Instructions
Use this letter when you’re asking the school to make up services that were missed or not provided as provided by law. You can use this letter when your child has an IEP, and you want the school to give them more help because they didn’t get everything in the IEP when schools were closed.
Note: Once you ask for a meeting, the school has 30 days to meet with you. The school does not have to count days during regular school breaks like summer vacation or spring break.
Sample Letter
[Date]
From:
[Your Name]
[Your Email]
[Your Telephone Number]
TO:
[Name of Head of Special Education]
[Email for Head of Special Education]
[Name of Your Child’s School]
RE:
[Name of Child]
[Date of Birth]
Request for Compensatory Education
My child has an IEP or Section 504 plan. We had problems with school during the pandemic and my child did not get everything in their plan.
[Write here about the problems your child had with school during the pandemic. Say if your child missed school or did not get services in their plan. Try to say all the problems with school that happened during the pandemic.]
My child needs extra help now because they did not have good school during the pandemic.
[Write here about why your child needs extra help now. Say if your child has stopped learning or if your child has lost learning.]
I ask for “compensatory education” or extra help for my child.
I understand that you must think about what my child needs now to fix the problems from the pandemic. I understand that you must set up a meeting with me and with other people who know about my child to make a plan.
I ask that you set up an IEP meeting right away so that we can make a plan to give my child extra help. The law says that we must meet within 30 days of this letter. Cal. Educ. Code ยงยง 56343(c), 56343.5.
Please let me know that you got this letter. Please tell me when we can meet.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]