Legal Cases

Special Education Legal Cases

What to Expect

Sometimes families obtain representation to support them with their child’s IEP and services in the form of an attorney or an advocate.  This can bring anxiety to the team, but we are here to help!  To ensure that the situation goes well, please review the following guidelines:

1. Initial Communication.  Alert your Student Services administrator and Support Specialist if you get a comment or note from a parent that they have sought outside legal counsel or an advocate (may not be an attorney).  

   1. They may say or write “I’m bringing an advocate” or “I talked to an attorney”

   2. An advocate or attorney may reach out to you and say they are representing the family. Some advocates are attorney’s and some are not. 

   3. An advocate or attorney may reach out to you and request records.

   4. You may hear “rumors” of a family bringing an advocate or attorney to an IEP or other meeting. If this is the case, please ask the family directly if they will be bringing an attorney or advocate to the meeting. It is OK to ask this question!

   5. An attorney or advocate may show up at a meeting, unannounced.  If this happens, please reschedule so that you can have a Student Services administrator present.

2. Records Request.  Typically, if a family has paid for attorney representation, the attorney’s office will send a records request with an ROI to the district office.  If this happens,

   1. The Student Services department will reach out to you and schedule a meeting with you to review the case.

   2. The Student Services department will be asking you to pull some documents together (such as contact logs, behavior and academic progress data, etc.) together to respond to the records request (we will do the OrSped docs)

      1. You can submit extended contract for the time this takes you outside of your normal school day, just discuss with your Director first

      2. We will give you a specific deadline and will pick up the documents.  They will be returned to you once we have what we need.

   3. Communication, including IEP meeting dates, will go through Student Services until the attorney is no longer representing the family.

3. IEP Meeting.  It is likely that an IEP meeting will be scheduled to review whatever it is the family is wanting support with. 

   1. Scheduling will be done through the Student Services Department.

   2. Often the Student Services administrator will schedule a prep meeting  in order to answer any questions the team has, review data, review the agenda, etc. The purpose of this meeting is to ensure the IEP runs smoothly and the HSD team is all on the same page and everyone is clear on their role before, during and after the meeting. 

   3. The school will create the meeting notice and send it to the Student Services team to send to the attorney and parent.

   4. A Student Services administrator and Support Specialist will be present at the meeting. They will also work with the building to create an agenda for the meeting as well as an IEP draft (if appropriate) to send to the family and attorney approximately 5 days in advance of the IEP, to preview . 

   5. Often the timing of these meetings is not convenient. The Student Services department will assist with helping you get your class covered if you are in need of a sub. We want to support you in this process. We also always pay extended contract for legal meetings that go beyond contracted time. 

4. During and after the IEP meeting.

   1. It is likely that the case manager will facilitate the meeting, as per normal.  

      1. Occasionally, the team will decided to have someone else facilitate (Support Specialist or Student Services Admin)

   2. The attorney / advocate will ask you how long you need to get the paperwork from the meeting done.

      1. You should choose a date that is within 10 calendar days.  

   3. When the paperwork is complete (minutes, IEP revisions, etc), you will send it to the Student Services Administrator, who will review it and then their team will send it to the attorney and parent.

5. Other General Guidelines for Legal Cases

1. Before emailing with the parent, advocate or their legal counsel, ask whether this method of communication is the most appropriate  (as opposed to phone for example).  If you are unsure of which form of communication to use, consult with the Director.  Remember that emails are not necessarily confidential and become education records subject to a FERPA records request.”

Forward all emails to the Director so they can help lead and guide the case.

2.  Once the Director reviews the case, they will know whether it is necessary or not to engage the HSD legal council. Many times it is not. Sometimes it is. 

3.  All correspondence with attorneys will come from the Director. Simply forward emails to them in a legal case and leave the response to them. If needed, they can consult with the HSD attorney prior to responding to any challenging communication. 

4.  Reach out to your Director with any questions or concerns related to the legal case or legal process. We are here to help you and the team! 

Every case is unique and it is always possible that one will not go by these general guidelines.  However, this is a good overview of what to expect.

Official Memo - Legal Cases Guidance - Link

Guidance for Recording of Meetings - District Policy