§ 45.59 - Hearing officers.

(a) A proposed hearing officer must be selected by the Agency Superintendent for Education within one (1) day of receipt of a request for a hearing, from a list established and maintained by the Agency.

(b) After selecting a proposed hearing officer, the Agency Superintendent for Education must, within three (3) days, give the parent(s) and the school full and effective notice of the name of the proposed hearing officer.

(c) The parent and school, each upon notice of the selection of proposed hearing officer, may request that the Agency/Area determine that the person so proposed is not impartial and may exercise one automatic disqualification during the appointment process. The Director shall resolve all challenges for cause (i.e., partiality).

(d) If the proposed hearing officer is automatically disqualified or found to be not impartial by the Director, the Agency Superintendent for Education must within three (3) days designate another person.

(e) Final appointment of a hearing officer occurs whenever a proposed hearing officer is selected by the Agency Superintendent for Education and the parent or the school fails to notify the Agency Superintendent for Education of a decision to challenge the impartiality of the proposed hearing officer or of a decision to automatically disqualify the proposed hearing officer (available only once for each party), or when the Director determines that no doubt exists as to the impartiality of a proposed hearing officer.