Jeremy Hurd

School Law

Yankton v Schramm Case

3-20-04

Since this case was close to home for most of us, I want you to read it carefully in order to see the ramifications of special education law. Share with me your thoughts on my statement regarding the IEP, "If you say you are going to do it, you had better do it. If you are not going to do it, don't do it!"

The responsibility in this case lies solely on the school district.  The district did a terrible job tracking the progress of Tracy and developing her IEP according to guidelines outlined in IDEA and placing more emphasis upon the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  It can be understandable that laws are hard to understand, but the school district neglected developing an IEP suitable to this student’s needs.  The statement you make above makes reference to school districts doing what they say they are going to do relative to an IEP.  There were many elements of Tracy’s special education services that should have been documented more specifically.  However, the district did not show responsibility in providing that things such as Tracy’s transfer to and from class, the assistance of notes for classes, the leaving of books in the classroom, and other circumstances should be included in her IEP.  The only element that was included is her adapted physical education needs.  The school district did not do what they were supposed to do and they should have.  If something was not outlined in her IEP, than the district and the school should not have provided any services that were not needed or included in the IEP.  Since IEP’s are created with the help of parents, administrators, and teacher and today many School Psychologists are involved, this is something that the school should have discussed with the parents and that all the parties should have came to agreements with. Just because Tracy performed well in class, it was only due to the parent’s involvement on their end making sure that Tracy spent numerous hours at home making sure that she was academically successful in school.  Everyone involved in the development of an IEP.  Once the decision has been made as to the needs of the student, then those needs need to be met.  Doing what you say you will do and doing it as stated in the IEP. If something is not needed and not included in the IEP, than that should not be done and if it needs to be added, then another IEP meeting could be organized to correct and make an addendum to the current program.  It is hard to believe that the school district was so uneducated about the laws regarding this.