Hearing Letter 19: Pendency Demand for the Ordinary Case
When to Use It
Send this the moment your due process complaint is filed, or the moment the district signals it will change your child’s program while the case is pending. Pendency, often called stay put, holds your child in the then-current educational placement while the hearing and any appeal run, unless you and the district agree otherwise (34 C.F.R. § 300.518(a)). It is automatic in principle, but districts do not always honor it without a demand, so you put it in writing and you identify the placement it protects.
Pendency is fact-specific. The operative placement may arise from an implemented IEP, written agreement, or qualifying administrative or court decision, not necessarily the latest document (N.Y. Educ. Law § 4404(4); 20 U.S.C. § 1415(j); 34 C.F.R. § 300.518). Accepted open as of July 25, 2026: obtain case-specific advice when placement or funding is disputed. Identify the school, program, services and frequency, and the controlling IEP, agreement, or decision. Discipline pendency is addressed in Volume I.
Send it to: the CSE chairperson and the superintendent or special education office.
Locked on this page · what membership adds
- The Letter
- Before You Send
Finish this packet document and download the editable file
The full Hearing Room - the step-by-step moves for the ordinary IDEA due process hearing, the scripts, the packet documents, and the New York overlay - is its own membership, separate from the Field Manual membership.
The Hearing Room membership opens soon.