[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 9 (Monday, January 14, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2230-2232]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-448]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; List of 
Correspondence

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: List of Correspondence from July 1, 2007 through September 30, 
2007.

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SUMMARY: The Secretary is publishing the following list pursuant to 
section 607(f) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as 
amended by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act 
of 2004 (IDEA). Under section 607(f) of IDEA, the Secretary is 
required, on a quarterly basis, to publish in the Federal Register a 
list of correspondence from the U.S. Department of Education 
(Department) received by individuals during the previous quarter that 
describes the interpretations of the Department of IDEA or the 
regulations that implement IDEA.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melisande Lee or JoLeta Reynolds. 
Telephone: (202) 245-7468.
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may 
call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of this notice in 
an alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or 
computer diskette) on request to the contact persons listed under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The following list identifies correspondence 
from the Department issued from July 1, 2007 through September 30, 
2007. Included on the list are those letters that contain 
interpretations of the requirements of IDEA and its implementing 
regulations, as well as

[[Page 2231]]

letters and other documents that the Department believes will assist 
the public in understanding the requirements of the law and its 
regulations. The date of and topic addressed by a letter are 
identified, and summary information is also provided, as appropriate. 
To protect the privacy interests of the individual or individuals 
involved, personally identifiable information has been deleted, as 
appropriate.

Part A--General Provisions

Section 602--Definitions

Topic Addressed: Child With a Disability
    [cir] Letter dated September 11, 2007 to individual (personally 
identifiable information redacted), regarding how a local educational 
agency (LEA) may address the needs of a child with a neurological 
impairment.

Part B--Assistance for Education of All Children With Disabilities

Section 612--State Eligibility

Topic Addressed: Methods of Ensuring Services
    [cir] Letter dated August 15, 2007 to New Zion, South Carolina 
Walker Gamble Elementary School official Carlette Morris, regarding use 
of an interagency agreement between a State or LEA and a State Medicaid 
Agency to obtain Medicaid reimbursement for Medicaid-covered services 
included in a Medicaid-eligible child's individualized education 
program (IEP).
Topic Addressed: Confidentiality of Education Records
    [cir] Letter dated August 7, 2007 to U.S. Representative Bill 
Shuster, restating the Department's policy that test protocols that do 
not contain personally identifiable information are not education 
records under either Part B of IDEA or the Family Educational Rights 
and Privacy Act.
Topic Addressed: Children With Disabilities Enrolled by Their Parents 
in Private Schools
    [cir] Letter dated August 22, 2007 to Arizona Director of 
Exceptional Student Services Colette Chapman, clarifying that children 
with disabilities placed by their parents in for-profit private schools 
are not considered ``parentally-placed private school children with 
disabilities,'' are not included in the proportionate share calculation 
and are not eligible for equitable services.
    [cir] Letter dated August 29, 2007 to Scarsdale, New York Public 
Schools Director of Special Education Dr. Michael Mendelson, regarding 
requirements in Part B of IDEA that are applicable to the LEA where the 
private school is located when a child with a disability is parentally-
placed in a special education private school.

Section 614--Evaluations, Eligibility Determinations, Individualized 
Education Programs, and Educational Placements

Topic Addressed: Evaluations and Reevaluations
    [cir] Letter dated July 27, 2007 to individual (personally 
identifiable information redacted) and letter dated September 24, 2007 
to Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center Co-Director Dr. Carol 
Massanari, regarding the use of response to intervention in evaluating 
children suspected of having specific learning disabilities.
    [cir] Letter dated August 15, 2007 to Lehigh University Professor 
Perry A. Zirkel, regarding an LEA's use of its State-adopted criteria 
for determining whether a child has a specific learning disability.
    [cir] Letter dated September 5, 2007 to New York Attorney Edward J. 
Sarzynski, regarding whether written parental consent is required for 
all evaluations that are not standardized tests administered to all 
students.
Topic Addressed: Individualized Education Programs
    [cir] Letter dated July 19, 2007 to individual (personally 
identifiable information redacted), regarding a State's proposed rules 
that relate to IEPs and other requirements in Part B of IDEA.
    [cir] Letter dated August 24, 2007 to Disability Rights Advocate 
Pat Kelly, clarifying when benchmarks or short-term objectives must be 
included in the IEPs of students with disabilities who take alternate 
assessments aligned to alternate achievement standards.
    [cir] Letter dated August 22, 2007 to Trident Literacy Association 
official Suzy Arents, clarifying that a private nonprofit entity has no 
obligation to develop IEPs for students with disabilities who have 
withdrawn from the public school program and who seek literacy services 
directly from a private nonprofit entity.
    [cir] Letter dated September 4, 2007 to Conway, Arkansas Public 
Schools official Linda Boswell, regarding translation of IEP documents 
into a parent's native language.

Section 615--Procedural Safeguards

Topic Addressed: Impartial Due Process Hearing
    [cir] Letter dated August 15, 2007 to Kentucky School Boards 
Association Senior Attorney Teresa T. Combs, regarding the Department's 
current position on whether a local school district must or may file a 
request for a due process hearing to attempt to force a child to return 
to the district's special education program when the parent revokes 
consent for the child's receipt of special education and related 
services.
    [cir] Letter dated August 15, 2007 to Massachusetts Bureau of 
Special Education Appeals Director Richard E. Connelly, clarifying the 
obligation of a public agency to provide, at no cost, a copy of a 
written, or at the option of the parent, an electronic, verbatim record 
from a due process hearing, even though the applicable appeal period 
has expired.
    [cir] Letter dated September 11, 2007 to Puerto Rico Special 
Education Attorney Roberto Maldonado, clarifying that any party to a 
due process hearing has the right to either a free copy of a written, 
or at the option of the parents, an electronic, verbatim record of the 
hearing, not both.
Topic Addressed: Maintenance of Current Educational Placement
    [cir] Letter dated September 4, 2007 to Partnership for Children's 
Rights Attorney Michael D. Hampden, clarifying the applicability of the 
requirement regarding a child's status during the pendency of 
administrative or judicial proceedings in a single tier or two-tier due 
process system when no subsequent appeals are filed.
Topic Addressed: Protections for Children Not Yet Eligible for Special 
Education and Related Services
    [cir] Letter dated September 5, 2007 to individual (personally 
identifiable information redacted), clarifying whether an expulsion 
hearing may occur before the hearing officer determines whether the LEA 
had knowledge that the child was a child with a disability.

Part C--Infants and Toddlers With Disabilities

Section 636--Individualized Family Service Plan

Topic Addressed: Content of Plan
    [cir] Letter dated September 4, 2007 to Florida Early Steps Bureau 
Chief Janice M. Kane, clarifying the State's obligation to provide any 
services that meet the Part C definition of early intervention

[[Page 2232]]

services through an individualized family service plan (IFSP).
    [cir] Letter dated September 24, 2007 to individual (personally 
identifiable information redacted), clarifying that the IFSP Team, 
which includes the child's parents, makes an individualized 
determination of whether a particular method of providing services is 
needed for a child to achieve the outcomes in the child's IFSP.

Other Letters That Do Not Interpret Idea But May Be of Interest to 
Readers

Topic Addressed: Transition
    [cir] Rehabilitation Services Administration Information Memorandum 
RSA-IM-07-08, regarding a comprehensive transition program that uses a 
variety of activities and innovative approaches to expose transition-
age youth with disabilities (ages 14 to 24) to careers in science, 
technology, engineering, and math and other technology-based 
professions.

Electronic Access to This Document

    You may view this document, as well as all other Department of 
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe 
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site: 
http://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister/index.html.
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free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S. 
Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in 
the Washington, DC, area at (202) 512-1530.

    Note: The official version of this document is the document 
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the 
official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal 
Regulations is available on GPO Access at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.027, Assistance to 
States for Education of Children with Disabilities)

    Dated: January 8, 2008.
Tracy R. Justesen,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. E8-448 Filed 1-11-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P