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Procedural Safeguards Background Text, Office of Special Education Programs IDEA Amendments of 1997 Curriculum

From NICHCY

A publication of....

NICHCY
National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities
P.O. Box 1492
Washington, DC 20013
1-800-695-0285 (Voice/TTY)
(202) 884-8200 (Voice/TTY)
E-mail: nichcy@aed.org
URL: http://www.nichcy.org


Note: This module is part of a training package on the IDEA Amendments of 1997, developed by the Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education, the National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY), and the Federal Resource Center for Special Education (FRC).

Module 10 includes the following components, with the text of each provided in separate files: background text, resources, handouts, training script, overheads in English, and overheads in Spanish. If you want the entire module, be sure to download each of these files. This is the background text file.

Note: Some of the handouts accompanying this module are available in Spanish. See Module 12:
Spanish materials.
This information is copyright free. Readers are encouraged to copy and share it, but please credit the National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY). is information is copyright free. Readers are encouraged to copy and share it, but please credit the National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY).

Relevance of Training on Procedural Safeguards

Procedural safeguards are an essential part of the law, and all training participants need to have a thorough and accurate grasp of what the law requires. Some of the procedural safeguards have been amended, and it will be important to highlight the ways in which past requirements have changed. In addition, new safeguards have been added. Accordingly, this module reviews the requirements for procedural safeguards that the IDEA 97 has changed and added. Procedural safeguards that have not changed are not discussed.

PROCEDURAL SAFEGUARDS — AT A GLANCE

Overview of Procedural Safeguards

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act includes an entire section entitled "Procedural Safeguards." These safeguards are designed to protect the rights of parents and their child with a disability, as well as give families and schools a mechanism for resolving disputes.

Procedural safeguards under the prior legislation include:

--the right of parents to inspect and review all of their child's educational records;

--the right of parents to obtain an independent educational evaluation (IEE) of their child;

--the right to written prior notice on matters regarding the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of their child, or the provision of FAPE to their child;

--the right to request a due process hearing on these matters, which must be conducted by an impartial hearing officer;

--the right to appeal the initial hearing decision to the State Education Agency (SEA) if the SEA did not conduct the hearing;

--the right of the child to remain in his or her current educational placement, unless the parent and the agency agree otherwise, while administrative or judicial proceedings are pending (this provision has come to be known as the "stay-put" provision);

--the right to bring civil action in an appropriate State or Federal court to appeal a final hearing decision;

--the right of the parent to request reasonable attorney's fees from a court for actions or proceedings br