Kansas Statutes 72-3438. Dispute resolution through mediation; procedures; list of mediators; costs; time and location; agreements; confidentiality
Terms Used In Kansas Statutes 72-3438
- Agency: means boards and the state agencies. See Kansas Statutes 72-3404
- Board: means the board of education of any school district. See Kansas Statutes 72-3404
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Parent: means :
(1) A natural parent;
(2) an adoptive parent;
(3) a person acting as parent;
(4) a legal guardian;
(5) an education advocate; or
(6) a foster parent, if the foster parent has been appointed the education advocate of an exceptional child. See Kansas Statutes 72-3404
- Related services: means transportation, and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services, including speech-language pathology and audiology services, interpreting services, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation, including therapeutic recreation, social work services, school nurse services designed to enable a child with a disability to receive a free appropriate public education as described in the child's IEP, counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling, orientation and mobility services, and medical services, except that such medical services shall be for diagnostic and evaluation purposes only, as may be required to assist an exceptional child to benefit from special education, and includes the early identification and assessment of disabling conditions in children. See Kansas Statutes 72-3404
- Special education: means specially designed instruction provided at no cost to parents to meet the unique needs of an exceptional child, including:
(1) Instruction conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings; and
(2) instruction in physical education. See Kansas Statutes 72-3404
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
- State board: means the state board of education. See Kansas Statutes 72-3404
(a) The state board shall establish and implement procedures to allow agencies and parents to resolve disputes involving any matter, including matters arising prior to the filing of a complaint, through a mediation process.
(b) The procedures adopted shall ensure that the mediation process is:
(1) Voluntary on the part of the parties;
(2) not used to deny or delay a parent‘s right to a due process hearing, or to deny any other rights afforded under this act; and
(3) conducted by a qualified and impartial mediator who is trained in effective mediation techniques.
(c) The state board shall maintain a list of individuals who are qualified mediators and knowledgeable in laws and regulations relating to the provision of special education and related services and shall establish procedures for the appointment of a mediator to help resolve disputes between the parties.
(d) The state board shall bear the cost of the mediation process described in this section.
(e) Each session in the mediation process shall be scheduled in a timely manner and shall be held in a location that is convenient to the parties to the dispute.
(f) If the mediation process results in a resolution of the complaint, the parties shall execute a written agreement that both the parent and an authorized representative of the agency shall sign and that, at a minimum, includes the following statements:
(1) The resolution of each issue presented in the complaint;
(2) all discussions that occurred during the mediation process are confidential and may not be used as evidence in any subsequent due process hearing or civil proceeding; and
(3) each party understands that the agreement is legally binding upon them; and
(4) the agreement may be enforced in state or federal court.
(g) Discussions that occur during the mediation process shall be confidential and may not be used as evidence in any subsequent due process hearings or civil proceedings.