D.C. Letter 5: The Ten-Business-Day Unilateral-Placement Notice
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Correspondence. District of Columbia. Cross references: DC-Tool 32; DC-Tool 33.
When to Use It
Use this letter before you remove your child from the public placement and enroll your child in a private placement at your own expense while seeking reimbursement. D.C. requires notice at least ten business days before the removal, and the notice must state your reasons for disagreeing with the program offered at the most recent IEP Team meeting you attended before the removal, not just any recent meeting (34 C.F.R. 300.148(d)(1), checked August 13, 2026). Missing this letter, or sending it late, can reduce or bar reimbursement even where the placement itself was the right call.
Locked on this page · what membership adds
- The Letter
- Before You Send
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The full D.C. Hearing Room - the step-by-step moves for the ordinary IDEA due process hearing in Washington, D.C., the scripts, the packet documents, and the District of Columbia overlay - is its own membership, separate from the Field Manual membership and the Hearing Room membership.
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