When the diagnostic teacher asked to speak to the guardian to obtain her authorization, the complainant hung up the telephone. Because the request for an IEP team meeting was made by an unauthorized individual and was not made by the guardian, the district was under no obligation to convene an IEP team meeting. Furthermore, the district scheduled an IEP team meeting in response to the guardian s expressed concerns about the child s behavior and suspensions. A school district must provide a FAPE to each child with a disability. In addition, the services provided by a district must meet the requirements of the statutes and rules enforced by the department, including those related to student suspension.
State law governs procedures relating to the suspension of students.
Under state law, a child with a disability may be suspended for up to five days or for up to ten consecutive days if a notice of expulsion has sent to the child s parents. Under federal special education law, a district need not provide services to a child with a disability during disciplinary removals totaling ten or fewer school days in a school year, if services are not provided to a child without disabilities who has been similarly removed. At the time of this complaint, the child had been suspended for three days this school year. The suspensions did not violate either state standards related to suspension or federal special education law. This concludes our investigation of this complaint, and we are closing this complaint investigation.