Teacher of the Year Ceremony
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Groton 25-0361

Complaint Summary

Date Findings Report Sent:

March 12, 2025

Case Number:

25-0361

Grade Level:

High school

Person filing complaint:

Parent

School District:

Groton Public Schools (single student)

Allegation(s):

  • Failure to provide special education and related services in conformity with an individualized education program (IEP) (34 CFR § 300.17(d))
  • Failure to provide the Parent with the right to inspect and review educational records relating to their child which are collected, maintained or used by the board of education (RCSA § 10-76d-18(a) (1-2)
  • Failure to provide specially design instruction to the needs of an eligible child to address the unique needs of the child that result from the child’s disability and to ensure access of the child to the general curriculum (34 CFR 300.39(b)(3))
  • Failure to review existing evaluation data on the Student as part of a reevaluation including evaluations and information provided by the parents of the student, current classroom-based, local, or State assessments, and classroom-based observations; and observations by teachers and related service providers; and on the basis of that review, and input from the student’s parents, identify what additional data, if any, are needed to determine whether the student is a child with a disability and the educational needs of the student; or in case of a reevaluation of a student, whether the student continues to have such a disability, whether the student continues to need special education and related services, and the educational needs of the student; the present levels of academic achievement and related developmental needs of the student; whether the student needs special education and related services; or in the case of a reevaluation of a student, whether the student continues to need special education and related services; and whether any additions or modifications to the special education and related services are needed to enable the student to meet the measurable annual goals set out in the student’s IEP and to participate, as appropriate, in the general education curriculum (CFR § 300.305(a))

Conclusion(s):

  • The District is in violation of 34 CFR § 300.17(d). The District did not provide the required certified special education personnel to oversee and implement the Student’s IEP with regard to his IEP goals in academic services, behavior modification, daily living skills, and functional skills from January 13, 2024, through June 13, 2024.
  • The District is in violation of RCSA § 10-76d-18(a) (1-2) for not providing the Parent with “quarterly progress reports completed on IEP goals and objectives” for the time period of June 6, 2024, to October 31, 2024, in accordance with the Student’s IEP. The PPT recommended “quarterly progress reports will include data in graph form”. From June 6, 2024, to October 31, 2024, there was one progress report on IEP goals and objectives, which the Parent can access through CT-SEDS. This progress report does not include graphs. The District provided documentation of weekly progress reports on IEP goals and objectives from August 30, 2024, to November 15, 2024. The special education teacher made hard copies of the progress reports and put them in the Student’s folder to take home. These progress reports do not contain graphs. On October 31, 2024, the PPT recommended “send home behavior and academic data monthly via email”. From October 4, 2024, to present, the BCBA provided monthly behavioral update reports to the team and the Parent, which the Parent had access to through CT-SEDS. On January 14, 2025, the District shared a live Google Sheet with the Parent that includes data on IEP goals and objectives with a bar graph to visually represent the progress on each objective. The District is in violation of RCSA § 10-76d-18(a) (1-2) for not sending home academic data monthly via email in accordance with the Student’s IEP for the period of October 31, 2024, to January 14, 2025. Since the BCBA provided the Parent with monthly behavioral reports from October 10, 2024, to present, the District is not in violation of RCSA § 10-76d-18(a) (1-2) for sending home behavior data monthly in accordance with the Student’s IEP.
  • The District is in violation of RCSA § 10-76d-18(a) (1-2). While the District maintains that they complied with the Parent’s request to be provided with a copy of the Student’s Program Book, they have been unable to offer any verification of this taking place earlier than January 14, 2025, which is substantially after the request given by the Parent at the PPT meetings. The District considers the Student’s Program Book an education record and, as such, it requires careful and thorough documentation when copied or issued to any party. In the absence of such record that the Program Book was provided to the Parent earlier than January 14, 2025, it cannot be assumed that it was.
  • The District is not in violation of 34 CFR 300.39(b)(3). The District has made efforts to provide specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of the Student that result from the Student’s disability by contracting with the Fragile x expert to provide professional learning and feedback to the school team and by implementing strategies recommended by the Fragile x expert into the Student’s BIP and instructional plan.
  • The District is not in violation of 34 CFR § 300.305(a). The District worked with NEAT Center Services to complete the AAC/AT evaluation. The evaluation is complete, and the written evaluation report will soon be finalized.

Corrective Action(s):

  1. On or before April 10, 2025, the District must develop a compensatory service plan to provide the Student with 63.16 hours of academic skills, 53.64 hours of behavior modification, 42.11 hours of daily living skills, and 21 hours of functional skills of the missed services. Should all parties feel that the total number of owed compensatory services hours will be overly burdensome to the Student, the parties may determine a mutually agreed upon alternate number of hours and inform the State of that agreement. The full measure of missed service hours must be delivered to the Student no later than December 31, 2025.