Facilitation - Thoughts?

[Laura]

My school district is suggesting a Facilitator. How is the facilitator chosen? Would I have a say in this? 

I'm in Ohio.

[Laura]

What's the difference between facilitation and mediation?

[JSD24]

I'm not sure how Ohio does this but in PA, they have a pool of facilitators and the state assigns them.  I don't believe either the school of the family have a say.

Ohio does have an info sheet on facilitators:  https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Special-Education/Dispute-Resolution/Facilitation_Handout.pdf.aspx

They also have a sheet on mediation and it does have a lot of parallels:  https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Special-Education/Dispute-Resolution/ODE_MediationHandout-8-17-18-1.pdf.aspx?lang=en-US

It does look like schools/families do pick who is used to facilitate/mediate in Ohio.  I believe that mediators are looking for an agreement on what should be in the IEP where a facilitator keeps the meeting on track but doesn't push them to come to an agreement.

[Laura]

Does the student attend both of these types of meetings?

[JSD24]

An older student (age 14+ in PA; 16+ per IDEA) should be invited to these meetings.  If they go depends on a number of things.  My one child could not deal with anything that's negative so she stayed for a bit & left before anything negative was said.  Mediation can take days and it's not appropriate for a student to miss that much school IMO.

[Jenna]

In Ohio, the school or parents can request mediation or facilitation (by calling 877-644-6338 or emailing OECMediationFacilitation@education.ohio.gov), but both parties have to agree to participate in it. Usually ODE will send bios of around 3 mediators/facilitators to choose from. You and the district would need to agree on the mediator/facilitator. Mediation/facilitation are similar. If an agreement is reached in mediation, the mediator can write up a legally binding agreement for both parties to sign. A facilitated IEP meeting can be helpful in contentious relationships as the facilitator should ensure all voices are heard and that the meeting stays on schedule. Some facilitators are more fair to families than others (giving them time to share their concerns/ideas), but they're all technically supposed to be neutral third parties. School staff may be more polite to you if an ODE facilitator attends your meeting. Mediation sessions may run much longer than facilitated IEP meetings.

[Laura]

I'm also wondering how to prepare for a facilitated meeting.  Should I have a statement prepared?  A list of questions that are continually unanswered?  

[Jenna]

@Laura- Have you already submitted your letter of parent concerns to the district? If so, and if you have the contact info for the facilitator, share a copy of that letter with the facilitator as well.