Notice of Procedural Safeguards
Notice of Procedural Safeguards
Dear Parents:
The Notice of Procedural Safeguards is for families of students who have been referred for an evaluation or is currently receiving special education services.
Translated Versions of the Procedural Safeguards can be found at Parent's Notice of Procedural Safeguards page
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You will receive this Notice at least once each year if your student is identified as eligible for special education. You can also request a copy from your school district at anytime or from the DESE. This document is available on the DESE Web site.
If your student is eligible for special education, the school district must provide a free appropriate public education commonly referred to by the acronym FAPE. In order to provide a FAPE the school district must work in partnership with you. You will be a member of the IEP team that will consider your student’s unique needs and develop an individualized education program or IEP, for your student.
The IEP must provide instruction that is tailored to your student’s unique needs and includes sufficient support services to enable your student to make meaningful educational progress and to assist your student in acquisition of knowledge and skills, including those necessary for social and emotional development according to appropriate chronological and developmental expectations. Any special education services identified for your student must be provided at public expense with no cost to you.
All students in the Commonwealth’s public education system, including students with disabilities, are entitled to the opportunity to learn the material that is covered by the academic standards in the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks. Massachusetts also provides an individual right to FAPE for its resident students with disabilities who attend private schools at private expense, and who seek public special education services. Both State and federal laws contain rules that school districts must follow when deciding if a student is eligible for special education and, if so, what services the student will receive. These laws also provide detailed procedures for ensuring that the student receives a FAPE during the entire time he or she is eligible for special education. Special education is a highly complex and regulated area of education law. The detail in the law is intended to protect your student and to help ensure that he or she receives appropriate educational services. You can get additional help in understanding the special education process from your school guidance office, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), organizations for parents of students with disabilities, and private special education organizations. Information from these sources will help you work in partnership with your school district to make sure that your student receives appropriate educational services.
Procedural safeguards are the specific rules that make sure that you know what the school district is proposing to do (“receive notice”), agree with the school district’s plan (“give parental consent”) and have a range of opportunities for resolving disagreements with the school district (“due process”). Procedural Safeguards in the law also provide additional protections outlined in this document.
Other languages can be found on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Parent's Notice of Procedural Safeguards page.
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