Fabricated Service Logs Cannot Hide a Failure to Deliver Behavior Services

What Happened

An 11-year-old student with autism had a May 2023 IEP that provided for 1,800 minutes per week of behavior intervention implementation services — a substantial level of support delivered through a collaborative model during the school day.

From May 16 through June 9, 2023 — nearly the entire last month of school — those services were never delivered. Not reduced. Not modified. Simply never provided.

What the District Did Wrong

The failures here were staggering:

• The assigned paraprofessional, Kristina Rangel, never attended either IEP meeting where the services were discussed
• She never received a copy of the IEP
• She never met with anyone to discuss how to implement the behavior services
• She did not know what the student's behavior goal was
• She provided no behavior intervention services whatsoever

Making matters worse, the district's service logs showed someone else entirely — an administrator named Goldberg — listed as the service provider. Goldberg never actually provided any services. He simply entered Rangel's time into the system, sometimes marking sessions as complete before the school day even ended.

The ALJ found Rangel's testimony "inconsistent, unclear, and she appeared to be uncooperative at times" and gave her testimony little weight.

Meanwhile, the student's classroom teacher testified clearly that Rangel did not provide behavior intervention services to the student at all during this period.

What the Judge Found

ALJ Linda Dowd applied the Van Duyn standard — whether the services provided fell "significantly short" of what the IEP required — and found this was not a close call:

"There was more than a minor discrepancy between the behavior intervention implementation services Los Angeles Unified provided to Student and the services required in his May 10, 2023 IEP."

The service logs that the district pointed to as evidence of service delivery were found to be unreliable and essentially fabricated.

What Was Ordered

• 18 hours of compensatory education from a certified nonpublic agency of the parent's choice, for behavior or academic services
• LAUSD must provide a list of nonpublic agencies within 30 days
• If the parent selects an NPA the district doesn't contract with, the district must establish direct payment
• Hours available through the end of the 2024-2025 school year

Why This Matters for Parents

Service logs are not proof that services were actually delivered. This case is a powerful reminder that districts can — and do — generate paperwork showing services were provided when they were not. The service logs here were entered by someone who never provided the services, sometimes completed before the day was over.

What made the difference in this case:

1. The parent volunteered in the classroom and could see firsthand that services weren't being delivered
2. The classroom teacher was an honest witness who confirmed the parent's observations
3. The paraprofessional's own testimony contradicted the logs, destroying the district's documentation defense

If you suspect your child is not receiving IEP services, request the service logs and compare them against what you and your child's teachers actually observe. If there are discrepancies, document them in writing and consider filing a compliance complaint or requesting compensatory education.