Any downside to state complaint?

[Anonymous]

I am the OP of the so mad/ so sad thread with the child who was not allowed to attend the class Valentine party.

Through the conversations (IEP meeting is Thursday) we have discovered that the school has not been following the IEP (not providing accommodations/ services) and that the teacher and principle have expressed that his meltdowns are temper tantrums and not related to his ASD/ ADHD diagnoses. The sped supervisor and school psychologist disagree.

So we are preparing to go into the IEP meeting with a strong agenda related to getting a BIP in place and also addressing the lack of provision of accommodations. We are bringing and advocate and the sped supervisor and psychologist who did the FBA will be there.

I am sure the school will try to assure me their behavior will improve. But given their past behavior I don’t believe them.

Is there any downside to filing a state complaint after this meeting? My goal would be to document whatever we find out in more detail and to get more attwention and outside monitoring of compliance with the IEP.

Thanks for any assistance you can provide!

[Anonymous]

I don't think a state complaint would hurt, but it won't help much either. Even if the state agrees with you, they aren't going to oversee implementation.

Your best approach is for you or your advocate to monitor closely. Schools are required to collect data. Most don't. Include a reporting schedule in the IEP and hold them to it. When my kid was having really bad behaviors I was getting daily reports. Might be overkill in your case, but I'd suggest at least weekly until things improve.

You are right to push for a BIP. Principal and teacher are nuts to say behaviors can't be ASD/ADHD related. They just don't want to be bothered.

[Anonymous]

File the state complaint. The school will have to show that the IEP was followed: usually this is done by showing the data that was collected. If data was not collected, that in itself is a violation of the IEP. For violations such as service deficiencies, the school was required to offer “makeup” services.

I filed a state complaint a few yrs ago when DS was in 2nd grade. No downside at all. If anything it improved SN services for all kids with IEPs at our school and not just for DS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:File the state complaint. The school will have to show that the IEP was followed: usually this is done by showing the data that was collected. If data was not collected, that in itself is a violation of the IEP. For violations such as service deficiencies, the school was required to offer “makeup” services.

I filed a state complaint a few yrs ago when DS was in 2nd grade. No downside at all. If anything it improved SN services for all kids with IEPs at our school and not just for DS.

+1
Filing a complaint will get the attention of senior supervisors at MCPS. This happened in a few cases we know about and the fixes were made pretty quickly at the school level once their bosses started loooking into what was going on. You have the truth on your side.

[Anonymous]

State complaints are good, no downside.
Ask your advocate about filing an Office of Civil Rights complaint (federal) for discriminating against him by excluding him from the party.

[Anonymous]

I would be very careful with complaining as I know our principal when you disagree or go against her takes it out on the kids and if they do anything minor wrong, they are far more severely punished than other kids or that was our experience when I disagreed. I'd get my kid out of that school ASAP as they do not understand your child and are probably doing a lot to set your child up.

[Anonymous]

I've filed 2 state complaints against our elementary school (2 years apart for 2 different kids) and 1 civil rights complaint. I agree with the PPs that there was no downside to filing the complaints and had I known filing a state complaint was so easy and effective, I would have done it MUCH much sooner. (On a side note, if I'd known how easy an IEE was, I'd have done that much sooner as well) I strongly encourage you to do so as it's clear there is a significant problem at that school. I would encourage you to file the civil rights complaint as well but it takes a much longer time to get action/resolution - but it is still worthwhile.

You should know going into it that it is likely that the complaint will not be sustained. The system is stacked against you. Even though I expected my complaint not to be sustained, the school system still gave me everything I had asked for. I wasn't being outrageous - in fact, it was the school system that was outrageous and egregious. Importantly, after those 2 complaints, the staff responsible for the decisions that led to the complaints were no longer part of our IEP teams. Both complaints resulted in my kids receiving appropriate levels of support and we no longer had any IEP or due process violations.

After the civil rights complaint, the principal resigned. I don't know if my complaint had anything to do with it but I did receive a call from a central office administrator to inform me of the resignation and what efforts the district was taking to ensure future violations. I then withdrew the complaint because I thought the district was making sincere effort to make a change at the school.

In all my interactions with the school and district, I was civil, polite and professional. I do not believe my kids (now in HS) ever suffered repercussions because of the complaints - just the opposite. They got what they needed and teachers/staff got additional training and oversight.

[Anonymous]

For what you described in the original post, yes, file the complaint. I had a state complaint filed against my school once, but the parent was totally crazy. You do not seem crazy. Will there be retaliation? Maybe. But you also can't just keep the status quo with your son's needs not being met. If I were in your shoes, I would file a complaint without hesitation.