August 2025:
The MLO Minute: “When Should Parents/Guardians Sign a Notice of Recommended Educational Placement (NOREP)” —
By Heather Hulse, JD, MS, MA, Senior Partner Scranton Office, Lead Attorney for Western Pennsylvania —
Parents and guardians are often provided with documents for the provision of special education services to their child. Of course, these will include an Individualized Education Program (“IEP”). The document that provides for the approval of the implementation of special education services is the Notice for Recommended Educational Placement (“NOREP”). In essence, the NOREP is the document that Parents and Guardians are given to approve the special education services offered by their child’s local educational agency that will be specifically described in an IEP.
Parents and guardians may sometimes feel compelled to refuse to sign a NOREP because they do not agree with the IEP that is being offered to their child. Perhaps they believe there are not adequate special education services being offered, that the services offered are not appropriate, that their child needs a more supportive educational placement, or that the educational placement being offered is too restrictive. While there are times when it is okay to refuse to sign or respond to a NOREP, it is very important for parents and guardians to know there are other times where it is crucial to respond.
The NOREP for the initial provision of special education services must be approved for special education services to begin. After a student is evaluated and found eligible for special education services, the IEP team will meet to develop an IEP for your child. Parents and guardians should participate in this meeting, express any concerns, ask any questions, and provide information about your child’s educational strengths and needs. An initial IEP will be offered with an initial provision of special education services via a NOREP. It is necessary to approve this NOREP for special education services to begin. Parents and guardians can note any concerns they have on the NOREP next to the approval, as the IEP is a fluid document that can be revised. Moreover, failing to approve the initial provision of services IEP impacts the ability of parents and guardians to pursue compensatory education for any denials of a free appropriate public education (“FAPE”).
It is also essential to quickly respond to a NOREP that offers to change your child’s educational placement to a placement that you do not believe is appropriate. Failure to disapprove of an educational placement that is offered that you do not believe is appropriate within ten (10) calendar days from the date of the NOREP will render the new placement pendent, which is considered the last agreed-upon placement. This means that even if you disagree and file for due process, the placement on the NOREP that you failed to respond to will be in place for your child while the due process hearing convenes and until a decision is rendered regarding whether the placement is appropriate. If the placement is determined at a hearing to be appropriate, the placement would remain in place. If the placement is determined to be inappropriate, the placement will change pursuant to the decision. Of course, parents and guardians have the right to fund private schools for their children or place their children in a charter school or cyber charter school if they are in a school district and they want to switch schools.
When parents and guardians respond to a NOREP offering to change their child’s educational placement to one they believe to be inappropriate, along with disapproving the NOREP and returning it to the District ten (10) days from its date, it is necessary to also check that you are requesting due process or mediation. Furthermore, you must actually then promptly file for due process or mediation. Proceeding to due process without legal counsel is not recommended, as parents who represent themselves in due process hearings have much lower likelihood of success than parents who are represented by competent legal counsel.
It is also important to understand that educational placement is not necessarily a change from one school to another, or one building to another. It could mean a change in school or building. Educational placement is the type and extent of the special education program. For example, students can be placed in Learning, Support, Emotional Support, Life Skills Support, Autistic Support, Multiple Disabilities Support, Speech and Language Support, Blind and Visually Impaired Support, Deaf or Hearing-Impaired Support, Physical Support, or Gifted Support. The extent of such services could be Itinerant, Supplemental, or Full-Time. The location of the services may occur in your child’s neighborhood school, another building in the school district, or outside of the school district or charter school. Students can be placed outside of the school district or charter school into another school district that provides a higher level of support, an approved private school (day placement or residential), another private facility (day or residential), an out-of-state facility (day placement or residential), hospital, correctional facility, homebound, or instruction in the home.
If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s educational needs not being met, please feel free to contact our office. Our initial consultation is free, and these matters are often handled on a contingency basis without hourly fees charged to families.
