Jiffy Lube IEP

[Persistently Persistent]

So we just had our very first IEP meeting. the district allocated one hour!  I thought the IEP committee together would develop our student’s IEP, but what happened was someone from the district we never met before came in with a premade IEP. She clearly expected to present it and then have us sign off at the end of the meeting. 
 

The meeting started late and people had to go so we have another meeting planned. The district rep was there to present her plan, she wasn’t interested in hearing what we have to say.  she’s the person who knows our child least/she doesn’t know him at all. Plus the other people, the school people,  on the committee, didn’t say a word while she presented her plan.We had to schedule second meeting.  The district representative sent us the “second draft” following the first meeting.  there’s some wordsmithing, but Not a single thing that we raised is addressed in the second draft. It’s like we never had the first meeting at all.

Her title was an IEP facilitator but I think in our case that means she facilitated a meeting of school administrators, our students counselor, and the person who did the testing, and  together they developed an IEP, which we’re  supposed to sign.

 one thing I did notice on the second draft is that she is bringing in reinforcements from the school district to the second meeting. She’s added an unfamiliar name to the IEP committee. I looked him up, he’s the deputy Director of the special Ed department.

As a complete newcomer to this, I feel confused. is all of this talk  just lipservice to the idea of collaboratively developing an IEP?  in our state, the district is free to implement the plan even if the parents don’t agree. So far my impression is that they’re telling us what their plan is. End of discussion.

any advice?

 

[Carolyn Rowlett]

The first thing you need to do right away is send a parent concerns email.  Send it to the entire team that is listed for attendance at the second meeting (it's not necessarily a bad thing that the deputy director of spec ed is coming - he/she might know the law better and keep the "IEP Facilitator" in line so you can speak, people might not leave the meeting, etc.).  I don't know in what category your son was found eligible, but make a list of all the concerns you have for him in the educational environment, including behavioral, academic, social, etc.  It's best to base this on data, so look at the evaluation the school did to come up with ideas, but you can list whatever you feel is appropriate.  If you disagree with the school's evaluation (for instance, it says he is at grade level for reading and you don't think he is), ask for an Independent Educational Evaluation in all areas you disagree with in the school's eval.  (They will ask, but you don't have to give them a reason for why you disagree.)  If there are some areas that the school did not cover in their evaluation that you think they should have, request additional testing. 

Think about how long you think the second meeting will take.  Then reply to the Notice of Meeting (and add all attendees if they are not on the distribution list for the notice you received) and state that you request a time frame of _____ and confirmation that all participants can stay for the entire meeting and if not, to reply with a time they need to leave (if it's the OT person and OT has already been discussed, for example, you can agree to their leaving the meeting early).  You might consider recording the meeting (which also keeps people "in line" and gives you documentation that you weren't allowed to fully participate).  This depends on how "nuclear" you want to go with the school, because this will be off-putting to them.  Make sure to look up your state's laws on recording (if it's a one party state, you don't need their permission to record).  But also look at their district policy on recording - some districts do prohibit it in a policy.  If you decide to record, you could either state that in your reply to the Notice of Meeting or "surprise" them at the meeting.  (Some state laws and school district policies require so many advance days notice if you plan to record the meeting.)

It's good that you received the second draft prior to the second meeting (I would have suggested asking for that if you hadn't).  I would ask for a Prior Written Notice (PWN) on everything they refused you in the first meeting.  If they reply that the second meeting is continuation of the first meeting and so all will be reflected on the PWN following the second meeting, that's fine.  Just make sure you get that in an email reply and not a phone call (for documentation purposes).

At the meeting, ask that your parent concerns email be copied and pasted and put into the IEP document under "Present Levels."  They may refuse.  If they do, ask right then that this refusal be noted on the PWN.  Have your parent concerns list printed out and with you so you can check off each item as it's discussed.  If an item isn't discussed, bring it up.  Take your time to be sure - don't let them rush you through the meeting or the double-checking of your list.  You have the right to do this.  After every item they refuse, ask it to be put on the PWN.

Since it sounds like in your state the IEP will go into effect after 10 days with no signature required, make sure that you receive a PWN after the meeting that lists ALL the things the school district refused to do.  If it doesn't, request another PWN that does.  Do EVERYTHING in writing.

And you are absolutely correct - the team should be COLLABORATING on the IEP document.  You as a parent, specifically, have a right under federal law (the IDEA) to have "meaningful participation."  Don't let them take that away from you.

[Persistently Persistent]

I got a copy of their draft IEP before the first meeting. I reviewed it very carefully and came to the meeting with  a detailed response, I brought a copy for each of the participants. It identified several things that we are important to us that are not mentioned in their draft. In the meeting the district representative simply said they’re not going to do them. Also, there are a couple of things in her IEP, which have meaningless methods for determining if their effort is successful, we asked them to identify more robust metrics. They dismissed us.
 

after the abbreviated first meeting, they scheduled a second meeting. I replied, asking that the second meeting be two hours long, and also if there was going to be a second draft of the IEP following the first meeting, if we could get it at least 48 hours ahead of time.
 

They sent the second draft 22 hours before the scheduled second meeting so we asked them to reschedule the meeting so we would have time to Review it.  (I hadn’t had a chance to see it when I asked them to postpone the meeting. I Thought we would need more time because I assumed it would incorporate feedback that we had given them.) They agreed to “accommodate our request” for the second meeting to be two hours, but they said it’s going to take the many weeks to find a time that everyone can be in the same place for two whole hours.

I also sent them written item by item feedback on the first meeting, reiterating the requests we made after we reviewed the first draft..

The second draft does not acknowledge that they received written feedback on the first draft, and more written feedback on the in person meeting. It literally reads is as if we never had a meeting or communicated with them in anyway.

[Jenna]

Carolyn gave some great info. "Meaningful parent participation" is a part of the IDEA. Keep advocating for your child, but take care of yourself and your family. Prioritize what matters most to your family, and focus on those things in the next discussion. 

[Carolyn Rowlett]

I'm sorry the school district is being so difficult.  Make sure to get all their refusals in a PWN.  Another thought is to ask for a facilitated IEP meeting.  See if your state provides those.  Part of the state facilitator's job is to make sure all parties participate.

If nothing works, you could file a state complaint setting forth the school district's lack of compliance in allowing meaningful parent participation.  See if there if a state plan or policy on the state department of education's website that you could quote.

[Persistently Persistent]

I reached out to the state because I’m trying to understand how this is supposed to work. I don’t want to create conflict so I did not identify the school district, I just asked a few clarifying questions. The person at the state asked me to tell her the name of the district so she cd call to talk w them.  I replied that we’d like to advocate for ourselves, but we need to inform ourselves to be effective; we need some information from her.  Plus  we don’t want to have the state call the district unless it becomes absolutely necessary.  I asked our questions a second time. So far she hasn’t answered our questions. 

[Carolyn Rowlett]

Have you gone to the state department of education's website?  There must be a state plan for special education or parents' guide or FAQ's or something.  If you can't find anything, maybe that's the question you ask - just to be pointed in the right direction so that you can understand the process better.

[Jenna]

Lisa has links to all 50 states' Dept. of Ed websites and direct links to sections on their sites. See https://adayinourshoes.com/idea-individuals-with-disabilities-education-act/. Hope this is helpful.