Asking your school to change where your child is placed
A placement change letter asks the group that decides placement to weigh one named alternative setting against the one your child sits in now. It works in either direction: pushing toward more time with peers, or toward more support than the room now gives. You can send it today: paste it into an email, replace what sits in brackets, and write down the day the school received it; the table below says which day starts each clock.
What the rule says
“The placement decision—(1) Is made by a group of persons, including the parents, and other persons knowledgeable about the child … ; and (2) Is made in conformity with the … provisions of this subpart.”
34 CFR 300.116(a)
Placement is not the district’s call alone; the group deciding it includes you.
When to send it
- The current setting has not changed in a year while the work coming home has gotten harder, not easier.
- A provider outside the school has recommended a level of support the IEP does not name.
- Your child spends most of the day apart from peers and the team has not shown data requiring that.
What happens after you send it
| What is being counted | By when | How it is counted |
|---|---|---|
| Team convenes on placement | Set by your state | Scheduling a placement meeting on request has no IDEA count; that number is your state’s alone.34 CFR 300.116(a) |
| Placement reviewed again | 12 months | This is the outside limit before the setting is revisited even if nobody asks sooner.34 CFR 300.116(b)(1) |
What the letter has to contain
The setting you propose
A request with no destination reads as a complaint. Naming the setting gives the group something to vote on.
A continuum of alternative placements has to exist for the team to draw from. 34 CFR 300.115(a)
Three dated things you’ve seen
Dates turn “it isn’t working” into a pattern the group can weigh against data of its own.
The group deciding placement must know the evaluation data behind it. 34 CFR 300.116(a)(1)
The support that would change it
Removal from general education has a threshold. Naming the missing support tests whether that threshold was met.
Removal is allowed only once added supports still fall short. 34 CFR 300.114(a)(2)(ii)
A meeting date you can attend
A placement meeting set for a day you cannot attend is a decision reached with your chair empty.
You are a required member of the group that decides this. 34 CFR 300.116(a)(1)
The letter
Replace everything in brackets. The rest sends as it stands.
- To
- The chair of your child’s placement group
- Subject
- Request to revisit placement — [Child’s name], currently [Current setting]
Dear [Case Manager] and [Director], I am requesting that the placement group look again at where [Child’s name] is taught, currently [Current setting] at [School]. Please weigh [Proposed setting — for example: more time in general education with a paraprofessional, or a smaller program with more direct support] as an option. Here is what has led me to ask: • [Dated observation or report, one line] • [Dated observation or report, one line] • [What an outside provider has recommended, if any] Please schedule the meeting so I can take part in the placement group deciding this. If the group declines the change, please send the reasoning in writing, in the notice shape 34 CFR 300.503 sets out. With thanks, [Your name] [Cell] · [Email] [Today’s date]
If no answer comes back
Count the wait from the day the district received this; your state fixes how many days that is.
- Reply on this thread instead of a new one, so the date is easy to find.
- Name the setting again and ask directly whether the team will meet on it.
- Ask whether a facilitator can sit in, since a stalled setting question often needs a neutral chair.
A no owes you prior written notice: the decision, the reason for it, and the records behind it (34 CFR 300.503).
This is a template, not legal advice: it does not replace your state’s procedures, or advice from someone qualified to read your file.
Have the pages you are writing about read back to you, free.
The review reads every page you upload, names the wording that is vague or missing, and gives you its page number.
Review my IEP — freeFree, no card. It reads your pages and contacts no one.
Where this comes from
- Placement decisions (34 CFR 300.116)The words quoted above.
- Continuum of alternative placements (34 CFR 300.115)The settings the team can name.
- Center for Parent Information and Resources: placementHow LRE gets weighed.
- Prior written notice (34 CFR 300.503)What a no owes you.
Response deadlines are set state by state, and the state pages carry each number with its rule.