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Parental Participation and Procedural Due Process

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  • Parent Participation

    • Relationships and functions-The amendments state that the education of children with disabilities will be made more effective by “strengthening the role and responsibility of parents and ensuring that families of such children have meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children at school and at home” (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1400(c)(5)(B)).

    • Parent Participation and Decision Making- Parents are active members in their child’s learning and it is required to give parents- advance notice of meeting, mutual convenient scheduling, interpreters, videoconference, and absent parent meetings.

    • Failure to notify- 3 exceptions- LEA prevented the parent from providing the notice, the parent did not receive the notice, compliance would likely result in physical harm of the child.

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  • Encouraging Parental Involvement

    • Effective strategies to promote communication-Ensure that parents assist in identifying IEP goals. Parents should take part in IEP meetings and play an active role in setting goals.  Ensure that parents know about and understand their rights, privileges, and due process.  Inform parents of their child’s progress and method of evaluation. Inform parents of major trends and issues in education. Ensure that parents know about other agencies that provide assistance.

    • Conference Format for Effective Communication- Identify a task headline. Analyze the problem. Clarify specific goals.  Brainstorm. Select solutions, and make a plan.  Follow-up and ongoing support.

    • Building Partnerships With Parents- Facilitating effective partnerships between the professionals in your school and the parents of children with disabilities will enable you to not only fulfill the rights of parents guaranteed under IDEA but also create a collaborative school atmosphere where parents and school staff alike feel respected and valued.

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  • Procedural Due Process

    • Fairness- Anti-Fascist Committee v. McGrath 1951 It is an axiom of law that fair procedures tend to produce acceptable, correct, and fair results. And fairness is one of the social goals that the law pursues. As Justice Felix Frankfurter once observed, fairness is the essence of due process. “Fair dealings” and due process is set up so that parents, SEA, and the LEA are encouraged to work together even though they disagree.

    • Notice- Notice of Action (prior written notice)/ Notice of Procedural Safeguards (rights notice)- If a parent does not understand the notice it is the LEA’s responsibility to explain the notice in such a way that the parent understands. “reasonable accommodations”- giving parents notice in a form in which they can understand.

    • Disciplinary Hearings- Discipline can teach a student how and why to behave in certain ways. Discipline can enhance educators’ ability to teach and the students’ ability to learn.  School safety- and effective environment for teaching and learning. Essential to safeguard against physical or emotional harm. Stay put- “zero reject”- stay-put requirement (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1415U)) states that students will remain in their then-current educational placement. However, 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1415(k)(4) provides the exception to this rule for disciplinary placements: When an appeal under paragraph (3) has been requested by either the parent or the local educational agency-the child shall remain in the interim alternative educational setting pending the decision of the hearing officer or until the expiration of the time period provided for in paragraph (1 )(C), whichever occurs first, unless the parent and the State or local educational agency agree otherwise.

 

Parental participation is a vital role in a child’s education. LEA’s are required to provide notice to parents in a written form of notice of action and provide parents with their procedural safeguards and rights.  When the results of an evaluation are found to not satisfy the parent or school district the right of procedural due process is enacted. The best way to avoid the need for a hearing is for the school and the parent to come to a compromise through a decision which best affects the child.  The way to come to a compromise to have already built a positive relationship with the parent which includes communication, respect, and trust. Procedural due process bears repeating that, without due process, students' rights would have a hollow ring. For those who pioneered the right-to-education doctrine, the procedures for implementing the right were as crucial as the right itself. Procedural due process was and still is, a means of challenging the multitude of discriminatory practices that schools had followed habitually and that some still practice. Procedural due process also is a constitutional requirement under the provisions of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

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  • Turnbull, H. R., Stowe, M., & Huerta, N. (2007). Free appropriate public education: The law and children with disabilities. Denver, CO: Love Publishing Company.Chapter 8.

  • Turnbull, H. R., Stowe, M., & Huerta, N. (2007). Free appropriate public education: The law and children with disabilities. Denver, CO: Love Publishing Company.Chapter 9.

  • McLaughlin, M. J., & Ruedel, K. (2012). The school leader's guide to special education. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.Chapter 6.

 

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