School Not Following Your Child’s ESY Plan: A Parent’s Action Guide

You fought hard to get Extended School Year services written into your child’s IEP. The evaluation data supported it. The team agreed. And now, with summer underway, the school isn’t delivering what was promised. Services are being cut short, providers aren’t showing up, or the program doesn’t match what the IEP actually says. You’re not overreacting. This is a violation of your child’s legal rights, and it is fixable.

If your child’s Arizona school is not following their ESY plan, you have specific, enforceable options available to you right now. This guide walks through exactly what to do, in the right order, so you don’t waste time and create the paper trail that protects your child.

What ESY Services Are and Why They’re Legally Binding

Extended School Year services, or ESY, are special education services provided beyond the standard school year for students whose IEPs require it. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), ESY is not optional extra programming. When a child’s IEP team determines that ESY is necessary to prevent significant regression, those services become part of the legally binding IEP document.

Arizona follows federal IDEA standards for ESY eligibility. Once ESY services are written into the IEP, the school district is required to deliver them exactly as specified, including the type of service, frequency, duration, and provider qualifications. A district cannot reduce, eliminate, or substitute those services without going through a formal IEP amendment process that includes parent notification and consent.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, IDEA requires that special education services, including ESY, be provided at no cost to the parent and that the individualized nature of the program be maintained throughout the service period. Arizona’s special education framework mirrors this requirement under state statute.

Signs the School Is Not Following Your Child’s ESY Plan

Sometimes the failure is obvious. Other times it requires you to compare what’s actually happening against what the IEP document says. Here are the most common violations I see in Phoenix-area ESY cases.

• Services are shorter than the IEP specifies (30-minute sessions instead of 60, for example)
• Providers are different from what was agreed (a paraprofessional delivering speech therapy instead of a licensed SLP)
• Sessions are being canceled without makeup offers or documentation
• Your child is attending a general summer program instead of the specialized ESY program in the IEP
• Services started late or are ending early without IEP team agreement
• The IEP goals being worked on during ESY don’t match what was written in the document
• You’re receiving vague or evasive answers when you ask for session logs

Any one of these is a problem. Taken together, they represent a pattern of non-compliance that creates a documented case for compensatory services.

Step One: Pull Out Your Child’s IEP and Read the ESY Section

Before you make any calls, sit down with the IEP document itself. You need to know exactly what was agreed to, in writing, so you can speak to specific violations rather than general concerns. Look for these things in the ESY section.

• Start and end dates for ESY services
• Specific services listed (speech therapy, ABA, specialized instruction, OT, etc.)
• Frequency and duration for each service (sessions per week, minutes per session)
• Provider qualifications or specific providers named
• Goals being targeted during ESY
• Location of services (school site, home, clinic)

Write down the specific discrepancy between what the IEP says and what is actually happening. This becomes your documented evidence. Do not rely on memory or general impressions. Concrete specifics are what create leverage.

Step Two: Put Everything in Writing Immediately

If you have not already done so, stop calling and start emailing. Every communication with the school district about an ESY violation should be in writing from this point forward. Here is why this matters.

Arizona requires school districts to provide Prior Written Notice (PWN) before making any changes to a child’s IEP or services. If the district is failing to deliver ESY services without your agreement, they may be in violation of the PWN requirement as well as the service delivery requirement. Your written communications create a timeline. That timeline becomes part of the official record if you later need to file a complaint or request due process.

Send an email to the special education director (not just the case manager) that states the following clearly and without accusatory language: the specific ESY services in the IEP, the specific discrepancy you have observed, the date range when the failure has occurred, and a request for a written response within five school days explaining how the district will come into compliance.

Step Three: Request Session Logs and Attendance Records

You have the right to access your child’s educational records under IDEA and FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act). Request complete session logs for every ESY service from the start of the program through the current date. This includes provider sign-in sheets, therapy notes, session summaries, and attendance records.

Districts must respond to records requests within 45 days under federal law, but if you are in a crisis situation, request them urgently in writing and note that the delay affects your ability to protect your child’s current services. Many Arizona districts will respond faster when they understand you are documenting a potential complaint.

Session logs will tell you whether services were delivered, by whom, for how long, and what goals were addressed. If sessions were canceled, they should be documented as such. If no records exist for sessions that should have occurred, that absence is itself evidence.

Step Four: Request an IEP Meeting

You can request an IEP meeting at any time. If the district is failing to deliver ESY services, request a meeting specifically to address service delivery and compliance. Put this request in writing, sent via email to the special education director, and CC the principal and case manager.

In your request, state that you are requesting the meeting to review ESY service delivery and discuss how the district will come into compliance with the current IEP. Do not agree to a meeting that is scheduled more than two weeks out when services are actively being missed. The urgency of the situation warrants a faster timeline.

Bring your IEP document, your written communications, and the session logs to this meeting. Bring someone with you if you can, whether that is an advocate, a trusted family member, or a note-taker who can document what is said.

Step Five: Request Compensatory Services in Writing

When a school district fails to deliver IEP-mandated services, the child may be entitled to compensatory services. Compensatory services are additional services provided to make up for what was missed. They are not a substitute for fixing the ongoing violation. They are owed on top of getting current services back on track.

Request compensatory services explicitly in your written communications. State the number of sessions or service hours that were missed, reference the IEP provisions that were not followed, and request that the district provide a compensatory services plan in writing. This does not mean the district will automatically agree. But requesting it formally establishes your position in the record.

Arizona’s special education dispute resolution system includes state complaint procedures, mediation, and due process. Filing a state complaint with the Arizona Department of Education is often faster than due process and is an appropriate tool when a district is actively failing to deliver services. Complaints can be filed at no cost to the parent and must be resolved within 60 days.

When to Bring in an Advocate

If you have taken steps one through four and the district continues to fail to deliver services, or if the district’s responses are vague, adversarial, or dismissive, this is the point where professional advocacy makes a real difference. I have worked with families where the school’s initial response to an ESY complaint was to question whether the child still qualified for services. That is not an acceptable response, and it is not one that a parent alone should have to push back against.

An advocate who knows Arizona special education law can attend the IEP meeting with you, help you document the violation in a way that supports a future complaint or due process filing if necessary, and speak directly to the district’s legal obligations in a way that produces faster results than parent advocacy alone.

The longer ESY services go undelivered, the harder it becomes to reverse the regression your child may experience. Do not wait until the summer is over to get support.