Since the J.A. Case involves system-wide relief, the parties agreed to have a court-appointed Compliance Monitor to enforce the terms of the settlement. This is a large section of the Settlement Agreement and Consent Order to lead to the Complaint / Allegation of Violation Form in the next Part of this website. But, first, we will explain the terms of the Compliance Monitor.
Relief #32 – Paragraph 35
“The Court will appoint a Compliance Monitor using the following process:”
a. The parties will attempt to agree upon a candidate to serve as a Compliance Monitor, possibly the same Monitor employed for the
C.P. Class Action. If that person is unwilling to accept the task, then the parties shall meet and confer on appointment of an acceptable Monitor.
b. If, in the future, the Compliance Monitor becomes permanently unavailable for any reason or is unable to fulfill the duties of the Compliance Monitor, the parties shall meet and confer to determine whether a mutually acceptable replacement can be recommended to the Court for appointment. If there is no mutually agreed upon candidate, the Parties may make separate recommendations to the Court.
c. State Defendants are responsible for compensating the Compliance Monitor and will establish a reasonable rate of pay consistent with market rates for the services being performed.
What does this mean?
This is the process by which the parties will choose a Compliance Monitor and present the person for approval to the Court and if a substitute monitor needs to be appointed in the future. The parties will first look to the monitor appointed in the C.P. Class Action to determine if that person is willing and appropriate to handle the tasks in this cse. The Compliance Monitor will be paid by the State of New Jersey at market rates.
Relief #33 – Paragraph 36
“The general role of the Compliance Monitor is to provide State Defendants with the support, guidance, experience, and expertise needed to comply with the terms of this Agreement. The Compliance Monitor shall serve in that role for a twelve (12) month period which begins on the date of appointment of the Monitor.”
What does this mean?
The Compliance Monitor’s main task is to help the State comply with this Consent Order and all of the terms explained in the previous Parts of this website. Once the Court appoints the Monitor, he/she shall serve in that role for a year.
Relief #34 – Paragraph 37
“The form containing alleged violation(s) of this Agreement (whether in paper form, email, downloaded from the OSE or OAL’s websites, or generated from the settlement website) shall be received by the Compliance Monitor during the Monitor’s term. Upon receipt of an alleged violation, the Compliance Monitor shall contact the party submitting the form and notify such party of the following options (with or without the assistance of counsel):”
a. The party may request that the ALJ reconsider his/her action or decision because it allegedly violates this Agreement;
b. The party may file a State Investigation Complaint;
c. The party may wait until a final decision is issued in the due process case and include the alleged violation in an appeal, if necessary; or
d. The party may take no action.
“The Compliance Monitor shall not provide any legal advice or advise the party as to which option he/she should pursue.”
What does this mean?
A Complaint / Allegation of Violation form was created and shall be posted on this website (see next section) as well as the NJDOE’s Office of Special Education website and the OAL’s website. When the form is completed by a party (whether in paper form or online via this website), it shall be submitted to the Compliance Monitor for review and data collection. The Monitor shall advise the party submitting the Allegation of Violation of four options: (1) request the ALJ reconsider his/her action(s) by asserting a violation of this Consent Order has occurred; (2) file a State Investigation Complaint (PDF pamphlet); (3) wait for a final decision in the due process case and appeal the violation; or (4) take no action at all. Other than that, the Compliance Monitor may not offer any legal advice to a complaining party or advise which option the complainant should pursue.
Relief #35 – Paragraph 38
“The Compliance Monitor shall track all data related to every allegation of violation received. If the Compliance Monitor receives five (5) or more allegations in the same category in other due process cases within a sixty (60) day period, the Compliance Monitor shall refer those allegations to the OSE. The OSE shall make an independent determination if the alleged violation(s) has (have) validity and what, if any, corrective action is needed. The OSE shall thereafter notify the Compliance Monitor of the corrective action taken and the results thereof to complete the data collection.”
What does this mean?
In addition to providing the notice to the complaining party discussed in the previous paragraph, the Compliance Monitor shall track all of the data from each complaint form he/she receives. If the Monitor sees a trend in the complaints – five (5) or more that fall in the same category within 60 days – the allegations shall be forwarded to the NJDOE Office of Special Education (“OSE”). The OSE shall make an independent evaluation to determine if the alleged violations have substance and validity and whether any corrective action is necessary. The OSE shall notify the Compliance Monitor of any actions taken on the reported allegations, which shall be added to the Monitor’s data.
Relief #36 – Paragraph 39
“The Compliance Monitor shall provide a report to the signatories of this Agreement every ninety (90) days, which report shall consist of: (a) the case name and agency number or docket number of the case involved; (b) the date each allegation of violation was received; (c) the category of the alleged violation; (d) whether the party submitting the allegation was provided the options set forth in paragraph 37 above; (e) the total number of allegations received; and (f) whether the issue was referred to OSE and the actions taken by OSE, if any.”
What does this mean?
Every 90 days (3 months), the Compliance Monitor is to submit a report on the data and allegations received to the State Defendants (NJDOE and OAL) as well as to Plaintiffs’ counsel. The report must contain six (6) pieces of information, which is essentially the data collecteed by the Monitor (as discussed above).