While we can discuss the ludicrousness of a 2-day expulsion contract, their speed in pulling out the terms of the contract, their seemed desire to get difficult child out of there, etc., none of that is productive for difficult child. I believe you are doing the right thing by keeping him in all week. I never felt this school was equipped to deal with difficult child - but that was, and is, my opinion. Now you just need to enroll him in his local school and start over (which I imagine you did earlier today). His IEP will roll with him, but a meeting this week with the Special Education director of his new school is in big time order. That IEP will have to be tweaked. This should be a called emergency IEP meeting. Get all that handled before end of the day Friday, if possible. If you can put everything else on the back burner for now, it would be helpful.
Since this is a situation where (I believe) he's in a parentally placed private school I don't think the IEP automatically rolls. If it was written in conjunction with public school/county staff and together as an IEP team they'd agreed on this private placement, then it would have legal weight and the IEP would transfer. The law makes clear that IEP transfer is between one
public agency to another (see below).
The private schools here typically use an alternative term when they write up an "IEP". The deal is that they may be willing to write one and follow it, but they aren't legally required to do so under IDEA. I went to a meeting with a parent at a private school that had school staff present and while the school district participated in the evaluation and recommendation stage, the parent didn't accept the services offered by the public school (they were non-classroom based, more along the lines of mental health counseling and classes) but an "IEP" was written by the school staff to provide support at school. Thus what they wound up with wasn't a document that would bind them to following IDEA guidelines, even though they might choose to do so.
Terry, if the public school hasn't been involved in his case at the private school, you do need to request an evaluation immediately. Call and talk to principal right away and then follow up with a certified letter so the legal timeline gets rolling. A reasonable principal is going to recognize that he needs support ASAP even if he doesn't have an IEP and the law is a little looser since NCLB and allows districts to do this even before an IEP is written.
http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/,root,dynamic,TopicalBrief,10,
5. Set forth requirements for IEPs when children with disabilities transfer from one public agency to another.
If a child with a disability (who had an IEP that was in effect in a previous public agency in the same State) transfers to a new public agency in the same State, and enrolls in a new school within the same school year, the new public agency (in consultation with the parents) must provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to the child (including services comparable to those described in the childs IEP from the previous public agency), until the new public agency either:
Adopts the childs IEP from the previous public agency; or
Develops, adopts, and implements a new IEP that meets the applicable requirements in 34 CFR 300.320 through 300.324.
[34 CFR 300.323(e)] [20 U.S.C. 1414(d)(2)(C)(i)(I)]
If a child with a disability (who had an IEP that was in effect in a previous public agency in another State) transfers to a public agency in a new State, and enrolls in a new school within the same school year, the new public agency (in consultation with the parents) must provide the child with FAPE (including services comparable to those described in the childs IEP from the previous public agency), until the new public agency:
Conducts an evaluation pursuant to 34 CFR 300.304 through 300.306 (if determined to be necessary by the new public agency); and
Develops, adopts, and implements a new IEP, if appropriate, that meets the applicable requirements in 34 CFR 300.320 through 300.324.
[34 CFR 300.323(f)] [20 U.S.C. 1414(d)(2)(C)(i)(II)]
To facilitate the transition for a child described in 34 CFR 300.323(e) and (f):
The new public agency in which the child enrolls must take reasonable steps to promptly obtain the childs records, including the IEP and supporting documents and any other records relating to the provision of special education or related services to the child, from the previous public agency in which the child was enrolled, pursuant to 34 CFR 99.31(a)(2) [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act regulations regarding conditions under which prior consent is not required to disclose information]; and
The previous public agency in which the child was enrolled must take reasonable steps to promptly respond to the request from the new public agency.
[34 CFR 300.323(g)] [20 U.S.C. 1414(d)(2)(C)(ii)]