POLICY LETTER: April 25, 2011 to Center for Education Advocacy, Inc. Director Lilly Rangel-Diaz

April 25, 2011Lilly Rangel-DiazCenter for Education Advocacy, Inc.5973 SW 42nd TerraceMiami, Florida 33155Dear Ms. Rangel-Diaz:This is in response to a series of electronic mail (email) inquiries to Ms. Sheila Friedman and Dr. Deborah Morrow, in the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). I apologize for the delay in our response. Your primary inquiry is whether a school district may have a practice of generally prohibiting related services personnel, specifically speech-language pathologists, physical therapists, and occupational therapists, from attending individualized education program (IEP) Team meetings when parents request that a related services provider attend the meeting. You also ask whether a school distriIf the public agency designates the related services provider as a required IEP Team member, the public agency must ensure that the individual attends the child's IEP Team meeting, unless the excusal provisions in 34 CFR 300.321(e) are met. The excusal provisions apply only to the required IEP Team members described in 34 CFR 300.321(a)(2) through (a)(5), one of which is the child's special education teacher or, where appropriate, the child's special education provider. Therefore, if a public agency designates the child's speech-language pathologist or other related services provider of the child as a required IEP Team participant, the public agency could only restrict that employee to providing written input, in lieu of aA State is responsible for resolving any signed, written complaint filed by an organization or individual, including a complaint filed by an organization or individual from another State alleging that a public agency has violated a requirement of Part B of the IDEA or the Part B regulations, consistent with 34 CFR 300.151 through 300.153. Under the prior regulations for this program, OSEP exercised discretionary review of final decisions on State complaints. The prior regulation providing for Secretarial review of Part B State complaints was removed as of May 11, 1999. Therefore, OSEP lacks the authority to review the final decisions on the State complaints that have been filed on the matters prompting your inquiry. ThePage PAGE * MERGEFORMAT 4 Lilly Rangel-Diaz