Request to review IEP draft before it is locked

[Brooke]

My third grade son had his IEP last week on February 8. I requested that his case manager send me the IEP draft for review after the meeting so that I can review it and submit any comments before it is locked. His case manager told me that she is unable to do so and that I can request an amendment or correction after it locks if needed. 

 

I have been through the IEP process multiple times and I always request the opportunity to review the draft before it is locked. Do I have a right to do so? Any recommendations?

[Jenna]

Was the IEP document that was created at the Feb. 8 IEP meeting a draft, or the final document? Did you send the after the IEP meeting follow up letter- explicitly requesting a copy of the draft to review? If so, did you receive a response? If not, do so right away reiterating your request to review the draft document. I'm not sure I understand what they mean by the IEP being "locked." IEPs are living documents that can be created/updated any time. You should be able to meaningfully participate in the development of the IEP, and you can also request copies of your child's records. If they give you a runaround, reach out to a district special education supervisor and request they send you a copy of the IEP draft.

[JSD24]

My school does it like yours.  You meet and then they write the update into the new IEP and give it to you.  If there are any issues and you need to make changes, you need another meeting.  Small corrections can be done via a no-meet revision.

[MsSarah]

I'm a first year teacher, and at my district, after the meeting is done and I've checked that all the boxes are filled in, I send the IEP to the district special education office, and someone there reviews it and lets me know if any other edits need to be made (like forgetting to add a date, or I changed the time on one part of the form but not the second part). After those are all completed, then it is finalized and the IEP is officially done. 

 

I don't know if it's the norm, but I will often send the parents the draft at the same time I send it to the special education office, with a note that the finalized version will be mailed to them. Sometimes I'll even print out a draft for them to look at during the meeting  that they can then take home with them, if I don't anticipate many changes because I already got input from all the team members prior to the meeting.

[Stephen]

We, too, experience these issues with our district.  They refuse to go over the final draft of the IEP at the actual meeting, then even when we put in writing a request to see the document before it's "locked" to provide our feedback and edits, they send it out for signature.  When we challenge even incorrect dates, etc., they refuse to change those and require us to provide agreement with the exception of...they waste valuable time of both parties because we are constantly going back and forth to fix things.  As is stands now, an IEP we signed weeks ago still has our sons SAI minutes still has the dates from his previous IEP.  Connecting with the director has not made a difference in the level of collaboration.  I think as you demonstrate a better understanding of your kids rights under IDEA, including PWN, they start getting more difficult to deal with as they clearly don't love putting in the work!