Best practice is to address the possibilities of absences at the very beginning during an IEP Team when related services are being added or considered. The IEP team could then plan for, and set out in the IEP, what will happen if a related service provider is absent. 

Advance planning is most critical in the case of services that are necessary in order for your child to attend school (such as transportation or school health services) or to attend school safely (such as a behavioral aide). It is not acceptable for a child to miss school or be denied the right to participate in special activities like field trips due to the district’s failure to provide a necessary service. Even if the district is contracting out these services to another agency, the district remains responsible to ensure your child is receiving the services as written in the child’s IEP.^[1] It is critical that the district has plans for ensuring that a substitute provider will be available.

If a service provider is absent, you should immediately request the district for a substitute. If the district fails to provide a substitute, you should request an IEP meeting and have all absences recorded in the IEP meeting notes and ask the district how it will make up the impact of the absences. Districts must provide services specified in a student’s IEP. When the district (or a public or private agency provider) fails to do so, you may file a compliance complaint with the CDE.^[2]

1. 34 C.F.R. § 300.154(b)(2)[↩]
2. See Chapter 6, Information on Due Process/Compliance Procedures.[↩]