{"id":6925,"date":"2018-01-25T10:30:49","date_gmt":"2018-01-25T14:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=6925"},"modified":"2018-01-15T12:53:47","modified_gmt":"2018-01-15T16:53:47","slug":"learn-how-to-control-the-outcome-of-a-state-complaint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/learn-how-to-control-the-outcome-of-a-state-complaint\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn How to Control the Outcome of a State Complaint"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Learn%20How%20to%20Control%20the%20Outcome%20of%20a%20State%20Complaint\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><blockquote><p>I filed a complaint with my state department of education. The school claimed that the Behavior Intervention Plan was <strong>not valid<\/strong> because they had not attached the BIP to my son&#8217;s IEP.<\/p>\n<p>The DOE found &#8220;no violation&#8221; because the BIP was not &#8220;attached to&#8221; or mentioned in the IEP.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Questions:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>To be valid, does the law require the school to attach the BIP to the IEP?<\/li>\n<li>If the answer is &#8220;yes,&#8221; isn&#8217;t the IEP team responsible for ensuring that appropriate documents are in place?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Review the IEP statute<\/strong> (20 U.S.C. 1414(d); <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/bks\/selaw2\/selaw2.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Edition<\/span><\/a>, p.99).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Does the law say that you must attach a Behavior Intervention Plan to an IEP?<\/li>\n<li>Does the law say that you must incorporate it by reference into the IEP?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>No, it does not.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Change one fact in this situation. The person with power (in this case, the state DOE employee) wants to rule in your favor. The school argued that the child&#8217;s IEP did not have the BIP attached.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/mtg.3ppl.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"482\" height=\"325\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As a good judge will do, this person in power <strong>would find a reason<\/strong> to rule in your favor.<\/p>\n<p>The judge may find:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;The school district asserts that the BIP must be physically attached to the IEP as a matter of law. The law does not require that an IEP have the BIP attached to it. A BIP is clearly a part of the child&#8217;s educational plan as set forth in the IEP.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">The parties relied on the BIP to be part of the child&#8217;s educational plan, so the BIP was clearly incorporated into the IEP by reference. <em>Thus, the BIP is part of the IEP, even though it was not mechanically stapled to the IEP.<\/em>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p>In the case above, the state DOE employee did not want to rule against the school district. If the BIP and IEP were attached by steel cables, the state DOE employee would find another reason to rule against the parent.<\/p>\n<p>In our training programs, I explain that the facts and law do not control outcome. <strong>The decision-maker controls the outcome<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>This happens all the time in litigation. The judge will find a way to rule for or against one party, regardless of the facts and the law.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/index.html#mp4\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"margin-right: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/complaint.ltr.dnload.250.jpg\" alt=\"Writing Due Process Complaint Letters and State Complaint\" width=\"264\" height=\"196\" align=\"right\" hspace=\"5\" vspace=\"3\" \/><\/a>You must make the decision-maker want to rule in your favor.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Need to draft a State Complaint letter?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/video\/dueprocessrequestvideo.htm\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">Learn how to write compelling Due Process Claims or State Complaint letters<\/span> <\/a>that make a decision-maker want to rule in your favor.<\/p>\n<p>In this live presentation Pete Wright teaches you how to create visual imagery to tell a story in your letter. Your letter may become the theme of your case. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/video\/trailer.wright.dueprocessreques15mb.mp4\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">Watch the trailer.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/lite-scripts\/sb\/order.cgi?storeid=*185941870a4fc50b4478a5c241fe&amp;dbname=products&amp;guid=e8aea186-06be-11e3-aaf2-003048cda3ac&amp;function=add\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"border: 0px solid #000000; margin-right: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/buy.now.gif\" alt=\"Add to Cart\" width=\"95\" height=\"22\" align=\"absmiddle\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"3\" \/><\/a>Order now. Immediate download.<\/p>\n<p>When parents write a compelling &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/advoc\/articles\/Letter_to_Stranger.html\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Letter to the Stranger<\/span><\/a>,&#8221; they can often accomplish this objective.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/idea\/osep\/osep.2013.0723.b.statecomplaints.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">DOE guidance on state complaint procedures<\/span><\/a>, regulatory requirements, and sample letters.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/idea\/osep\/osep.2013.0723.b.statecomplaints.pdf<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I filed a complaint with my state department of education. The school claimed that the Behavior Intervention Plan was not valid because they had not attached the BIP to my <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/learn-how-to-control-the-outcome-of-a-state-complaint\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1369],"tags":[42,945,112,944],"class_list":["post-6925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state-complaints","tag-autism","tag-behavioral-intervention-plan","tag-iep","tag-state-complaint"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6925"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22534,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6925\/revisions\/22534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}