Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 38, September 20, 2024
a)
With respect to parents' participation in meetings, school districts shall
conform to the requirements of
34 CFR
300.322 and
300.501. For purposes of
34 CFR
300.322(a)(1), "notifying
parents of the meeting early enough to ensure that they will have an
opportunity to attend" means the district shall provide written notification no
later than ten days prior to the proposed date of the meeting. No later
than 3 school days prior to a meeting to determine a child's eligibility for
special education and related services or to review a child's IEP, or as soon
as possible if an IEP meeting is scheduled within 3 school days with written
consent of the child's parent or guardian, the local education agency must
provide the child's parent or guardian with copies of all written material that
will be considered by the IEP team at the meeting so that the parent or
guardian may participate in the meeting as a fully-informed member. The parent
or guardian shall have the option of choosing from the available methods of
delivery, which must include regular mail and picking up the materials at
school. For a meeting to determine the child's eligibility for special
education, the written material must include all evaluations and collected data
that will be considered at the meeting. For a child who is already eligible for
special education and related services, the written material must include a
copy of all IEP components that will be discussed by the IEP team, other than
the components related to the educational and related service minutes proposed
for the child and the child's placement. Parents shall also be informed of
their right to review and copy their child's school student records prior to
any special education eligibility or IEP review meeting, subject to the
requirements of applicable federal and State law. (Section 14-8.02f(c)
of the Code)
1) In addition, the district
shall take whatever action is necessary to facilitate the parent's
understanding of and participation in the proceedings at a meeting, including
arranging for and covering the expense of a qualified interpreter, as described
in Section 226.800(k), for
parents whose native language is other than English or for an interpreter
licensed pursuant to the Interpreter for the Deaf Licensure Act of 2007
[225 ILCS
443 ] for parents who are deaf. All interpreters for
the common languages and American Sign Language shall be qualified
interpreters. If a qualified interpreter is not available, a school district
may use outside vendors, including telephonic interpreters, that are
commercially recognized as providing competent interpretation
services.
2) For the less common
languages, the school district will make all reasonable efforts to provide an
interpreter.
A) The interpreter must be:
i) demonstrably qualified and competent to
interpret into and out of the less common language;
ii) trained in providing the interpretations
requested and is sufficiently knowledgeable in both languages and of any
specialized terminology needed; and
iii) trained in the ethics of
interpretation.
B) In
fulfilling this request, a school district may use outside vendors, including
telephonic interpreters, that are commercially recognized as providing
competent interpretation services.
b) Each school district must provide annually
to all parents of children with disabilities and in each Notice of Conference
the following information:
1) notice to all
parents of children eligible for an individualized education program (IEP)
about the availability of interpretation services at IEP team meetings. This
notice must be provided in English, in all common languages, and in the
parent's preferred language, if known and practicable;
2) an explanation of how parents can request
an interpreter;
3) notice that a
parent has the right to request that the interpreter provided by the school
district serve no other role in the IEP meeting than as an interpreter, and
that the school district must make reasonable efforts to fulfill this request.
If a parent believes the school district unreasonably denied their request for
an interpreter who serves no other role in the IEP meeting, that parent has all
rights under the IDEA and Article 14 of the School Code, including a due
process hearing, the State's special education complaint investigation process,
mediation, ISBE monitoring, and the ability to file a complaint with the U.S.
Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights;
4) a point of contact for any questions or
complaints about interpretation services; and
5) notice to all parents of children eligible
for an IEP that written translations of vital IEP process documents are
available, how to request translated documents, and whom to contact with any
questions or complaints about the translations. This notice must be provided in
English, in all common languages, and in the parent's preferred language, if
known and practicable.
c) Each school district must record the
following information in a standardized manner within the IEP Conference
Summary Report and report that anonymously aggregated data at the individual
school level to ISBE on an annual basis using the IEP-Student Tracking and
Reporting System (ISTAR) or another adopted reporting system:
1) whether a parent requested an interpreter,
had previously requested interpretation services, or had otherwise indicated
that an interpreter was necessary to ensure meaningful parental involvement in
the IEP meeting;
2) the language
for interpretation;
3) whether a
qualified interpreter was provided for each IEP meeting; and
4) whether a parent requested that the
interpreter serve no other role in the IEP meeting and, if so, whether the
school district granted that request.
d) Each school district must track the
following data and must report that anonymously aggregated data at the
individual school level to ISBE on an annual basis through ISTAR or another
adopted reporting system:
1) the number of
Parent/Guardian Notification of Conference Recommendations forms and IEPs
prepared during the year for which a parent requested translation, had
previously requested translation services, or had otherwise indicated that a
translation was necessary;
2) the
number and percentage of Parent/Guardian Notification of Conference
Recommendations forms and IEPs prepared, by language, when a translated
Parent/Guardian Notification of Conference Recommendations form and an IEP were
provided;
3) the number and
percentage of such Parent/Guardian Notification of Conference Recommendations
forms, by language, when a translated Parent/Guardian Notification of
Conference Recommendations form was provided at the time of the IEP
meeting;
4) the number and
percentage of the Parent/Guardian Notification of Conference Recommendations
forms that were translated, the average number of school days between the IEP
meeting and provision of the translated Parent/Guardian Notification of
Conference Recommendations, by language;
5) the number and percentage of IEPs, by
language, when a translated IEP was provided within 30 school days of the IEP
meeting; and
6) of the IEPs that
were translated, the average number of school days between the IEP meeting and
provision of the translated IEP, by language.
