Illegal Change Of Placement

When Craig and I signed Emilia's new IEP into law in April 2019, we did not expect, based on the document itself, any significant changes for her in the 2019/20 school year.  However, the moment we stepped foot into the Open House in August 2019, we realized that an illegal change of placement had occurred.  It physically almost took my breath away to see Emilia's schedule and classroom and find out how and where she was expected to learn going forward.  I could barely speak and felt a tsunami of disbelief, anger, and shock well up inside of me.

In IEP speak and in a nutshell, a change in placement for a student means that the definition of what is the least restrictive and most appropriate learning environment has changed.  Change of placement is not necessarily about location - though it can be - but also about the specific curriculum, instruction and services received by the student.  A change in placement is decided upon by the IEP team, including the parents, and must be agreed upon... and disclosed for that matter.


Following the Open House, I spent a few weeks gathering data.  I made sure I had a detailed schedule from the school about how Emilia was spending her time, where, and with whom.  The minutes she was spending outside of the mainstream classroom had been tripled over what was outlined and agreed upon in her IEP, making for an unlawful change in placement and reporting category.  I also reached out to other district parents of children with special educational needs to gather more information about the specific classroom in which Emilia now largely spent her time.

On September 6, 2019,we had our first meeting with an education advocate who decided to take on Emilia's case.  She requested a complete academic record for Emilia to get started - it took a long time to assemble and the district was slow in responding to my request for certain documents, too.  While we built our case, Emilia had begun to regress academically, with life skills, and behaviorally.  She was also quickly turning from a student who liked going to school into one who begged to be allowed to stay home every single day.

Finally, after many weeks of trying to schedule the IEP meeting requested by us, it was set for January 6, 2020 - the first day back from Christmas break.  I was dreading the meeting and then, the night before, received an email from the advocate that she had been diagnosed with the flu and could not attend.  Rather than canceling, I decided to go to the meeting alone and plead Emilia's case.  For nearly three hours I tried to get the school to admit that they had illegally changed Emilia's placement and to rectify it, but some (though not all) team members insisted that no such thing had happened, that I did not understand the law, and that I did not understand Emilia's needs.  I left the meeting deflated, but not defeated.

After another consultation with the advocate, we requested a facilitated IEP meeting with an ODE  (Ohio Department of Education) mediator.  Basically, we were bringing in the big guns now because this alerted the state's Department of Education to potential illegal actions in our district.  Again, it took a while to get it on the schedule, but finally on March 6 it was time to battle.  I wish the term battle didn't have to apply, but by this point the district had broken all trust with us and treated us in a patronizing and infantilizing manner for months.

Between the amazing ODE mediator and the advocate, Craig and I didn't really have to say much in this meeting.  The district continued to deny they had done anything wrong until the mediator went to the whiteboard with the numbers, showing in minutes and percentages what had happened to Emilia's education... illegally.  And then boom, the room went quiet and with a nod of the head by the District Special Education Supervisor, the battle was won.  A huge weight fell off me in that moment and I was shaking so hard inside, holding back tears... but on the outside I looked calm and collected.

After a break for both parties to regroup, we spent the rest of the meeting devising a new schedule for Emilia to begin implementation the following week.  I knew this would be an immensely difficult, but important transition for her.  It hurt my heart that the district had created these challenging circumstances that Emilia would now have to overcome at great personal effort.

Then enter Covid-19... one week after that fateful IEP meeting, Ohio schools closed.  This step was a tremendous blessing for Emilia who had not wanted to go to school for months and who had just begun a trying transition back to the least restrictive educational environment.  Being at home for the last two months of the school year allowed Emilia to stabilize her mental health and to make real academic progress.

The school closure also meant that Emilia's regular annual IEP update would have to be completed virtually.  We continued to have the support of the advocate and the mediator through the process and created a new IEP that sets high expectations for Emilia, gives her more one on one instruction in core academic areas, and returns her to the mainstream classroom for the great majority of each school day.  We have an outstanding discussion yet with the district about compensatory education for the 215 hours of instruction in the general education curriculum Emilia was denied when her placement was changed unlawfully and without our consent.

We do not know yet what the 2020/21 school year will look like in our district, but we're hopeful that it will be a better year for Emilia than the previous school year.  It's possible that Emilia will be home schooled to reduce the risk of Covid infection since she does have a pre-existing medical condition.  If so, she will receive academic intervention and therapy services though a non-district professional provider.

While I wish we wouldn't have had to go through this painful experience, we learned a lot about Emilia as an individual and student, about our own strength as parents, and about the importance of getting the right help when needed.