutoring, or to reimburse us for the cost of a private tutor, to compensate for the instruction Roger missed while Mr. <Name> was not wearing the FM microphone. We also ask that you direct Mr. <Name> to allow Roger to take the first two quizzes over again, after he has completed the tutoring.

 

We request that you investigate the substance of our complaints, and direct <Name of District> Schools to provide compensatory education and services, pursuant to §300.660(b)(1) of the implementing regulations pursuant to IDEA, as suggested above, if these allegations are found valid. Please respond to us in writing.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need additional information. Thank you for your time and attention to these matters.

Very truly yours,

Mary Smart

George Smart

Attachments

 

***  Please note that this article is the intellectual property of Celeste Johnson.  Its presence on this web page is with permission and does not place it in the public domain.  Celeste Johnson retains all rights to this letter.  Feel free to use the information but please do not redistribute it or include it in any published material without first obtaining her permission.

 
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