Somebody at the sd is giving you some erroneous information. Personnel not familiar with-IDEA assume they have the same authority as they do in other situations. And someone who handles the phones in the office, many teachers, etc., really do not know finite details regarding timelines.
I preach against just "talking." Particularly when timelines are involved, follow up meetings and conversations with a Letter of Understanding. If a request is not in writing, assume any authority (sd administration, Hearing Officer, OCR, OSEP, etc.) will take the position that it never happened.
I believe each state has a specific timeline within which they must provide your child's records subsequet to parental request. You'd have to check your state regs to be sure of what your particlar state's is.
Hand delivery with-someone signing as "accepted by" starts the clock ticking. I have heard of no one being willing to sign however. CM is a good way to go also. Without some type of proof documents were requested, parents have little leverage getting documents shaken loose from non-compliant sds.
I
never go to an IEP meeting without first having copies of the report to review several days in advance. How can the typical parent sit in a meeting, read and interpret a report? Not likely for most of us.....
And the committee chair reading "select" parts of the report to the committee just won't get it. The first report, I took it to difficult child's psychologist to review. She did the best she could in a 1-hour consult, but it was insufficient also. I had to learn how to interpret test score.
There's a link in the Evaluation section of
https://web.archive.org/web/20111006221341/http://www.adhd-add.info/library.html entitled something like Understanding Tests and Scores that's hugely helpful for many parents.
From
http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/,root,regs,preamble2,prepart2,D,1992,1994, :
Discussion: Section 300.306(a)(2), consistent with section 614(b)(4)(B) of the Act, requires that a copy of the evaluation report and the documentation of determination of eligibility be given to the parent. We have added language to Sec. 300.306(a)(2) to clarify that the public agency must provide these copies at no cost to the parent.
You'll find more specific info on this topic if you search on the above link. Also,
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051...0/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/pdf/06-6656.pdf is another official document from the US Dept of Education that I find most helpful.