Appendix D: Test Protocols (OSEP Policy Letter)
August 7, 2007 Honorable Bill Shuster U.S. Representative Ninth District of Pennsylvania 647 Philadelphia Street, Suite 304 Indiana, PA 15701 Dear Congressman Shuster:
Thank you for your letter of June 9, 2007 to Dr. Alexa Posny, then Director of the Office of Special Education Programs with the U.S. Department of Education, on behalf of your constituent. In the letter to Dr. Posny, you indicated that your office received a June 4, 2007 letter from X in which he expressed dissatisfaction with the issues and records being released for his son in accordance with the Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). You used your letter as an opportunity to follow up with Dr. Posny about the status of this case, and requested information be offered in a letter that would be helpful to you in responding to your constituent. As stated in an April 12, 2007 letter to you from Dr. Posny, in an effort to resolve this matter, Hugh Reid, then the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) contact to Pennsylvania, contacted X on April 10, 2007 seeking, and receiving, permission to speak with the Pennsylvania Department Education (PDE), Bureau of Special Education (BSE). Mr. Reid contacted BSE and spoke with Mr. Thomas Reich, Acting Chief, Division of Compliance, Monitoring and Planning for Western Pennsylvania. Mr. Reich indicated that he would contact X directly, specifically to: (1) assist X with the resolution of his issues with PDE; (2) if necessary, assist X with filing a complaint under the Individuals with Education Act (IDEA), as specified in 34 CFR §§300.151 through 300.153 ; and (3) provide oversight of the process on behalf of Mr. John Tommasini, Director of Special Education, PDE. Since X continues to express dissatisfaction with PDE and the U.S. Department of Education's efforts to resolve his concerns, it might be helpful in this correspondence to explain how the IDEA regulations define "education records" and access to those records. 34 CFR §300.611(b) defines education records the type of records covered by FERPA as implemented by regulations in 34 CFR part 99 . Under §99.3 (of the FERPA regulations), the term "education records" is broadly defined to mean those records that directly relate to a student that are maintained by an educational agency or institution or by a party acting for the agency or institution. (FERPA applies to all educational agencies and institutions to which funds have been made available under any program administered by the Secretary of Education. 34 CFR §99.1.
BP 2004 – Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE)
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Desert Mountain Charter Special Education Local Plan Area (DMCS) (rev. 11/21)
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