Teacher of the Year Ceremony
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Old Saybrook 25-0523

Complaint Summary

Date Findings Report Sent:

June 23, 2025

Case Number:

25-0523

Grade Level:

Elementary

Person filing complaint:

Parent

School District:

Old Saybrook Public Schools

Allegation(s):

  • The Parent alleged that they requested an IEE at public expense and that as of the date of this complaint, the District has not filed for a due process hearing to defend its evaluation or ensured that the evaluation was provided at no cost to the Parent. 34 CFR § 300.502 and RCSA § 10-76d-9(c)

Conclusion(s):

  • 34 CFR § 300.502 and RCSA § 10-76d-9(c) provide that a parent may have a right to a publicly funded IEE if the parent disagrees with a district evaluation. When a parent requests an IEE, the district must, without unnecessary delay, file for a due process hearing to defend its evaluation or ensure that the evaluation is provided at no cost to the parent. In this case, eleven school days elapsed between the Parent’s request for an IEE at public expense and the District’s response indicating that it would be filing for a hearing to defend its evaluation. Eleven school days is a reasonable amount of time for a District to review a request for an IEE at public expense and consult with counsel if needed. While it might be bad practice for a District to indicate to the Parent that it had filed for due process, when in fact it had not yet, this statement in of itself is not a violation of state or federal special education law. On that same day, the Parent filed a written state complaint regarding the timeliness of the District’s response to the Parent’s request for an IEE at public expense. Given that due process hearings, on average, take significantly longer to reach a final order than written state complaints, it was also reasonable for the District to wait until the complaint report was issued before taking further action regarding the Parent’s request for an IEE at public expense. Thus, no violation of 34 CFR § 300.502 and RCSA § 10-76d-9(c) is found, and no corrective action is required. It should be noted that this investigation only looked at the timeliness of the District’s response to the Parent’s request for an IEE at public expense. The District still has the responsibility now to respond to the Parent’s request, whether it be filing for a due process hearing, providing the evaluation at no expense, or providing a written response to the Parent if it is taking another action and why.

Corrective Action(s):

  • No required corrective actions