THOUGHT LEADER
Transportation and Related-Service Staff Participation is Important at IEP Meetings
Written By Linda F. Bluth, Ed.D. T
ransportation for children with disabilities requires thoughtful planning prior to initiating the
school bus ride for the first time, and thereafter. Unequivocally, transpor- tation is one of the most imperative services that a school district may be required to provide for eligible children with disabilities. Transpor- tation is crucial for accessing special education and related services that are approved by the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team. Under the Individuals with Dis-
abilities Education Act (IDEA), which was last reauthorized in 2004 and known as the Individuals with Dis- abilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEIA), transportation is a related service. That service includes travel to and from school, between schools, travel in and around school buildings, and specialized equip- ment (such as special or adapted buses, lifts and ramps), if required. Children with disabilities are not
automatically eligible for the related service transportation. Eligibility is determined by the IEP team, in- cluding the parent. Service delivery decisions are required to be made on a case-by-case basis. Qualified related service personnel, including nurses, occupational and physical therapists, behavioral specialists and psychologists, are among those IEP team members who may need to be consulted to participate in IEP meet- ings, as needed.
52 School Transportation News • MARCH 2019 After a transportation decision is
agreed on regarding the appropriate specialized transportation services for a child with a disability, the IEP should document and record the transporta- tion services that are agreed on. Eligibility for transportation as
a related service should not be a unilateral decision made by the transportation department. Trans- portation decisions should take place in an IEP meeting by qualified individuals. Transportation decisions are
required to be based on the indi- vidual needs of a child. In order for this to occur, transportation and related service personnel should be invited to attend and participate in the IEP meeting when determining eligibility for specialized transpor- tation services, and thereafter, as required. It is also essential that driver and attendant training occur commensurate with the IEP team transportation recommendations, prior to initiating transportation. As early as 1999, the U.S. Depart-
ment of Education IDEA Rules and Regulations provided guidance and addressed the following question: “Must a public agency include trans- portation in a child’s IEP as a related service?” The response? “As with other related services, a
public agency must provide trans- portation as a related service if it is required to assist the disabled child to benefit from special education. (This includes transporting a pre-
school-aged child to the site at which the public agency provides special education and related services to the child, if that site is different from the site at which the child receives other preschool or day care services.) “In determining whether to
include transportation in a child’s IEP, and whether the child needs to receive transportation as a relat- ed service, it would be appropriate to have at the IEP meeting a per- son with expertise in that area. In making this determination, the IEP team must consider how the child’s disability affects the child’s need for transportation, including determin- ing whether the child’s disability prevents the child from using the same transportation provided to nondisabled children, or from get- ting to school in the same manner as nondisabled children.” “The public agency must ensure
that any transportation service included in a child’s IEP as a related service is provided at public expense and at no cost to the parents, and that the child’s IEP describes the transportation arrangement.” Even if a child’s IEP team deter- mines that the child does not require transportation as a related service, “Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, requires that the child receive the same trans- portation provided to nondisabled children. If a public agency trans- ports nondisabled children, it must transport disabled children under
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