Can the IEP team deny "entry" to my child's teacher during IEP meeting?

[catmom3]

Had my IEP meeting and my kiddo's teacher was not let in via Google meet to the IEP meeting. It's unethical but is it legal? Any reason why they wouldn't want her there?

[Carolyn Rowlett]

First, I would want to confirm that this was purposeful and not just a mistake or technical glitch.  Did they actually PROHIBIT her from joining the Google meet when she attempted to?  Also, was this teacher listed on the Notice of Meeting?

Second, how old is your child?  The reason I ask is that if s/he is in grade school age and only has one general education teacher, then yes, this is illegal because a general education teacher is a required IEP team member.  But if your child is in middle or high school and another teacher was present, it might not be illegal, because only one is required.

We try not to guess why school districts do what they do on this site, but my guess would be that the general education teacher was bringing data to the meeting that they didn't want presented.  For instance, the teacher would have information on how far behind the child is academically or how much the disability is affecting his/her participation in the educational environment (without knowing the specific disability, it's hard to say).  They should want this information, but they might not if they don't want to provide services.

[catmom3]

Currently in 4th grade going onto 5th. Teacher was listed on Notice of Meeting. Teacher has pictures of the screen where it shows she waited to be let in with time stamps. She absolutely had evidence showing hes doing better in a private school setting. Said private school is strictly for kids w learning differences and being paid for by the district due to violations committed in the past. 

 I strongly believe it was purposely done to leave me alone in the meeting and not have a representative provide proof of how much better he's doing at this new school.

[Carolyn Rowlett]

You need to file a state complaint alleging a compliance violation in that the school district did not allow the general education teacher to attend the IEP meeting.

[JSD24]

A gen ed teacher is required at an IEP meeting (unless the student spends no time in gened).  You didn't have an IEP meeting if this person didn't attend.  Now if the gen ed PE or music teacher was there, they too are gen ed teachers and would meet the requirement for having a gen ed teacher present at the meeting.

This is a procedural violation (no gen ed teacher) so filing a state complaint would be a way to go.  You could remind the public school that you did not, in fact, have an IEP meeting since there was no gen ed teacher present and request to meet at an IEP meeting where his teacher is allowed into the virtual meeting room.

I actually had this happen and the supervisor arranged for another IEP meeting in less than 24 hours because the following day was an in-service and they day after that would have missed the timeline for the annual meeting.  Turned out that the scheduled teacher was called into another meeting.  It dawned on me that there was no gen ed teacher as I was walking to my car after the meeting.  I wasn't asked to sign a waiver to excuse the teacher - this is a way to get around the gen ed teacher attending.