Prior Written Notice from http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/34/300.503
§ 300.503
Prior notice by the public agency; content of notice.
(a) Notice. Written notice that meets the requirements of paragraph (b) of this section must be given to the parents of a child with a disability a reasonable time before the public agency—
(1) Proposes to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child or the provision of FAPE to the child; or
(2) Refuses to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child or the provision of FAPE to the child.
(b) Content of notice. The notice required under paragraph (a) of this section must include—
(1) A description of the action proposed or refused by the agency;
(2) An explanation of why the agency proposes or refuses to take the action;
(3) A description of each evaluation procedure, assessment, record, or report the agency used as a basis for the proposed or refused action;
(4) A statement that the parents of a child with a disability have protection under the procedural safeguards of this part and, if this notice is not an initial referral for evaluation, the means by which a copy of a description of the procedural safeguards can be obtained;
(5) Sources for parents to contact to obtain assistance in understanding the provisions of this part;
(6) A description of other options that the IEP Team considered and the reasons why those options were rejected; and
(7) A description of other factors that are relevant to the agency's proposal or refusal.
(c) Notice in understandable language. (1) The notice required under paragraph (a) of this section must be—
(i) Written in language understandable to the general public; and
(ii) Provided in the native language of the parent or other mode of communication used by the parent, unless it is clearly not feasible to do so.
(2) If the native language or other mode of communication of the parent is not a written language, the public agency must take steps to ensure—
(i) That the notice is translated orally or by other means to the parent in his or her native language or other mode of communication;
(ii) That the parent understands the content of the notice; and
(iii) That there is written evidence that the requirements in paragraphs (c)(2)(i) and (ii) of this section have been met.
(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1415(b)(3) and (4), 1415(c)(1), 1414(b)(1))
IN PLAIN ENGLISH:
This must be done if the District chooses to discontinue a service, add a service, evaluate a child, change placement, or deny a service or placement that a parent requests for their child who is in special education.
It must include:
>What they will or will not do
>Why they are doing or not doing it
>A description of what they use to make that decision - evaluations, reports or records that were used to make the decision
>A copy of the "Parent's Rights" (Procedural Safeguards)
>Places to get help understanding the rights
>What other options were considered and why they were rejected
>Anything else that they used to decide what they would do
It must be understandable and in the person's native language or that the parent can have it interpreted so that they understand it.
I have found that the district avoids saying anything relevant in the PWN's. They don't want to give reasons - the favorite catch phrase in our district is "we respectfully decline to ....". But it is not respectful and it is not appropriate to simply decline a parent's requests for their child's educational needs. Fortunately we can demand more information and that information has been very helpful to me in the past, since they don't generally have any sound reasoning behind their "no", and this becomes apparent in the PWN. Without sound reasoning they will have a hard time defending their refusals at Due Process.
