Teacher of the Year Ceremony
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Wallingford 26-0057

Complaint Summary

Date:

September 29, 2025

Case Number:

26-0057

Grade Level:

Elementary

Person filing complaint:

Parent

School District:

Wallingford Public Schools

Allegation(s):

  • RCSA § 10-76d-19 each board of education shall provide, as a related service, safe and appropriate transportation as required to implement the individualized education program for each child with a disability. (a) Total travel time shall not exceed one hour each way to and from a special education facility. All decisions relating to travel time shall take into account the nature and severity of the child's disability and the child's age. If an appropriate placement cannot be made without exceeding the one-hour travel time limit, written parental consent to longer travel time shall be obtained prior to implementing the transportation service. (b) Operators of vehicles shall be given such in-service training as is necessary to acquaint them with the specific needs of the children being transported and to equip them to meet those needs. Operators of vehicles shall meet the licensure requirements of the department of motor vehicles. (d) Each board of education shall provide transportation aides where such aides are ascertained to be necessary to ensure safe and appropriate transportation. A transportation aide shall be assigned to each vehicle transporting a child whose individualized education program specifies the need for such an aide. (e) If the board of education requests that the parents transport a child, it shall reimburse the parents for the cost of such transportation at the standard mileage reimbursement for a privately owned automobile established by the Internal Revenue Service. Such reimbursement shall be for a round trip to transport the child to, and retrieve the child from, the program. No parent shall be required to provide transportation, nor shall any board of education be relieved of the obligation to provide transportation for a child because of the inability or unwillingness of parents to provide transportation. No board of education shall be required to reimburse parents for the cost of transporting a child if the parents reject the transportation offered by the board of education unless reimbursement is ordered by a hearing officer who finds the transportation offered by the board was not appropriate to meet the child’s needs. In lieu of a hearing, the parents and the board may resolve their disagreement through mediation or resolution session.

Conclusion(s):

  • The transportation offered by the District does not exceed one hour each way to and from the School, therefore the District is in compliance with RCSA § 10-76d-19(a). The District provided a transportation aide to ensure that the Student had an adult to communicate with who could safely use more than verbal language (i.e., gestures, pointing, providing and accepting objects) and provided training for both the operator of the vehicle and the transportation aide to acquaint them with the Student’s specific communication accommodations as outlined in the Student’s Language and Communication Plan, therefore the District is in compliance with RCSA § 10-76d-19(b) and RCSA § 10-76d-19(d). Beginning at the PPT meeting on November 15, 2024, where the Student was found eligible, the District offered transportation and documented the Student’s need for specialized transportation. The Parent continued to decline the transportation offered by the District. The Student’s Language and Communication Plan, dated May 5, 2025, includes the statement: “instruction, services, activities and field trips are fully accessible with ASL available at all times” and special transportation is considered a service under 34 CFR § 300.34, however, there is considerable ambiguity in the interpretation of what “fully accessible with ASL” means. Given the Student’s present level of performance in communication, lack of any documented social, emotional, or behavioral needs, and the actions already taken by the District, transportation is currently appropriate to meet the Student’s needs. Accordingly, the District is not in violation of RCSA § 10-76d-19(e) because mileage reimbursement is not applicable because the District offered transportation.

Corrective Action(s):

  • No required corrective actions