NORTHAMPTON — Schools Superintendent Portia Bonner confirmed an investigation is underway amid a determination by the state’s Department of Education and Secondary Education that the city school district failed to comply with state special education laws.

The investigation revolves around a student at Bridge Street Elementary School, who moved into the district this year from the Boston suburb of Belmont.

The student’s parent, Gaurav Jashnani, provided Northampton Public Schools with a copy of the student’s Individual Education Plan, or IEP, from the previous district. IEPs provided to students with disabilities detail additional classroom accommodations tailored to students’ needs.

The district then worked to draft a comparable IEP for the student. The final version that was accepted by Jashnani included having a paraeducator to assist the student five days a week to help with executive function and social skills.

However, Jashnani told the Gazette he filed a complaint with the state after he found out from his child that a paraeducator was not always present in the classroom for the required amount of time.

Jashnani said after he filed the complaint with the state, he once again met with the school’s IEP team in January to try and find a solution.

“It was a tense conversation at times,” Jashnani said of the meeting. “At the end of the meeting, it seems like we had gotten to a decent place.”

Jashnani said he then received a transcript of the January meeting as part of the school’s response to his DESE complaint. The transcript, a copy of which was provided by Jashnani to the Gazette, appears to show conversation among school staff continuing after Jashnani left the meeting, where staff members appear to acknowledge they do not always comply with a student’s IEP.

“The reality of the situation is that we don’t always … I mean, we should, but we don’t always give kids everything they should get on their IEP,” says one of the speakers, who are not labeled on the transcript. “Sometimes there isn’t coverage or sometimes there isn’t staffing or whatever.”

The speakers also appear to criticize Jashnani for bringing the complaint to DESE.

“They come from Belmont. It’s one of the richest districts in Massachusetts. It’s an overly resourced district. So he kind of doesn’t get it,” the same speaker says. Another speaker adds, “This is one of those times that apparently, we’ll go to war.”

Jashnani has been vocal in his criticism of the district regarding his complaint, the subsequent findings and the included transcript, appearing at recent School Committee meetings and speaking during the meetings’ public comment sessions.

“[The district’s] actions constituted a denial of access to free and appropriate public education,” Jashnani said at the most recent School Committee meeting on March 27, a special meeting for a public hearing on the next fiscal school budget. “The systematic violation of IEPs is a discrimination issue and a legal issue but it is absolutely a budgetary failure, which is why I am here.”

During the meeting, Bonner acknowledged that the district was investigating the comments made on the transcript and whether there was any retaliation toward Jashnani.

“We are investigating the serious nature of the incident that we were reminded of this evening,” Bonner said at last weeks meeting. “There is a process in which we go through when it involves our personnel, so we are in the process of the investigation and once that investigation is complete, there will be a report.”

As a result of the complaint filed by Jashnani, DESE has ordered the district to take several corrective actions, such as convening a meeting to develop a new IEP for the student and submitting the proposed IEP to the department by April 18. DESE also ordered the district to create a new procedure related to having an IEP for all students with disabilities at the beginning of the next school year, including a transfer student.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazette.com.