This and the following pages detail the relief obtained by the Plaintiffs. In other words, what must the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) and Office of Administrative Law (OAL) do in special education cases going forward and what to do if they violate this Order by the Court.
Relief #1 – Paragraph 4
“State Defendants will comply with and apply the Procedural Safeguards listed in IDEA at 20 U.S.C. § 1415; the current federal regulations implementing that provision, specifically 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.500 – 300.520; and all current New Jersey regulations implementing that provision, specifically N.J.A.C. §§ 6A:14-2.1 to -2.10 and §§ 1:6A-1.1 to -18.4 to the extent those do not conflict with the federal law. If any of the federal or state implementing regulations are amended or repealed, State Defendants shall within the timeline provided under the Administrative Procedures Act, N.J.S.A. § 52:14B-1 et seq., amend their procedures to comply with the modified regulations.”
What does that mean?
IDEA’s Procedural Safeguards are the legal rights of parents and their children with a disability. New Jersey has adopted regulations to make sure those federal rights are protected in our State. This provision merely requires that the NJDOE and OAL to follow special education law and procedures.
Relief #2 – Paragraph 5
“All NJDOE staff and all Administrative Law Judges (“ALJs”) assigned to handle special education cases comply with and apply IDEA’s Procedural Safeguards set forth in 20 U.S.C. § 1415, 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.500-300.537 and §§ 300.610-300.627, N.J.A.C. §§ 6A:14-2.6 – 2.9 and §§ 1:6A-1.1 –18.4, and as detailed following.”
What does that mean?
This merely restates paragraph 4, but makes it more specific in that NJDOE and the “judges” from the OAL who hear special education cases must enforce those legal rights to protect families.
Relief #3 – Paragraph 6
“The parties agree that once a case is transmitted to the OAL from NJDOE it is in the interests of the parties to have the matter proceed to a hearing in an expeditious manner.”
What does that mean?
Special education cases were designed to be speedy hearings because you want very little interruption in a child’s education and schoolyear. Thus, this paragraph acknowledges that once the case has not settled, you want the ALJ to decide it as quickly as possible.
Relief #4 – Paragraph 7
“To ensure that future parties filing a request for due process hearing know about the Settlement, when a due process complaint is filed with NJDOE’s Office of Special Education (“OSE”), OSE shall include in the acknowledgement of the filing reference to the settlement website of njspecialedsettlement.info to obtain additional information and reference to the form to submit an allegation of a violation of the settlement, which will also be maintained on the OSE website, the OAL website, and njspecialedsettlement.info.”
What does that mean?
This paragraph was added so that any parent who files a special education due process complaint in the future learns about this settlement and how to get more information about their rights and what to do if those rights are violated. So this Settlement Agreement and Consent Order must be posted to the NJDOE Office of Special Education (OSE) website, the OAL’s website, and authorized the creation of this website you are reading now. The forms to be used by an ALJ and if you need to complaint about a violation of your rights must also be posted to these locations.