Disability Rights Puerto Rico Project #50111

At great risk of being left behind

by Servicios Legales de Puerto Rico, Inc.

Project Report | Mar 16, 2026
Ensuring Appropriate Education for a Child in Need

By Rebeca Dorna | Communications

We would like to keep you updated on some of the progress of our initiatives in the Special Education Project with another success story.

Our client was a 13-year-old student in the Special Education Program who presents specific learning disabilities. Although his Individualized Education Program (IEP) established essential accommodations for his progress, these were not being implemented. His mother filed a complaint with the Department of Education to defend her son’s rights. It was then that she came to our Special Education Project, which assumed legal representation.

After providing guidance to the family, it was agreed to withdraw the complaint because the allegations, as presented, were not yet ripe for litigation and to exhaust processes in COMPU (IEP team) meetings.

For months, our staff participated actively in multiple meetings, reviewing progress reports, advocating for the corresponding accommodations, and ensuring that the family’s voice was heard.

To ensure an appropriate educational recommendation, we arranged for a school psychologist to visit the school and conduct an independent evaluation. Her findings were crucial: the child needed a regular education setting in small groups and a traditional structure that would better support his needs.

Thanks to the project’s intervention, an IEP aligned with his needs was established: the COMPU accepted all expert recommendations, and a new IEP for the 2025–2026 school year was approved with the appropriate services and accommodations without the need for an administrative complaint.

During the process, an appropriate school was identified and eventually enroll the student there, where the staff committed to implementing the IEP as established. Subsequent meetings confirmed that the student was receiving all educational services in accordance with his IEP.

With the controversies resolved and his rights successfully protected, the student gained full access to the services that allow him to learn, grow, and develop his potential.

Thank you for your continued support of our project. Your contribution makes it possible to carry out independent expert evaluations and to provide ongoing advocacy for the right of all children to a free and appropriate public education.

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Nov 19, 2025
Protecting Rights, Changing Lives: Legal Support for Inclusive Ed

By Rebeca Dorna | Communications

Driven by our mission, we’ve secured another success for students with special needs.

Y.Y.R.M. is a student registered in the Special Education Program due to a diagnosis of attention deficit with hyperactivity, specific learning problems in reading, writing, mathematics, and oppositional defiance.

His mother filed a complaint against the Department of Education, invoking the Federal IDEA Law to request reimbursement for the cost of meals (lunches) provided by the private school where the student was placed by the Department of Education to receive a free and appropriate public education.

The agency’s position was that the student was not entitled to this service and that the provision of meals was not mandatory; therefore, it requested that the complaint be dismissed. As a result, the mother had to cover those expenses.

The Special Education Project of Legal Services of Puerto Rico assumed legal representation and defended the student’s right to receive a free and appropriate public education (FAPE), including meal services, as provided to students in the public system.
During the administrative process, the parties agreed that there were no factual disputes and that the discussion was strictly a matter of law. The Administrative Forum ordered the parties to submit legal memoranda supporting their positions.

Thanks to legal intervention, the Administrative Forum ruled in favor of the complaint. It determined that the student, placed in a private school due to lack of alternatives in the public system, should enjoy the same rights as public school students, including free access to meal services. The Department of Education was ordered to reimburse the mother for lunch payments in the amount of $1,212.20 for the school year, and it was established that these services must be among those authorized for students placed in private schools under the special education program.

This case exemplifies how specialized legal advocacy can remove economic barriers and ensure equal access for vulnerable students, generating a direct and positive impact on their lives and those of their families.

As we continue to defend the rights of Special Education, we thank you for helping us continue meet our students’ challenges.

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Aug 14, 2025
Access Secured to Appropriate Educational Services

By Rebeca Dorna | Communications

The mother of V. I. C. P., a 13-year-old student registered in the Special Education Program due to health conditions (severe anxiety and selective mutism) and Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD), requested our legal services to secure an appropriate educational placement for her daughter. At the time of requesting services, the student was out of school, receiving assignments remotely due to the controversy over the appropriate placement for her. Additionally, she had not received therapies for the 2023-2024 school year.

During the discussion process of the COMPU aboutthe right placement alternatives, three options were considered: regular classroom with team teaching support, reduced schedule with home-based work, and small group subject to availability. However, these options were rejected by the mother due to their previous ineffectiveness andbeingcontrary to the recommendations of her specialists.

Through the services provided by our Special Education Project, after multiple efforts including complaints, conciliation meetings, and several COMPU meetings, a significant breakthrough was achieved. In the May 2025 meeting, the psychoeducational, socioemotional, and psychometric evaluations conducted by the psychologist were fully accepted. Based on the psychologist’s recommendations, the COMPU offered and accepted placement in the Ruta 1 One to One Classroom, ensuring a more proper and personalized educational environment for the student according to her individual needs. Additionally, the transition form was completed, and the 2025-2026 IEP was signed without controversy by all COMPU participants 3.

This outcome representsa major step towards the educational and emotional stability of the minor, ensuring she receives the public, free, and appropriate education to which she is entitled, along with the necessary educational, supplementary, and support services for her academic and personal development.

As we continue to defend the rights of Special Education students, we thank you for helping us meet these challenges and achieve success stories like this one.

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