When a school district receives a request for an impartial hearing this request must be entered in the Impartial Hearing Reporting System (IHRS). A case refers to all information and actions associated with a particular request for an impartial hearing as recorded in IHRS.
All data entry in IHRS is performed or initiated on the Case Maintenance screen. Each case is assigned a unique numeric Case Identifier (ID). All case information is linked to the ID.
Note: The entire Case Maintenance form is longer than the display area. Use the vertical scroll bar on the right of the screen to view information at the bottom of the form.
What is an Expedited Case?
An impartial hearing request dealing with discipline issues pursuant to Section 201.11 is an expedited hearing request. Expedited cases have much shorter time lines and the time lines are based on school days.
When initially entering an expedited request in IHRS, the school district calculates and enters the compliance date. The school district must calculate the expedited compliance date because it is based on school days and the district has the most accurate information about their school calendar.
The compliance date is 30 school days from the date the district received
the expedited request. When calculating the compliance date, day
number one is the first school day after the receipt of the request.
This date may be changed, if necessary (e.g. due to an unplanned
school closing), by submitting a data change request. Please see
the section Data Change Requests in Getting
Started: IHRS Basics for more information.
The impartial hearing officer appointed to the case receives an email notification with the expedited compliance date calculated by the school district.
What is a CSE Case?
An impartial hearing request filed on behalf of a school age child is considered a Committee on Special Education or CSE case. The initial time line for a CSE impartial hearing is 45 calendar days.
What is a CPSE Case?
An impartial hearing request filed on behalf of a preschool age child is considered a Committee on Preschool Special Education or CPSE case. The initial time line for a CPSE impartial hearing is 30 calendar days.
When to Enter a Case
The district is expected to enter at least the required information immediately upon receipt of the request for impartial hearing.
How to Enter a Case
Required Fields
There are certain pieces of information that are required in order to open a case in IHRS. The data entry fields for these required items are marked with an asterisk *. The fields required to create a new case in IHRS include:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- * District Representative Name
|
- * Expedited Compliance Date
|
|
District Representative Phone, Extension and Email are not required fields however, they are helpful in facilitating communication between the district and the Office of Special Education about the case.
See Steps to Initially Open a Case in this section for more information on required fields.
Additional Fields
The following information is usually not completed when entering a new case but may be added at a later time if relevant to the case:
Field Name |
Description |
Able to Modify Field Once Saved? |
District Representative Phone |
The district representative’s phone number.
(You can type only ten (10) characters in a telephone number field. Type only the 10-digit phone number - do not type dashes or parentheses. |
Yes |
District Rep Extension |
The district representative’s extension (if applicable). |
Yes |
District Rep Email |
The district representative’s email address. |
Yes |
District Case Number |
If the district uses case numbers, the case number the district has assigned. This field should never contain any personally identifiable information regarding the case. |
Yes |
Pendency Placement |
The results of the IHO’s pendency order for the
placement of the child during the hearing. See Maintaining
a Case: Hearings: What is a Hearing? for more information
regarding pendency.
|
Yes |
Change in Expedited? |
Indicates whether there is a change in the expedited status during an open case.
Note: District is not able to enter data in this field and must submit a data change request to change the expedited status of a case. |
No |
Pendency Order Date |
The date the action, defined in the pendency order, is to be completed. |
Yes |
Pendency Appealed? |
Whether the pendency decision was appealed. (The default value is blank). |
Yes |
Transcript Sent Out Date |
The date the case record was sent out for transcription. District use only. |
Yes |
Transcript Received Date |
The date the final transcript was received. District use only. |
Yes |
Actual Record Closed Date |
The date final briefs are due and submitted to the Impartial Hearing Officer (IHO) by the parties. Found in the decision rendered by the IHO. |
Yes |
Case Closure Type |
The type of closure. Required to close case. |
No |
Case Closed Date |
The date the case was closed. Required to close the case |
No |
Compliance Date |
The date the decision is due from the IHO. Calculated by IHRS for CSE and CPSE cases, entered by the district for expedited cases. |
No |
Decision Received By SED Date |
The date the written decision is received by the State Education Department. Entered by SED |
No |
Steps to Initially Open a Case
|
Step 1. |
Log onto IHRS.
|
Step 2.
|
Click on Case Maintenance under IHRS Data Entry on the IHRS Main Menu.
|
|
|
Step 3.
|
On the Case Maintenance Search screen, scroll down and click on the New button.
|
|
|
Step 4.
|
Enter the following information:
Required Field Name
|
Description
|
Able To Modify Field Once Saved?
|
* Institution
|
District’s twelve-digit institution code.
|
Yes
|
* Request Date
|
The date the district received the request for an impartial hearing. District policy determines this date.
|
No
|
* Requestor
|
Who requested the hearing.
|
No
|
* Expedited?
|
Indicate whether the case is expedited: the default value is “No.”
|
No
|
Expedited Compliance Date (* required if “Y” is indicated in the “Expedited?” field above)
|
The date the decision is due from the IHO on the expedited hearing.
|
Yes
|
* Student Placement
|
The student’s placement on the current IEP.
|
Yes
|
* Student Classification
|
The student’s classification on the current IEP.
|
Yes
|
* Case Type
|
The type of case (CSE, CPSE).
|
No
|
* District Representative Name
|
The person who the Office of Special Education will contact regarding case data and case activity in IHRS.
|
No
|
|
|
Step 5.
|
Take a look at your data to make sure it is accurate.
|
Step 6.
|
Click Save.
|
Step 7.
|
A “Success!” message appears at the top of the screen
indicating that the case has been successfully entered. Please take note of the Case Identifier number
automatically assigned to the case. If this does not occur, the resulting error message will provide
guidance about next steps.
|
How to Find a Case
There are two ways to find cases in IHRS:
- Case Maintenance
- Under IHRS Institution Data Entry on the IHRS Main Menu
- Use to find a case when you want to add new information.
You can only search for cases from your own district.
- Case Query - Detail
- Under IHRS Case Information on the IHRS Main Menu
- Use to find cases when you just want to view information
- Has more search criteria
- Use to do basic data analysis (See Basic Data
Analysis in Getting Started for more
information.)
|
|
Steps to Find and Update a Case Using Case Maintenance
|
Step 1.
|
Log onto IHRS.
|
Step 2.
|
Click on Case Maintenance under IHRS Institution Data Entry on the IHRS Main Menu.
|
Step 3.
|
On the Case Maintenance Search screen enter your search criteria
by entering values in one or more of the search fields. Type
complete values (i.e., the complete institution name); select
from the list or use the % wildcard* to enter search criteria.
* If you are not sure of the spelling, you can use the %
wild card. The wild card represents any value.
Enter this:
|
To find this:
|
%Park%
|
Hyde Park
West Park City
Parkersburg
|
%Park
|
Hyde Park
|
Park%
|
Parkersburg
|
|
Step 4.
|
Click Find. One of the following results will occur:
Search Result
|
Next Step
|
The search results window opens with a list of all cases that met the search criteria.
|
Review the list to find the case you want to open. Then go to Step 5.
|
You receive the message: “No Records Returned”.
|
No cases met the search criteria:
Click Query to return to the search criteria window.
Revise your search by modifying the search criteria as necessary and click Find.
|
For more information on entering
search criteria see Getting Started: Using Basic Data
Analysis.
|
Step 5.
|
Click on the Case Identifier of the case you wish to open
to view or modify. The Case Maintenance screen will open
for the selected case.
|
Step 6.
|
Add or update the information.
|
Step 7.
|
Take a look at your data to make sure it is accurate.
|
Step 8.
|
Click Save.
|
Step 9.
|
A “Success!” message appears at the top of the screen indicating that the case has been successfully updated. If this does not occur, the resulting error message will provide guidance about next steps.
Note: If you do not receive either a “Success”
message or a resulting error message click Refresh on
your browser’s tool bar to confirm your data was entered.
|
|