"DEAR COLLEAGUE" LETTER FROM FEDS WARNS OF FAPE DENIAL FROM BULLYING RESPONSE
On Aug. 20, the U.S. Department of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to school districts discussing how school districts whose acts or failures to take action in response to peer bullying can deny a free appropriate public educa- tion to a victim with special needs. The letter enumerates three respon-
sive components that are essential when bullying occurs: • Teachers and adults should respond quickly and consistently
• The school and its personnel must send the message that bullying is not acceptable
• The conduct must be reported by anyone who is aware of the bullying
Moreover, the letter sets forth the protocol to follow once bullying occurs:
• An IEP team must be convened “to determine whether, as a result of the effects of the bullying, the student’s needs have been changed” so as to necessitate a change in the IEP
•
If indicated, the team must identify additional or different special education and/or related services required to address the student’s individual needs.
• The IEP must be revised accordingly
The letter should be read in its entirety. It can be found at
http://www2.ed.gov/ policy/speced/guid/idea/memosdcltrs/ bullyingdcl-8-20-13.pdf.
PREPARING STUDENTS FOR INDEPEN- DENCE: DEVELOPMENT OF PLANS FOR INCREASINGLY LESS RESTRIC- TIVE ENVIRONMENTS
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Two cases help school transportation professionals think about (1) the creative
process that should inform the transition for a student to more “regular” transpor- tation environments and (2) the necessity for following and implementing IEPs and behavior plans that are developed in the course of that process.
In B.B. v. Catahoula Parish School Dis-
trict (Louisiana, Oct. 2), the U.S. District Court considered plaintiffs’ contentions that a school district refused to permit their son B.B. the opportunity to ride the regular education bus. They insisted that the least restrictive transportation envi- ronment (LRE) would include the regular education bus along with a “bus buddy” — B.B.’s nondisabled nephew, N.B., who lived in the same home and rode the regular education bus to B.B.’s school every day. The parents wished to involve the driver in attendance at IEP meetings to discuss preliminary training for B.B. and his “bus buddy,” including practice loading the bus, unloading the bus and sitting together. The parents filed a due process com-
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