My son Charlie was released from his Residential Treatment Center (RTC) on June 26th. Part of the condition of his release was that he agreed to go to an alternative school for atleast the first semester. He agreed. Now his school is at this time refusing to send him to an alternative program, and refused mediation which in MA is voluntary in our state. We have his IEP meeting on August 25th, which is the day before school starts to discuss his placement. A new advocate I have for Charlie is trying to get a mediator from the DOE to be at this meeting along with her. While talking to an adjustment counselor on the phone she reminded me, just as the SPED director did at a meeting we had last month that they "Need to place Charlie in the Least Restrictive Environment". I think it is unacceptable for them to expect him to come out of a residential program and into mainstreamed classes. The only options they told me about within their school were atleast half mainstreamed. How can I get the school to see that for him the Least Restrictive Environment would for him be an alternative program, and not mainstreamed where I know they would be setting him up to fail? Isn't there another part of that law which says something about individualized needs of each child?
LRE does not mean throw a child to the wolves. What does his IEP say right now? What was his official school placement? Did they pay for the Residential Treatment Center (RTC)?
His last IEP that was a valid one states mainstreamed as his placement, but was from the 8th grade. The school was supposed to pay half of his cost for placement at his Residential Treatment Center (RTC) as agreed upon with DCF. DCF paid their portion, but the school district refused to pay their portion because they changed their mind about agreeing to send him there after the contract was signed. He did not have a legally signed IEP that stated his placement at the Residential Treatment Center (RTC). They have gotten slick with their IEPs. Like they sent me one which had Charlie's grade listed wrong, and a few other discrepencies which I sent back rejected partially. Then they tell me that IEP I rejected did not matter because it was never valid because the school district never signed off on it. So they were supposed to pay for half his Residential Treatment Center (RTC) placement, but did not. DCF is working with them to resolve that issue, and I am not brought into the updates on that matter. But do know they still have not paid.
Here you go: Board of Educ. V. Rowley [458 U.S. 176 (1982)] Required that the program that was developed would be "individualized," "personalized," "tailored," and "specially designed" to meet the "unique needs" of that one child. "The purpose of the IEP is to tailor the education to the child; not tailor the child to the education. If the child could fit into the schools without assistance, special education would not be necessary." [House Report 105-95 at p. 104] That doesn't mean "best." They should know that your child needs to transition back into main stream. LRE means whatever LRE is suitable for the child, not the sd's budget. Check our archives for LRE info; www.wrightslaw.com has good info on LRE.
