Due Process Explained
The most powerful tool a parent has against a school district that will not comply. Here is how it works.
What Is Due Process?
When the school district refuses to follow your child's IEP, denies services, or otherwise violates IDEA, due process is how you force them to comply. It is a formal legal hearing — similar to a trial — before an impartial hearing officer. Both sides present evidence, call witnesses, and make arguments. The hearing officer issues a legally binding decision.
Due process is not a suggestion box. It is an enforceable legal proceeding with teeth. When parents win, the hearing officer can order the district to provide services, pay for private placement, reimburse out-of-pocket costs, and pay the parents' attorney fees. We have used this process hundreds of times to get Hawaii's children what the law requires.
When the DOE Does Any of These, You Can File
Fails to follow your child's IEP — we see this constantly
Cuts services without legal justification
Denies eligibility when your child clearly qualifies
Suspends or expels your child without proper protections
Refuses to evaluate your child or does a sloppy evaluation
Places your child in the wrong setting to save money
The clock is ticking: Hawaii gives you two years from when you knew — or should have known — about the violation. Every day you wait is a day of potential claims you cannot recover. If you think the school has violated your child's rights, call us now.
The Due Process Timeline
We File the Complaint
Day 0We file a formal due process complaint with the Hawaii DOE. It names every violation and spells out exactly what your child is entitled to. The district has 10 days to respond. We have filed hundreds of these — we know what works.
Resolution Session
Within 15 daysWithin 15 days, the DOE must convene a resolution session — a meeting with a district representative who has authority to settle. This is where many cases resolve. The DOE often prefers to settle once they see the complaint and realize who filed it. If they settle, the agreement is legally enforceable.
Resolution Period
30 days totalThe DOE has 30 days to resolve the dispute. If they do not, the case moves to hearing. Both sides can agree to waive this period and go straight to hearing. We push for speed when speed benefits our client.
Pre-Hearing Preparation
Days 30-45Both sides exchange evidence and witness lists at least five business days before the hearing. This is where preparation wins cases. We organize documents, prepare witnesses, and build the legal arguments. After hundreds of hearings, we know exactly what evidence moves hearing officers and what the DOE will try to argue.
Hearing & Decision
Within 45 daysThe hearing must be held and a decision issued within 45 days after the resolution period ends. The hearing officer hears testimony, reviews evidence, and issues a binding written decision. If the DOE does not like the result, they can appeal to federal court — and so can we. We have done both, including 15+ appeals to the Ninth Circuit.
Stay-Put: Your Child Cannot Be Moved
The moment we file a due process complaint, stay-put kicks in automatically. Your child's current placement and services are frozen in place until the case is resolved. The DOE cannot change anything — no reducing services, no switching placements, no "we decided to try something different." Nothing moves.
This is one of the most powerful protections in IDEA and one the DOE hates. It prevents them from creating a new status quo while the case drags on. We enforced this provision in CB v. DOE at the Ninth Circuit. The DOE knows we will enforce it again.
What Happens at a Hearing
It is a formal proceeding, but less intimidating than a courtroom. Here is what it looks like — we have done this hundreds of times:
Opening Statements
We lay out the case for the hearing officer — what the DOE did wrong, what the evidence will show, and what your child is entitled to.
Testimony & Evidence
Witnesses testify under oath — teachers, specialists, administrators, independent evaluators, and you. IEPs, evaluations, and records go into evidence. We know which documents matter and which are noise.
Cross-Examination
This is where experience matters most. Keith has cross-examined DOE witnesses hundreds of times. He knows their talking points, their evasions, and exactly how to pin them down.
Closing Arguments
Both sides summarize their case. Written closing briefs may also be filed. We make the legal arguments that connect the evidence to the law — and to the specific relief your child needs.
What We Win for Parents
When parents prevail, the hearing officer can order the DOE to do any of the following — and we have won every one of these:
Compensatory Education
Extra services to make up for what the DOE failed to provide. If they owed your child speech therapy for a year and did not deliver, we get the hearing officer to order those hours — on top of current services.
Reimbursement
If you paid out of pocket for tutoring, therapy, or private school because the DOE failed to provide FAPE, we get you reimbursed. We have recovered hundreds of thousands in reimbursement for individual families.
IEP Changes
Additional services, new goals, modified accommodations, different placement. Whatever the IEP should have included but did not — the hearing officer can order the DOE to fix it.
Independent Evaluations at DOE Expense
If the DOE's evaluation was inadequate — and it often is — we get an independent evaluation ordered at public expense. Your choice of evaluator, not the DOE's.
Private Placement — DOE Funded
When the DOE cannot provide FAPE, they pay for private school. We have secured placements costing up to $81,000 per month. The law says cost is not the DOE's concern — your child's needs are.
Attorney Fees — Paid by the DOE
When parents win, the DOE pays our fees. This is the fee-shifting provision that allows us to represent you at no cost.
We Have Done This 800+ Times. We Know How to Win.
Due process is a powerful weapon — but only if you have someone who knows how to use it. Keith Peck has handled more parent-side IDEA hearings in Hawaii than any other attorney. Call us.
