The Arkansas Special Education Mediation Project will begin providing mediation services to parents of students with disabilities and local education agencies (schools) and education service centers (Co-ops) on Monday, August 11, 2003. The Mediation Project is sponsored and funded by the Special Education Unit of the Arkansas Department of Education and is supervised by the U.A.L.R. Bowen School of Law in Little Rock.
The Mediation Project will make available mediation services to resolve disputes arising prior to the filing of a due process hearing request or complaint investigation request involving the identification, evaluation, educational placement or provision of a free appropriate public education to students with disabilities as defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The services are free of charge to parents of students with disabilities and schools/Co-ops.
When parties involved in the mediation process resolve some or all of the issues, the parties work together to write and sign an agreement intended to resolve the issues. The signed agreement is a contract that is legally binding.
Mediation under this Project does not deny the parties the right to file a request for a special education due process hearing or a complaint investigation. However, upon the filing of a hearing or complaint investigation request, the Mediation Project will lose the authority to provide mediation services to the parties on the issues raised in the due process hearing or complaint investigation request.
The primary purpose of this new mediation service is to encourage parents of students with disabilities and schools/Co-ops to identify and resolve educational disputes at the earliest possible time and to avoid the necessity of filing a request for a due process hearing or a complaint investigation. Parties may request mediation of a dispute by calling the U.A.L.R. Bowen School of Law Coordinator of Clinical Programs at 501-324-9939.