IEP Meeting request

[ShannonK]

Hello everyone,

I am new here, so I apologize if this is not in the correct forum. I requested an IEP meeting in writing with the reasons why I wanted to meet.The IEP meeting was Scheduled for Jan.3, 2023. 
I didn’t receive a notice of meeting but I wasn’t concerned due to the holiday break. I attend this meeting which included the IEP team to discuss the struggles my son is having academically. This meeting got really bad, really fast! We agreed to reconvene at a later date. I requested that the superintendent and director of special education also attend.  We reconvene in a “staffing”meeting on Jan. 11, 2023 with the team and the administration that I requested. This meeting went much better, however they informed me that the meeting on Jan. 3rd was a staffing meeting and not an IEP meeting. Which walked all over our procedural rights. In the first meeting , there was no notice of meeting, they didn’t consider any of the input I gave, no PWN plus several other things.  I have reached out to administration to resolve this but have not heard back yet. Any suggestions how to handle this? Thank you in advance for any help.

[Jenna]

It's only been a couple business days since the Jan. 11 meeting, but perhaps once the district issues the PWN from the Jan. 11 meeting, they will also include within it their response to the Jan. 3 meeting? Compare your after meeting letters to the PWN once you receive it. 

It's frustrating when it seems like schools don't meaningfully consider parent input. The school's proposals or refusals of actions should be addressed in their PWN. OSEP's Center for Parent Information & Resources discusses meaningful parent participation & when PWN is required. 

Double check your state's requirements as to whether there's a deadline by when the school needs to issue a PWN after meetings. If you haven't received a PWN after 10 school days, send a follow-up email to the LEA or special education director.

[ShannonK]

Thank you for your response. I guess I should have explained this a little better. 
I requested the IEP meeting, we set a date for Jan.3 . I am preparing for an IEP meeting. At no point did anyone tell me it wasn’t an IEP meeting. It wasn’t until the Jan. 11 staffing meeting that the special education director said the meeting on the 3rd was also a staffing meeting. They knew I had several complaints I wanted resolved. I believe they only changed the meeting type to avoid any complaints with the state. As far as meaningful participation, the special Ed teacher told me, We as educators don’t do that. When I suggested that my son receive his work in a different format. The English teacher told me straight out that he will be doing the same work as the other students. No consideration what so ever to anything I suggested. I have been doing IEP meetings for 12 years and have never been so disrespected by team members. I have never had a district not provide everything they were supposed to. I even had to request the finished copy of his IEP as I only had the draft. It was drafted in September, I asked for it the middle of December. I am sorry if it sounds like I am complaining, but I have never had to deal with this before. 

[JSD24]

I would put things in writing via a parent letter of concern.  The letter should say how you requested an IEP meeting (include the date of your request) and you met 2X with the school IEP team.  Neither time was an IEP meeting.  You might want to say that you requested changes to your child's IEP and every change, the school said no.  Did you have data to show these changes were needed?  Did the school offer to take data to see if these things are areas where your child is having difficulty?  If they are refusing to make a change, these are small steps to take.  Asking 'what are other ways you can support my child so they do better with____ (since they shot down your suggestion)' might be good.  Also, a parent concerns letter should be copied into the IEP which puts school staff who have access on notice to look out for the concerns you have.  (It can work like when you buy a new car, you suddenly start to notice all the cars in your area that are the same make & model.)  It can turn around the team's perspective on your child.

[ShannonK]

Thank you, I will revise my parents concerns letter. I always ask that it be included in its entirety in the IEP. We did agree to do a complete evaluation to see where his needs are. We will meet again when those are done. Thank you for the advice.