Delaware

The published process

Placement during a dispute

"Except as described below, a child involved in any due process hearing or judicial proceeding regarding a due process complaint must remain in his or her current educational placement unless you and the school agree on another arrangement. This is often called the stay put rule." "If the due process complaint involves initial admission to a public school, your child will be placed in a public school program with your consent until all proceedings are complete." — Delaware Procedural Safeguards, Does my child's placement change during the proceedings?, retrieved Aug 25, 2026

Independent evaluation at public expense

"You have the right to ask for and obtain an independent educational evaluation for your child at public expense if you disagree with an evaluation of your child obtained by the school, subject to the following:" "If you request an independent evaluation of your child at public expense, the school must either: (1) file a due process complaint to request a hearing to show its evaluation was appropriate, or (2) provide an independent evaluation at public expense." "You are entitled to only one independent evaluation of your child at public expense each time your school conducts an evaluation of your child with which you disagree." — Delaware Procedural Safeguards, Independent Educational Evaluations

Who may be present, and what record is made

"When you request a due process hearing, you have the right to:" "Have a fair and impartial hearing before a three (3) member hearing panel (or a single hearing officer in the case of expedited hearings) appointed by the Department." "Be represented by an attorney or accompanied and advised by individuals who have special knowledge or training about children with disabilities." "Receive a written or an electronic verbatim record of the hearing at public expense." "Have your child present at the hearing." "Have the hearing open or closed to the public." "Have the hearing conducted at a time and place that is reasonably convenient to you and your child." — Delaware Procedural Safeguards, What are my due process rights?. Recording of IEP Team meetings, as distinct from due process hearings, is not stated in the sources reviewed (the notice, the due process information guide, the rights-and-disputes overview page, and the PIC of Delaware homepage were searched); district policies may address it.

The three rows above answer the questions an experienced adviser raises first, from the state’s own published documents, or record that a question is not answered in them.

Timelines, as stated in the sources

All quoted; none calculated. From Delaware Procedural Safeguards except where noted.

On mediation: "Mediation will be scheduled in a timely manner and held at a place that is convenient for you and the school." No specific numeric mediation timeline is stated in the sources reviewed, unlike the 30-day figures some other states publish.

On state complaints: "Complaints must allege a violation that occurred not more than one (1) year prior to the date the complaint is received by the Department." "The Department must complete its investigation and issue its written decision within sixty (60) calendar days." Extension is permitted: "The Department may permit an extension of time if exceptional circumstances justify a longer time, or the complainant and school agree to an extension of time to resolve the matter through mediation or other means." (Delaware Procedural Safeguards, How do I file a state complaint?; How does the Department handle my state complaint?)

On requesting a due process hearing: "The due process complaint must be filed within two (2) years of the date you knew or should have known about the alleged action that forms the basis of the due process complaint." (Delaware Procedural Safeguards, How do I request a hearing?)

On the resolution process: "Within fifteen (15) calendar days of receiving notice of your due process complaint, the school must convene a resolution meeting." "The resolution period is a thirty (30) day period after the filing of a due process complaint but before the start of the forty-five (45) day hearing timeline." (Delaware Procedural Safeguards, What is a resolution meeting?; What is the resolution period?)

On the hearing decision: "The due process hearing must be held and a decision issued not later than forty-five (45) calendar days after the expiration of the thirty (30) calendar day resolution period or the adjusted time periods" discussed in the notice’s resolution-period provisions. "In addition, the hearing panel, for good cause, may grant specific extensions of time at the request of you or the school." (Delaware Procedural Safeguards, How long does a due process hearing take?)

On appeal: "The hearing decision is final and binding on all parties unless it is appealed by filing a civil action in the United States District Court or in the Family Court of the State of Delaware. You must file any appeal with the court within ninety (90) calendar days from the date of the final decision." — matching the federal default recorded for Alaska, Arkansas, and Colorado. (Delaware Procedural Safeguards, Can the due process hearing decision be appealed?)

On discipline: "The school may remove a child with a disability from the child’s current educational placement for a total of ten (10) school days in a school year without providing educational services." The manifestation determination meeting "must take place immediately, if possible, or within ten (10) school days of the decision to take this type of disciplinary action." A child may be placed in an interim alternative educational setting "for up to forty-five (45) school days without regard to whether the behavior is determined to be a manifestation of the child’s disability" for weapons, drugs, or serious bodily injury. For an expedited hearing, the hearing "must occur within twenty (20) school days of the date the complaint is received by the Department without delays or extensions. The hearing officer must then render a decision within ten (10) school days after the hearing concludes. A resolution meeting must occur within seven (7) calendar days of receiving notice of the due process complaint" (unless the parties agree otherwise or use mediation instead). (Delaware Procedural Safeguards, Will my child receive services during a suspension or expulsion from school?; What steps must the school take to change my child’s placement for disciplinary reasons?; Are there special circumstances when my child can be placed in an interim alternative educational setting?; What is an expedited due process hearing?)

What any of this means for a particular situation is for the agency and its processes to determine.

Change log

Aug 25, 2026 · Page created (pilot). Captured first-party: Delaware Procedural Safeguards, Parent and Child Rights in Special Education (full July 2026 text, all sections through Children Attending Private Schools), the Special Education Due Process Information Guide (July 2026, full text), the Rights and Dispute Resolution Information overview page, and the Parent Information Center of Delaware homepage. Findings recorded rather than smoothed: (1) mediation and IEP facilitation are administered not by Department staff directly but under contract by the Special Education Partnership for the Amicable Resolution of Conflict (SPARC) at the Conflict Resolution Program, University of Delaware — a structure distinct from every other state captured so far; (2) Delaware is explicitly a "one tier" state offering a single level of administrative review, a three-member hearing panel (or a single hearing officer for expedited hearings) rather than a hearing officer plus a separate appeal board; (3) the mailing address for due process complaints and mediation requests is addressed to "Secretary of Education," while the mailing address for state complaints is addressed to "Director, Exceptional Children Resources" — same street address and suite, different named addressee, both using the same fax (302) 739-4654 and email dispute.resolution@doe.k12.de.us; recorded as published, not reconciled; (4) beyond the three federal statutory triggers for interim alternative educational setting placement (weapons, drugs, serious bodily injury), Delaware’s notice separately allows a school-requested expedited hearing to place a child in an IAES on a "substantially likely to result in injury" theory; (5) no specific numeric mediation timeline is stated in the sources reviewed, unlike the 30-day figures some other states publish; (6) recording of IEP Team meetings, as distinct from due process hearings, is not addressed in the sources reviewed. Capture pending: the Special Education State Complaint Information Guide, the Special Education State Complaint Form, the Due Process Complaint Form and Request for Due Process Hearing, the Request for Special Education Mediation Form, the SPARC IEP Facilitation and Mediation End of Year Report 2024-2025, translated versions of the notice, and the underlying state regulations. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed 2026-08-25. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.