On June 20, 2019, HLERK reported that the Illinois State Board of Education (“ISBE”) would remove language from Form 34-57B that requires districts to wait 10 school days to initiate an initial evaluation/reevaluation for a student unless a parent waives the 10 school days in writing. We received confirmation on August 22, 2019, from ISBE that they were in the process of revising Form 34-57B. Also, ISBE informed us that the Form 34-57B will be updated on the website and in the I-Star Program. Currently, Form 34-57B on ISBE’s website is dated August 2015 and does not contain the 10 day language.
As explained in our original article in May 2019, ISBE amended Form 34-57B entitled “Parent/Guardian Consent for Initial Evaluation.” The amendment added language to the Form that stated that an initial evaluation could not be initiated by a school district until 10 school days after consent was obtained. The amendment allowed the guardian or parent to waive this 10 school day interval requirement. The principal concern regarding the amendment of Form 34-57B was that the new language provided a parent or guardian the right to bar the initiation of the evaluation process for 10 school days. Thus, districts would have a reduced time to complete the evaluation process for a student. No such restriction exists under Illinois or federal law for evaluations.
Again, per ISBE advice, school districts may remove the same language from their own consent forms at this time. This is good news for districts as it protects their ability to utilize all of the 60 school days permitted by law to complete the evaluation process for potentially eligible students.
