HCPSS MPIA Request #2021-280

Requestor
Kenneth R. Rosen
Requested Information
I request that a copy of the following documents, or documents containing the following information, be provided to me:

* Any and all legal settlement agreements, dated or filed between the years of 2015 and 2020, in which the school district, township, county, or state was a party under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

* Any and all documents, dated or filed between the years of 2015 and 2020, including settlement agreements, containing the phrases "unilateral placement" or "emotional disability" or "behavioral disability."
Date Received
Status
Complete
Response Notes

Responsive to this request, and per clarification you are seeking settlement documents themselves, our staff indicates these agreements contain confidentiality clauses. For due process mediation in particular under IDEA, written mediation agreements must be in accordance with 34 CFR 300.506, which indicates under (c)(6) "If the parties resolve a dispute through the mediation process, the parties must execute a legally binding agreement that sets forth that resolution and that states that all discussions that occurred during the mediation process will remain confidential..." Under GP ยง 4-301(a)(1), inspection is to be denied where by law, the public record is privileged or confidential.

*Some request language is summarized to include the requester's specific document requests and legally protected information (such as personally identifiable information of a student) or personal, defamatory and malicious content removed at the discretion of the school system.

**Responses containing legally protected information available only to the person of interest are omitted from the above report.

***Howard County Public Schools reserves the right to remove erroneous or outdated documents from this site.