Cheryl: We would like our Due Process Hearing to be open to the public. The District’s lawyer is saying the process is confidential and is writing a pre-hearing memo to refuse our request. Is there caselaw to support our request for an open hearing?
Due Process: WE WANT A PUBLIC HEARING
We requested our child’s records over two months ago, and did not receive them. We started due process and had our first meeting, at which we discovered that the LEA’s atty firm on retainer already received all of the records, and is copying and scanning them. We won’t receive them for almost another week; the atty firm will send them to us. Is this typical? It seems odd that the respondent’s attorneys are going through the records first, and that we may not, as a result, receive all of the records. So our case is tainted from the start. Is there case law or regulations regarding this practice?
Cheryl –
There is better than case law. IDEA, itself, specifically provides parents the right to make the hearing public. §300.512(c) says,
“Parental rights at hearings. Parents involved in hearings must be given the right to…
(2) open the hearing to the public”
When the judge denies you asking for a public hearing and says “we will ask the district what they want, and put your request in writing” you put it in writing the judge says they didn’t receive and says the SD is denying for it to be open. What do you do then?