Complaint Summary

Date Findings Report Sent:

August 5, 2025

Case Number:

25-0689

Grade Level:

Elementary

Person filing complaint:

Parent

School District:

Regional School District #17

Allegation(s):

• 34 CFR § 300.304(b)(1) failure to, when conducting the evaluation, use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional, developmental, and academic information about the child, including information provided by the parent, that may assist in determining (i) whether the child is a child with a disability.
• 34 CFR § 300.305(a)(1) failure to, as part of an initial evaluation, review existing evaluation data on the child, including evaluations and information provided by the parents of the child; and current classroom-based, local, or State assessments, and classroom-based observations.
• 34 CFR § 300.111(a) and RCSA §10-76d-9 failure to have documentation of the determination of eligibility that contains a statement of (1) whether the child has a specific learning disability; (2) the basis for making the determination; (3) the relevant behavior, if any, noted during the observation of the child and the relationship of that behavior to the child’s academic functioning; (4) educationally relevant medical findings; (5) whether (i) the child does not achieve adequately for the child’s age or to meet State-approved grade-level standards and (ii)(A) the child does not make sufficient progress to meet age or State-approved grade-level standards; or (B) the child exhibits a pattern of strengths and weaknesses in performance, achievement, or both, relative to age, State-approved grade level standards or intellectual development; (7) if the child has participated in a process that assesses the child’s response to scientific, research-based intervention (i) the instructional strategies used and the student-centered data collected.
• 34 CFR § 300.111(b) failure to have each group member certify in writing whether the report reflects the member’s conclusion.

Conclusion(s):

• District is in compliance with 34 CFR § 300.304(b)(1) as a variety of assessment tools and strategies were used to gather information.
• District is in compliance with 34 CFR § 300.305(a)(1) as the District reviewed existing evaluation data on the child, including evaluations and information provided by the parents of the child; and current classroom-based, local, or State assessments, and classroom-based observations.
• District is in violation of 34 CFR § 300.111(a) and RCSA §10-76d-9 because, procedurally, they did not meet all documentation requirements for determining eligibility.

Corrective Action(s):

• District must complete the Multidisciplinary Evaluation Report for Students Suspected of Having a Specific Learning Disability (MER) for the eligibility determination made at the PPT meeting.
• District is required to provide training on all laws and regulations related to the specific documentation for eligibility determinations.