Parents have the right to participate in decisions related to the education of their children with disabilities. (Reg. 300.345)

The Joint School District #2 acknowledges that strong family/professional partnerships are central to the success of your child's educational program. We encourage you to become a full participating member in all steps of the decision making process of special education.

Sometimes questions arise about who is the parent and when the biological parent loses rights under the public law. The parent who has custody of the child in a divorced family is usually entitled to exercise the parental rights. Any child who is in the custody of the State of Idaho must be assigned a surrogate parent who will exercise the rights of the child; however, the biological parent is still entitled to exercise his/her own rights under IDEA. If a student has permanent (not temporary) foster parents, then they, not the state welfare agency have the parent rights.

The following is the sequence of activities involved in the decision making process.

• Child Find/Pre-Referral Activities
• Referral to Special Services
• Written Notice and Consent to Evaluate
• Comprehensive Non-discriminatory Evaluation
• Determination of Eligibility
• Development of the IEP
• Program Placement
• Annual Review

Beginning with Written Notice and Consent to Evaluate, the above process is required by law to be repeated every three years.