The Hearing Room: the IDEA due process hearing

The ordinary IDEA due process hearing, start to finish, in 36 tools. The opening tool is free to read; membership unlocks the rest.

PART I - IS THERE A CASE, AND IS IT YOURS TO BRING

• Hearing Tool 38: Which forum, which claim: sorting an ordinary FAPE dispute from the faster tracks free
• Hearing Tool 39: The claim inventory: naming the claims a hearing officer can actually decide
• Hearing Tool 40: The two-year clock, and the two ways it moves
• Hearing Tool 41: Exhaustion: when you must go through the hearing first, and when you do not
• Hearing Tool 42: The remedy you can actually get: matching the claim to the relief this forum can order
• Hearing Tool 43: New York: two administrative levels, one IHO evidentiary hearing, SRO review, and the district's burden

PART II - THE COMPLAINT, AND THE THREE ROADS THAT AVOID A HEARING

• Hearing Tool 44: Drafting the due process complaint as a pleading
• Hearing Tool 45: Sufficiency: the 15-day challenge, and how to survive it
• Hearing Tool 46: Service, filing, and the periods tied to district receipt
• Hearing Tool 47: The district's response, and the answer you read for admissions
• Hearing Tool 48: The resolution session as leverage, not a formality
• Hearing Tool 49: Mediation, and the settlement agreement you can live with
• Hearing Tool 50: Withdrawal without waiver: dismissing with or without prejudice

PART III - BUILDING THE RECORD

• Hearing Tool 51: The records foundation: the complete file before you plead
• Hearing Tool 52: The independent evaluation as evidence: an IEE at public expense
• Hearing Tool 53: Reading the IEPs and the progress data as your timeline
• Hearing Tool 54: Subpoenas, and compelling what the district will not hand over
• Hearing Tool 55: The expert: when you need one, what they can say, and what they cost
• Hearing Tool 56: The exhibit set, and the five-business-day disclosure

PART IV - PLANNING THE HEARING

• Hearing Tool 57: The theory of the case: one sentence the whole hearing serves
• Hearing Tool 58: Who proves what, and how the order of presentation is set
• Hearing Tool 59: The prehearing conference, stipulations, and narrowing the issues
• Hearing Tool 60: Motions that matter, and the ones that waste your clock
• Hearing Tool 61: Direct examination: putting your case in through your witnesses
• Hearing Tool 62: Cross-examination of the district's witnesses
• Hearing Tool 63: Objections, offers of proof, and protecting the record

PART V - HEARING DAY, THE DECISION, AND THE REMEDY

• Hearing Tool 64: Hearing day: the order of proof, the record, and the closing
• Hearing Tool 65: Reading the decision, and the findings that bind
• Hearing Tool 66: Compensatory education: proving the make-up your child is owed
• Hearing Tool 67: Tuition reimbursement: the three-part case, and the burden that flips
• Hearing Tool 68: Prospective relief: the IEP, placement, and services the order can require going forward
• Hearing Tool 69: Enforcement: getting the ordered relief actually delivered

PART VI - REVIEW AND COURT

• Hearing Tool 70: The appeal to the State Review Officer: New York's second tier, and the deadlines that end cases
• Hearing Tool 71: Writing the request for review: the brief the SRO actually reads
• Hearing Tool 72: The civil action: the deadline to sue, and the record you take to court
• Hearing Tool 73: Attorney fees: the prevailing-party petition, the 10-day-offer bar, and the reductions