§ 300.501 Opportunity to examine records; parent participation in meetings.

Plain English summary

This section requires that parents of children with disabilities be given the opportunity to inspect and review all relevant education records and to participate in meetings concerning their child's identification, evaluation, educational placement, and provision of FAPE. Public agencies must provide proper notice to ensure parental participation and must include parents as members of any group making educational placement decisions. If a parent cannot participate in person, alternative methods such as telephone or video conferencing must be used, and a placement decision may only proceed without parental involvement if the agency documents its attempts to secure participation.

Key requirements

• The parents of a child with a disability must be afforded an opportunity to inspect and review all education records with respect to the identification, evaluation, and educational placement of the child, and the provision of FAPE to the child.
• The parents of a child with a disability must be afforded an opportunity to participate in meetings with respect to the identification, evaluation, and educational placement of the child, and the provision of FAPE to the child.
• Each public agency must provide notice consistent with § 300.322(a)(1) and (b)(1) to ensure that parents of children with disabilities have the opportunity to participate in meetings.
• A meeting does not include informal or unscheduled conversations involving public agency personnel and conversations on issues such as teaching methodology, lesson plans, or coordination of service provision.
• A meeting also does not include preparatory activities that public agency personnel engage in to develop a proposal or response to a parent proposal that will be discussed at a later meeting.
• Each public agency must ensure that a parent of each child with a disability is a member of any group that makes decisions on the educational placement of the parent's child.
• If neither parent can participate in a meeting in which a decision is to be made relating to the educational placement of their child, the public agency must use other methods to ensure their participation, including individual or conference telephone calls, or video conferencing.
• A placement decision may be made by a group without the involvement of a parent, if the public agency is unable to obtain the parent's participation in the decision. In this case, the public agency must have a record of its attempt to ensure their involvement.

Affected parties

• parents of children with disabilities
• public agencies
• LEAs
• IEP teams
• placement decision-making groups

Official source

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/part-300/section-300.501