Contacts
Bureau of Special Education Appeals
Online
The Details
What you need
Four criteria must be met in order for parties to access the settlement conference process, to wit: a hearing request has been filed; the parties voluntarily agree to participate; both parties are represented by counsel; and the hearing officer assigned to the matter endorses the process as efficacious given case presentation.
The requirement that a hearing request has been filed is rooted in the notion that in order for the person presiding over the settlement to be able to offer a fully informed case assessment, the case has to be “evolved”; that is, the settlement officer must be able to consider/review the gist of the evidence that would ultimately comprise the record were the case to go to hearing.
How to request
A party seeking to schedule a settlement conference is advised to contact the opposing party to ascertain if (s)he is willing to participate in this voluntary process. If both parties agree to go forward, the settlement may be scheduled by e-mail (preferred), or telephone, as follows: Reece.Erlichman@state.ma.us phone: (617) 626-7255