APPENDIX H: Clear Violations of the Law

Step-By-Step Instructions for Prompt Resolution of Clear Violations of the Law

Call your Director of Special Services / Pupil Services (i.e., the head of special education in your district). Inform them of the violation(s) of the law, and let them know that you will be going to higher authorities if they do not correct the problem immediately. Do not give them a long time to take action!

Call the County Supervisor of Child Study in the County Superintendents Office. These offices are the State Department of Education's representatives in each county, charged with ensuring that local districts obey the law. Tell the County Supervisor if Child Study what the problem is, and how it violates the law. Ask them to contact the appropriate person in your school or district to inform them of the law immediately. Ask them to contact you as soon as they have spoken with the appropriate school or district staff, because if you do not hear from them within the next 24 hours (or less if true emergency, like a student being out of school) with satisfactory news, you intend to take this matter to the next level.

Call Melinda Zangrillo, New Jersey Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Policy, Compliance & Monitoring. Provide her with the information that you provided to the County Supervisor, and ask if she can contact either the County Supervisor's office or your school district to resolve the matter informally by providing the district with a little technical assistance.

If this does not resolve the problem, you may request emergent relief from the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law by writing to the New Jersey State Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. You must include an "affidavit" of the problems that have led to your request for emergent, or emergency relief and why you feel that this must be handled immediately to avoid disruption of your child's educational program, or harm to your child's physical or mental well being. Emergent relief would be appropriate if your child was out of school or threatened with exclusion from school IEP services or Section 504 services or accommodations were changed without re-evaluation and your consent; essential IEP or Section 504 services are nor being provided; your child will be denied the right to attend a field trip in the near future unless you attend; or other problem that requires immediate attention.

If it is not an emergency situation, you may proceed with filing a request for a due process, or impartial hearing - a complaint with the NJ Department of Education - and/or a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education.

Request for Due Process Hearing: File a request for a due process hearing whenever you believe that your child has not been appropriately and timely identified, appropriately and timely evaluated, appropriately and timely been determined eligible (or ineligible) for special education and/or Section 504 services, had an appropriate IEP developed, including services to address all areas of identified need in the least restrictive appropriate environment, and/or is receiving all services on the IEP or Section 504 plan.

Complaint with NJ Department of Education: File a complaint with the New Jersey Department of Education if you feel that there have been significant procedural violations, either in your own child's case or in the school or district as a whole. For example, if your district has a policy that all children classified as "preschool disabled" are placed in segregated "preschool disabled" programs, regardless of each child's needs, you should file a complaint with the New Jersey Department of Education. If your child is being denied an inclusionary preschool program which you believe is appropriate for her/him, you may also file a request for a due process hearing. In investigating and resolving complaints, the New Jersey Department of Education will NOT determine whether or not a particular service is appropriate for your child, merely whether or not there has been a violation of law or regulation.

Complaint with the U.S. DOE Office of Civil Rights: File a complaint with the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights if you feel that there has been discrimination against your chills or other children in your school or district based on disability (and/or other factors, such as race, sex, language, national origin, etc.). In other words, if children with disabilities are not provided with as effective an education as students without disabilities, and access to the full range of school and district programs, a discrimination complaint is appropriate. For example, if all classified children in your district receive a half-day while non-classified children are in school a full-day, this would be an appropriate matter to bring to the attention of the Office of Civil Rights. Or if your district has after-school programs, and excludes students with disabilities, a discrimination complaint would be appropriate.

Each of these three "non-emergency" forums will take much longer to resolve than the informal means identified in Steps 1 - 3, or the emergent relief hearing described in Step 4. However, the sooner you exhaust the informal steps and file a complaint or complaints under Step 5, the sooner your concerns will be resolved.

If you want more information on due process hearings or complaints to the New Jersey State Department of Education or the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, request SPAN's Conflict Resolution packet.

To file a complaint with the NJ Department of Education, a parent may write a letter containing the following information:

The parent is filing a complaint under Chapter 14 Special Education New Jersey Administrative Code Title 6 Education, Section 6:14-9.2 Complaint Investigation, which provides that "(a) The Director of the Division of Special Education or his or her designee(s) shall be responsible for reviewing, investigating and taking action on any signed written complaint of substance regarding the provision of special education and/or related services covered under this chapter... (b) The investigation may include, but not be limited to, 1. Review of policies and procedures; 2. Review of pupil records(s); 3. Observation of special class programs; and 4. Interview(s) of complainants, staff and parents." The investigation must be completed within 60 calendar days of receipt of a written complaint.

The parent is alleging that the school, district or state are violating state or federal special education law, specifically, section(s) (state specific sections of the law that are being violated), in the following manner: (state the facts that indicate that the law is being violated.

The parent is filing the complaint not only on behalf of their own child(ren) but also on behalf of all children similarly affected by the action(s) of the school, district or state.

The parent expects the investigation to be completed no later than 60 calendar days from receipt of the written complaint, and sooner if possible given the severity of the noncompliance and the potential harm to children.

The parent signs and dates the complaint, makes a copy for their own records, and sends it to:

Atlantic County John Misieczko Atlantic County Office of Education 6260 Old Harding Highway Mays Landing, NJ 08330 (609) 625-0004 x 44 Fax: (609) 625-6539	Gloucester County Celeste Curley Gloucester County Office of Education 1492 Tanyard Road Sewell, NJ 09080 (609) 468-6500 Fax: (609) 468-9115	Ocean County Stephen Coplin Ocean County Superintendent Office 212 Washington Street Toms River, NJ 08753 (732) 929-2078 Fax: (732) 244-9242
Bergen County Sheralyn Gottlieb, Randi Burton Bergen County Office of Education 327 E. Ridgewood Avenue Paramus, NJ 07652 (201) 599-6256 Fax: (201) 599-6255	Hudson County Anthony Errichetto Hudson County Office of Education 595 Newark Avenue Jersey City, NJ 07306 (201) 319-3850 Fax: (201) 319-9650	Passaic County Steffanie DeBruyne Passaic County Office of Education 810 Belmont Avenue North Haledon, NJ 07508 (973) 304-6020 Fax: (973) 304-0149
Burlington County Jilda Radbill Burlington County Office of Education 3 Union Street, County Office Building Mt. Holly, NJ 08060 (609) 265-5060 Fax: (609) 265-5932	Hunterdon County Cheryl Messler Department of Education Victorian Plaza 1 East Main Street Flemington, NJ 08822 (908) 788-1414 Fax: (908) 788-1457	Salem County Dr. George W. Shellem Salem County Office of Education 94 Market Street Salem, NJ 08079 (609) 935-7510 x 8431 Fax: (609) 935-6290
Camden County Carolyn Carthew Camden County Office of Education West Building, Suite 513 6981 North Park Drive Pennsauken, NJ 09109 (609) 661-3155 Fax: (609) 661-3172	Mercer County Jane Marano Mercer County Department of Education 1075 Old Trenton Road Trenton, NJ 08690 (609) 588-5873 Fax: (609) 588-5849	Somerset County Linda Walters 40 North Bridge Street Somerville, NJ 08876-1262 (908) 231-7171 Fax: (908) 722-6102
Cape May County John Misieczko NJ Department of Education Cape May County Superintendent Office 4 Moore Road, DN-701 Cape May Court House, NJ 082 10 (609) 465-7911 x 1282 Fax: (609) 465-2094	Middlesex County Dr. Claudia Radeke Supervisor of Child Study NJ Department of Education 1501 Livingston Avenue North Brunswick, NJ 08902 (732) 249-2900	Sussex County Dr. Marylou Varley Sussex County Office of Education 18 Church Street County Services Building Newton, NJ 07860 (973) 579-6996 Fax: (973) 722-6902
Cumberland County Dr. George Shellem Cumberland County Office of Education 19 Landis Avenue, Bridgeton, NJ 08302 (609) 451-0211 Fax: (609) 455-9523	Monmouth County Lucille Stellatella NJ Department of Education 3435 Highway 9 Freehold, NJ 07728 (732) 431-7823 Fax: (732) 577-0679	Union County Karen Ellmore Department of Education Union County Superintendent Office 300 North Avenue Westfield, NJ 07090 (908) 654-9860 Fax: (908) 654-9869
Essex County Paul Bilik, Gayle Strauss Essex County Office of Education 155 Fairview Avenue Cedar Grove, NJ 07009 (973) 857-5700 Fax: (973) 239-3492	Morris County Donna Bogard NJ Department of Education CN 900 Morristown, NJ 07963-0900 (973) 285-8320 Fax: (973) 285-8341	Warren County Dr. Marylou Varley 537 Oxford Street Belvidere, NJ 07823 (908) 475-6326 Fax: (908) 475-3541