The legislature amended the School Code adding new requirements for Chicago Public Schools (“CPS”) when drafting IEP’s, which went into effect on August 20, 2018. This amendment requires that schools must provide parents or guardians written notice within 10 days of an IEP meeting of what services require specific data collection and the notice must indicate, with a checkmark, whether that data has been collected. The amendment specifically indicates that paraprofessional support, an extended school year, transportation, therapeutic day school, and services for specific learning disabilities must be included in the notice.
Further, schools must provide parents with an IEP draft, which contains all the required elements of an IEP, within 5 days of the IEP meeting. Additionally, the State Board of Education may create a hotline for parental complaints of special education services. The school is now responsible for notifying parents within 10 school days after an IEP meeting if the specific requirements outlined in the student’s IEP have not yet been accommodated. All of the complaints received through the hotline must be registered and recorded. Finally, CPS cannot delay, change, or delete any services on a student’s IEP plan without approval by the program team. Further, the district cannot build functions into its computer software that would automatically remove any services from a student’s IEP without the student’s IEP team first approving the removal.
