State edu dept not responding..

[sisymay]

What is the name of your state? GA

I filed formal state complaints against my school district for IDEA violations. I asked state for copies of all documents that district submitted to them for my case. State sent me the documents, but they are all forms with no personal information regarding my child. How can state decide a case with blank documents?
I called, left a message with state about this. I asked if these blank forms were suppose to have my childs info on them. I asked if these forms were suppose to be in my childs school files (they werent') I asked how can they decide the case with blank documents?
No reply. I wrote a letter about this. No reply. I wrote again, no reply.
There is a lot of other questionable things going on with the school and state, but not needing to bring it up here. Just stating this because I feel this is a reason state is not contacting me.
When the state finished my complaint case, they sent a letter of their findings to the school. They sent me a copy of this letter addressed to the school. BUT, the state did not send a letter addressed to ME about their findings.
Their own rules specifically state they are suppose to send findings report to parents. I have called and written to state to ask about this, also. No reply.
My questions- is the state suppose to write a letter addressed to me about their findings of the complaints I filed?
Why would a school district send blank documents to state about an IDEA complaint for child find, not doing initial eval, no PWN, no parent rights, no procedural safeguards??
THANKS!!

 

[notsmartmark]

Was your complaint a Formal Complaint, request for Mediation or Due Process Heearing? Also, when was you complaint initiated this school year or last school year?

Can you quote the GA Sped regs that indicate that their own rules specifically state they are suppose to send findings report to parents.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[GaAtty]

It seems that you made a complaint about the SCHOOL to the STATE, when actually what you seem to have wanted was a correction of the way your child was being treated in the school. In other words, you made a complaint about the entire school instead of the way your child was being treated. The result is that your child was not the object of the complaint, the school was. What you should have done was appeal the IEP by filing for a Due Process hearing, and that would have addressed the IDEA violations that were done TO YOUR CHILD. Since you filed the wrong type of complaint, I don't know why you would want a copy, but you could probably get it by doing an Open Records Request, which in Georgia requires a state agency to provide access to most of their documents (with few exceptions) within 3 business days. However, I think it is a waste of time. It won't get what you need for your child. Do an appeal, if it is not too late.

 

[sisymay]

To notsmartmark, this is a formal state complaint, filed this school year.



The exact statute about state notifying parents of their findings is on page 2 under (j).

To GaAtty, yes I made a complaint to the state about the school. It wasn't really about how my child was being treated, it was that the school was violating the IDEA laws.
I thought that state complaints could only be made for the schools IDEA violations, and not for how the child is treated by the school.
The state form for complaints did not have anything about how a child is being treated, only for IDEA violations. If there is a different type of complaint process, I have never heard of it.
I don't know much about much about due process. I thought I had to go thru a 'chain of command' type thing and that filing a state complaint would be the first step in getting things corrected.
I did request records from the state, the records that the school provided to them about my complaint. And the state did send me the copies but they were all blank forms. That's why I don't know how the state could investigate complaints using blank forms. The forms were for the SST process and the sped process. I have been involved in fighting the school for 8 years with SST and sped, and i have never seen these forms. These forms are also not in my childs school files.

Thank you both for your replies, much appreciated!!

 

[sisymay]

I forgot to add that I don't understand page 2 (k) of the link I provided, but the school certainly didn't do this. Sounds like to me by what is written, the school won't get funds if this isn't done.

 

[notsmartmark]

Sisymay,

Please edit out your link:
C:\Documents **************
It's pointed at your hard drive, not the internet.
IDEA has a number of complaint resolution processes, including some identified at the state level. There are 3 primary resolution options at the state level before entering into the court system. They are:
Formal Complaint,
Mediation, and
Due Process Hearing

You said you filed a formal complaint. As GaAtty indicated, you sound like you wanted to request a Due Process Hearing.

Here's the location to look at all 3 resolution options: http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ci_exceptional.aspx?PageReq=CIEXCDispute

Here is the general language information regarding Due Process: http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/DMGetDocument.aspx/gcimp_dispute_resolution.pdf?p=4BE1EECF99CD364EA5554055463F1FBB77B0B70FECF5942E12E123FE4810FFF5B440E78DF74A7BAD08D9CED7C9FA7A05&Type=D

Here are your state Due Process regs: http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/_documents/doe/legalservices/160-4-7-.18.pdf

If you are thinking about filing a Due Process Hearing, please have someone look at your case before you file. It is a consuming process.

 

[sisymay]

Hi thanks ! I wish I knew the laws well myself.
The reason I filed a state complaint and not due process was for a few reasons.
First, I thought that my case was better fit for a complaint and not due process.
ANother reason is, I was told that before due process is done, it's better to get all your ducks in a row so to speak. And if you do a complaint first, that this will help your case if you do file due process.
All I filed complaint for was the school refusing to do an initial eval for my dd to see if she qualified for sped services. This did include 5 violations, though.
I didn't think this was 'serious enough' for due process and thought state compliant could handle it.
All the state did was tell school to do the eval. The state didn't even find school out of compliance. If they weren't , I wouldn't have filed the complaint to begin with.
I wish there was a way I could get a lawyer to look over my whole case for the past 8 years. It would blow their mind