SRO considers whether claims are properly raised

SRO 08-086: The general rule is that parents are bound by the content of their hearing request. To add claims, the parents must amend the hearing request. Here, the Parents fail to raise certain claims in the hearing request. Parents raise claims at the hearing without objection by the district. On appeal, District objects to any issue that was not raised in the hearing request. SRO Paul Kelly has addressed this in a number of cases(see e.g.08-052, 08-064) and has ruled consistently that if the parent fails to raise an issue in the hearing request, but raises it at hearing without objection by the district, the parent has effectively raised the issue and it will be considered on appeal.

District Court affirms IHO right to rule on issue not raised by parent

J.S. ex rel. Y.S. v. North Colonie Central School Dist., --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2008 WL 4917881(N.D.N.Y. Nov 18, 2008): In a decision that was otherwise unfavorable to the parent, the Court reversed the SRO and upheld a hearing officer determination that the district must provide the child with transition services. The parent had not raised the issue to the IHO, a fact noted and relied upon by the SRO in his reversal of the IHO. The Court found that the parent had challenged the sufficiency of the IEP and that this was enough for the IHO to order the district to implement a service that was required by law.