Prior Written Notice

One of the procedural safeguards afforded to parents is the required Prior Written Notice (PWN) of certain proposed special education actions. This notice must be provided to parents within a reasonable amount of time before the date the district proposes or refuses to initiate or change the:

• Identification - when a disability is suspected and the student is referred for assessment OR when the team reviewed evaluation results and other data to determine whether a student has a disability. Following any eligibility determination meeting, the PWN should always include the eligible category/categories of disability(ies).


• Evaluation - after an evaluation planning meeting in which an initial evaluation is proposed OR following a reevaluation review meeting in which proposals are made to evaluate or not evaluate. If an evaluation is required, the PWN should always include the areas in which the student will be evaluated.


• Educational placement of their child - following any Initial IEP meeting in which special education services are proposed or in any IEP meeting in which a change to the current educational placement is proposed. Teams must consider the full continuum of services when considering educational placement, including alternative placement. Decisions may range from services within the general education setting to specialized classes, special schools, or home instruction. Educational placements correspond to the “Placement Options” section in the Least Restrictive Environment step in the IEP process.


• Provision of a FAPE to their child - describes the services proposed for the student. Federal law defines FAPE as special education and related services that are provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge. This may include: transition services, goals and objectives, accommodations/modifications/supplementary services, any special education or related services, the amount of services to be provided, the location of services to be provided, participation in testing, and least restrictive environment.
  (34 CFR § 300.503(a))

The PWN provided to parents for each proposed special education action must contain specific information:

• a description of the action proposed or refused;


• an explanation of why the district proposes or refuses to take the action;


• a description of each evaluation procedure, assessment, record, or report the district used as basis for proposed or refused action;


• a description of the other options the IEP team considered and reasons why they were rejected;


• a description of any other factors relevant to the proposal or refusal;


• a statement that the parents have parental rights under the law; and


• sources for parents to contact to assist in understanding their rights.

Additionally, if the PWN is to propose to conduct an initial evaluation or a reevaluation, the notice must describe any evaluation procedures that the district proposes to conduct (34 CFR § 300.304(a)(1)).

Prior Written Notice IS NOT required BEFORE a meeting (even for possible changes in placement), but IS required AFTER all meetings prior to implementing any changes recommended by the team. PWN must be sent at the conclusion of the meeting (prior to the implementation of any changes decided upon or refusal to make changes). This PWN provides information about what changes will be implemented or what changes the IEP team refused to make.

A Prior Written Notice can be completed in Enrich IEP for any student.

In Enrich IEP, the PWN is embedded within the IEP, and evaluation processes, and must be completed prior to finalizing the process. Users are able to navigate directly to the PWN section of the process, by clicking Prior Written Notice in the left-hand navigation menu.

Users may also access a stand-alone PWN from within the Add Action menu.

Within the Prior Written Notice, the user will select the date the PWN will be sent home.

• The user must describe the action(s) proposed or refused by the District.





• Explain why the school district/agency proposes or refuses to take action(s):
  
  
  


• Describe any options the school district/agency considered and the reasons why those options were rejected:
  
  Describe in detail any other options which were considered and why they were rejected. Phrases such as “no other options considered”, “none”, or “not applicable” should not be used. This statement provides the opportunity to address other options that were discussed by the team and considered and why they were rejected. This relates to avoiding the perception of predetermination. This should not be a repetition of the proposal or refusal outlined in the previous section.
  
  
  


• Describe each evaluation procedure, test, record, or report the school district/agency used/will use as a basis for the proposed or refused action:
  
  The user will list items used by the team in making the proposals. Items include but are not limited to assessments, logs, grades, progress monitoring folders, work samples, student history, etc.
  
  
  


• Describe any other factors relevant to the action(s) proposed are:
  
  The user will include pertinent information provided by team members such as recent student transitions, upcoming expected medical interventions, student motivation/ attention, etc. If the meeting has been tabled, consider establishing a new meeting date and including that information in this section. This is not a repetition of the information included in the "Other options the school district/agency considered" portion of the Prior Written Notice.
  
  
  


• Select the appropriate outside agencies that parents may contact using the text assistant feature.
  
  
  



• If any items are being sent home along with the PWN, check “Yes” there will be enclosures, and select or add the appropriate enclosures.
  
  
  

Like with other documents in Enrich IEP, the document will be finalized when the user selects "Finalize" at the conclusion of the process.

The user should sign the final PWN prior to sending home. The document should be received by the parent PRIOR to the implementation of the proposals/refusals outlined in the PWN.