The Lento Law Firm's premier Education Law Team has helped hundreds of students and their parents nationwide with IEP and other school issues. We are available across Hawaii to help you and your student with IEP problems, whether your student attends school in one of Oahu's four school districts Honolulu, Central, Leeward, or Windward, or attends a Hawaii District, Maui District, or Kauai District school on those islands. Call 888.535.3686 now to tell us about your student's IEP matter, or complete this contact form. Don't let your student fall behind and suffer when skilled and experienced IEP representation may make the difference in your student's school success.
If you have a Hawaii elementary or secondary school student who has an educational disability, then you are likely already familiar with individualized education plans (IEPs). Helping your student with a disability through school presents special challenges for both you and your student. The IEP is supposed to help. The IEP is supposed to be a plan on which the school consulted you and your student, and to which you and your student are as committed as the school. The IEP is supposed to lay the groundwork for the good work you, your student, and the school's teachers and specialists must do for your student's success.
But IEPs don't always work out that way. As committed as your student's school teachers, specialists, and staff may profess to be, they may not follow the IEP. Or they may not have involved you in the IEP's development and adjustment as federal and state laws require them to do. Or the IEP may need adjustments that school officials are refusing to make. The IEP process can be discouraging, frustrating, and intimidating for a dedicated parent of a student with a disability. School officials may not treat the parent and student with appropriate interest, commitment, and respect.
Getting Qualified IEP Representation
You may have already experienced substantial frustration and disappointment over your student's Hawaii grade school IEP experience. You may see the unfortunate and unnecessary educational harm your student is suffering from the school's failure to adopt an appropriate IEP or implement the IEP's promised plan and services. You may already have felt that you lack the legal knowledge, argument skills, and professional authority to command the attention and respect of school officials when advocating for your student. You may even have sought the help of a local criminal defense lawyer, estate planning lawyer, personal injury lawyer, or other local attorney whose lack of academic administrative knowledge and skill disappointed you and failed to help you with your student's IEP issues. Fortunately, qualified, skilled, and experienced IEP legal help is available from the Lento Law Firm.
Hawaii's Commitment to IEP Implementation
Hawaii's State Department of Education professes an appropriate commitment to providing special education services to students through individualized education plans. The State Department of Education also recognizes its federal obligation to involve you, as a parent of a Hawaii grade school student with a disability, in improving special education services for your child. Your student's school must provide you with a survey each year on which you can disclose whether your student's school is involving you appropriately. The school must forward your response to the State Department of Education, which forwards data to the U.S. Department of Education to ensure that Hawaii is implementing IEPs with parent involvement. In short, your student's school is accountable to you for IEP involvement and implementation. Retain us if you are having problems holding your student's school accountable to its IEP obligations.
Hawaii State Department of Education IEP Overview
Hawaii's State Department of Education provides an overview of the state's federal obligations to implement individualized education programs (IEPs) in each of the state's Honolulu, Central, Leeward, Windward, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai District schools. The State Department of Education acknowledges that your student's IEP must include your student's present educational performance level, annual goals with short-term instructional objectives, specific special education services the school will provide, how much your student can participate in regular educational programs, service dates and durations, and clear ways to evaluate whether the plan is working.
Hawaii's State Department of Education also acknowledges that an IEP for students with more involved impairments must be comprehensive, covering much or all of the educational program. If, for instance, your student has a general learning disability such as attention deficit disorder (ADD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or cognitive impairments, the IEP may address special education support in every element of the school's program. But if, instead, your student only has a limited disability, such as a hearing impairment, then the school may also limit the IEP to addressing the related needs, such as hearing aids and accommodations and speech therapy. Let us help if your student's IEP doesn't have the coverage it should or if your student isn't getting its promised services.
Hawaii State Department of Education IEP Development
Hawaii's State Department of Education also acknowledges the obligation of its school districts to involve you and other appropriate individuals in the proper development of your student's individualized education plan (IEP). The State Department of Education recognizes that your student's school officials must recognize when your student is eligible for special education services. You may alert school officials to your student's disability, requesting a referral for evaluation and diagnosis. But school officials have the obligation to refer your student for evaluation, whether you make that request or not, as soon as they suspect your student's disability and your student's need for services.
Hawaii State Department of Education IEP Meetings
Hawaii's State Department of Education also acknowledges that once your student's school officials determine that your student has a disability needing special education services, your student's school officials should contact you to attend an IEP meeting within thirty days. Your student cannot demand or receive services until the IEP is in place. The IEP comes first, stating your student's needs and the services that will meet those needs.
The school must include you in your student's IEP meeting if you wish to attend, as you should. The school must also include at least one of your student's regular classroom teachers, a specialist or the specialist's supervisor, and your student if you wish your student to attend, depending on age, attitude, and abilities. For a first IEP meeting, the school must also include the evaluator who diagnosed the disability or a person who knows the evaluation procedures and results. Your student's school must then hold IEP meetings at least once a year and more often when necessary to adjust the IEP. The school is not to adjust your student's IEP without calling and conducting a meeting in which you and your student may participate.
Organization of Hawaii School District Complex Areas
Ensuring appropriate IEP development and implementation can be a special challenge in Hawaii grade schools, given their relative isolation from island to island. Individual schools may look to officials from their school district's central offices for technical support and assistance in interpreting and implementing their IEP obligations. Hawaii's State Department of Education organizes its schools into island-specific districts. The island of Oahu has four school districts, while the islands of Hawaii and Maui have one district, and the Kauai district covers that island and other islands. But, the State Department of Education further divides most districts into two or three complex areas. You should recognize the school district and district complex area serving your student in your student's grade school, from the following summary.
Honolulu District
Honolulu District on the island of Oahu covers two complex areas identified as the Farrington-Kaiser-Kalani Complex Area and the Kaimuki-McKinley-Roosevelt Complex Area.
Central District
Central District on the island of Oahu covers two complex areas identified as the Aiea-Moanalua-Radford Complex Area and Leilehua-Mililani-Waialua Complex Area.
Leeward District
Leeward District on the island of Oahu covers three complex areas identified as the Campbell-Kapolei Complex Area, Pearl City-Waipahu Complex Area, and Nanakuli-Waianae Complex Area.
Windward District
Windward District on the island of Oahu covers two complex areas identified as the Castle-Kahuku Complex Area and the Kailua-Kalaheo Complex Area.
Hawaii District
Hawaii District on that island covers three complex areas identified as the Hilo-Waiakea Complex Area, Kau-Keaau-Pahoa Complex Area, and Honokaa-Kealakehe-Kohala-Konawaena Complex Area.
Maui District
Maui District on that island covers two complex areas identified as the Baldwin-Kekaulike-Kulanihakoi-Maui Complex Area and the Hana-Lahainaluna-Lanai-Molokai Complex Area.
Kauai District
Kauai District on the island of Kauai and two other islands covers only one complex area identified as the Kapaa-Kauai-Waimea Complex Area.
Federal IEP Mandates Hawaii's State Department of Education Recognizes
Hawaii public schools must generally comply with federal laws protecting students with disabilities. Hawaii's State Department of Education recognizes the state's obligation, citing some of the relevant laws on its website. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, popularly known as IDEA, is the key federal law mandating individualized education plans (IEPs). The IDEA law requires your student's school officials to adopt and implement your student's IEP. The IDEA law is especially important because it states the definitions under which your student may qualify as disabled, to have an IEP and receive the plan's special education accommodations and services. The IDEA law also defines the assistive devices and other equipment the school must provide if your student's IEP so provides. The IDEA law uses the touchstone of a free appropriate public education, popularly known as FAPE, to determine how far the school must go in providing services. Let us help you enforce these federal IEP rights on your student's behalf.
Other Federal Disability Laws Hawaii's State Department of Education Recognizes
While the IDEA law is the specific law that guarantees your student an individualized education plan (IEP), Hawaii's State Department of Education also recognizes related federal laws requiring accommodation of your student's disabilities. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits disability discrimination in programs, including public schools, receiving federal funding. While Section 504 does not mandate an IEP, schools may adopt what they call a 504 Plan for students who do not qualify for an IEP. Remember, schools must adopt an IEP only for diagnosed disabilities meeting the IDEA law's definition. Section 504's prohibition against disability discrimination can have a broader reach. Your student's 504 Plan could supplement your student's IEP or, if your student doesn't qualify for an IEP, provide much of what an IEP might have provided. Hawaii's State Department of Education maintains a Civil Rights Compliance Branch to which parents may complain regarding suspected Section 504 violations.
Hawaii schools must also recognize your student's rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA. Like Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the ADA's Title II prohibits state and local governments, including public schools, from discriminating based on disability. Your student may thus find additional relief under the ADA, such as when your student's disability prevents your student from enjoying special privileges non-disabled students are enjoying that do not necessarily fall within the definition of a free appropriate public education (FAPE). Our attorneys may be able to use Section 504 and the ADA to bolster your student's argument for important relief that the school has refused to provide.
Hawaii State Department of Education IEP Administrative Rules
Hawaii's State Department of Education does more than merely refer to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to acknowledge your student's rights to an IEP and its stated special education services. The State Department of Education also adopts its own administrative regulations carrying out the state's IDEA law obligations. These administrative regulations are so exhaustive and detailed that they are likely to be the basis on which our attorneys can ensure that your student's school respects your student's IEP rights.
Hawaii Administrative Rule 8-60-1 first acknowledges your student's general right, guaranteed under the IDEA law, to receive a “free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living.” The same rule commits the Hawaii State Department of Education to protect the IDEA law's rights of you and your student, assisting your student's school in providing special education services, ensuring effective services, promoting your parental role, increasing your student's educational achievement, and helping your student develop critical life skills.
Hawaii Administrative Rule 8-60-2 defines a free appropriate public education (FAPE) as “special education and related services” provided at no student or parent expense, meeting department standards, and guaranteeing an appropriate preschool, elementary school, or secondary school education, as stated in an approved individualized education plan (IEP). The rules further define terms like “no cost,” “special education and related services,” and “appropriate education,” within the FAPE definition, giving plenty of ammunition to challenge your student's school's refusal to adopt an adequate IEP and provide needed services. Our attorneys can invoke this benchmark provision to advocate for your student's IEP and its implementation. The following additional Hawaii Administrative Rules extend the State Department of Education's commitment to providing your student with special education services under an IEP.
Hawaii Find and Refer Rule for IEP Services
Rule 8-60-10, titled Child Find and Referral, requires the Department and its schools to find and identify students with disabilities, including homeless students. Once the school identifies the student with a suspected disability, the school must refer the student for an evaluation at no cost to the student or parent.
Hawaii Least Restrictive Environment Rule for IEP Services
Rule 8-60-15, titled Least Restrictive Environment Requirements, requires the Department and its schools to ensure that IEPs put into place for students with disabilities provide for each student's education in the least restrictive school environment “to the maximum extent appropriate.” The IDEA law requires schools to mainstream disabled students, keeping the student in the regular classroom as far as appropriate, rather than pulling them out, potentially for little more than warehousing, in special rooms and classes.
Hawaii Parent Consent Rule for IEP Evaluation
Rule 8-60-31, titled Parental Consent, requires the Department and its schools to obtain your consent for your student's initial evaluation, for reevaluation, for certain special education services the school intends to provide, and for other actions relating to the management of your student's disability and special education services. Let us help you enforce these and other rules when your student is not getting the IEP services your student needs.
Qualifying for Hawaii Special Education
If your student's issue with the school is qualifying for an IEP and its special education services, then consider the qualifying definition. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), your student must be a child with a qualifying disability who needs special education or related services because of that disability. The IDEA law lists only intellectual disabilities, hearing impairments, speech or language impairments, visual impairments, serious emotional impairments, orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, and certain specific learning disabilities. We can help you and your student appeal the school's denial of special education services. The IDEA law and Hawaii Administrative Rule 8-60-57 permit you to request an independent evaluation at the school's expense. We can help you make that request, choose an appropriately independent evaluator, and advocate for the evaluator's results.
Hawaii IEP Special Education Services
The IDEA law and Hawaii's implementing administrative regulations not only define the qualifying grounds and school procedure for adopting an IEP. Those laws and rules also define in detail the special education services the school should make available to your student under the IEP. The IDEA law and Hawaii's administrative rules implementing the IDEA law expressly includes these special education services, any of which your student's school should include in your student's IEP:
- services evaluating your student's educational needs in the customary classroom environment;
- assistive technology devices for your student like character recognition devices, voice-recognition software, and readers;
- adapting assistive technology devices as your student's needs require and maintaining, repairing, and replacing those devices as necessary;
- combining specialist or other personnel services with assistive technology devices, to ensure their effectiveness for your student's needs;
- training your student, you, or others, or providing your student, you, or others with technical assistance, for your student to benefit from assistive devices;
- purchasing, borrowing, and adapting equipment, enclosures, or structures to store, repair, maintain, and support assistive technology devices;
- acquiring and supplying furniture, printed materials, audio-visual instructional materials, and other necessary items;
- acquiring and supplying communications and other technological aids and devices; and
- modifying books, distributed documents, and other instructional materials.
Parent Problems Invoking Hawaii IEP Assurances
Hawaii's State Department of Education shows an admirable commitment to IEP procedures and special education services. But promises are one thing, while performance is another. State Department of Education statistics show that more than one in ten students in Hawaii grade schools receive services and accommodations under an IEP. That percentage amounts to around 20,000 students with IEPs. That's a lot of special education services. Reports suggest, though, that students learning under an IEP don't always get the services the IEP promises, especially with the advent of increased distance learning. Comparison data for Hawaii schools indicates that students under an IEP aren't performing at median levels and haven't seen their performances increase in recent years. Parents and their students experience problems getting the IEPs and services disabled students need. Let us help you and your student. Don't let your student become another disappointing statistic.
Premier IEP Representation Available Across Hawaii
We appreciate the challenges you and your student face in qualifying your student for an IEP, obtaining a reasonable IEP, including the special education services your student needs, and ensuring that your student's school implements the IEP or adjusts it as necessary. The law, rules, definitions, and procedures are complex. You and your student need qualified, skilled, and experienced attorney help if your student's school has refused special education services. The Lento Law Firm's Education Law Team has helped hundreds of students nationwide overcome educational issues, including issues relating to disabilities, IEPs, and special education services. Our attorneys are available whether your student attends school in the Honolulu, Central, Leeward, Windward, Hawaii, Maui, or Kauai District. Call 888.535.3686 now to tell us about your student's case, or complete this contact form.
