Are placement and services ever decided upon outside of an IEP team meeting?
Yes. If you go to a mediation, as part of a dispute resolution session or due process hearing preparation, you may find yourself negotiating for placements and services outside of an official IEP team meeting. The negotiated settlement agreement may include services that parents agree to as compensatory education for the harm their child experienced while not receiving an appropriate education. This mediated settlement agreement and its placement and services may coexist at the same time that an IEP team decides on other services. In other words, an IEP team may decide upon services that do not match the services agreed to in the mediation agreement. In this case, the services provided through mediation last as long as the mediation settlement agreement says they should, even if the IEP team decides the child should get other services. So, the child can conceivably be receiving services from a mediation agreement and from an IEP team decision.
