Juli: My son tested out of all special education services last year. I disagreed with the assessments and requested and IEE. The IEE could not be completed before the end of the school year so I decided to homeschool him through a public charter school for kindergarten. I’m now putting him in our public school district because I feel that he needs the social interaction and support from a licensed education specialist.
The school is telling me that he has been exited and they don’t need my consent to exit. They have agreed to assess him right away for eligibility, BUT I’m concerned that he is starting this experience with no supports in place. Is the school operating legally by exiting him from special education without my consent? I’m in California.
Juli –
I’m not completely familiar with California special education rules, but it does look like parent consent must be received before making changes to a student’s special education services (see: http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/qa/pssummary.asp).
Even if consent is not required (it’s not in most states), your child may still be entitled to “stay put” – which means he would still receive the services in the last agreed upon IEP – if you disagreed with the school’s decision.
I strongly encourage you to contact your local parent center (http://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center/). They can help you determine how consent applies in your specific situation, if your son is entitled to stay put, and what further actions you can take.
If you did not sign anything that you agreed to this than your son is still on an IEP until the evaluation is done. Did you disagree in writing? They need to give you a prior written notice anyway if they are going to “write your son out” as you say. Good luck with this. It sounds like they are not doing things the right way.