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Hi I guess I'm kicking this off!! Happy to have a space to connect with other advocates and families. I'm a special education parent advocate based in Oregon, and I also work with families in other states on a case-by-case basis. My story is... school psychologist for 16 years in Illinois, Oregon, and Washington. Started making an exit plan from public service a few years ago, and mulled over what I might like to do next. I realized I always really loved connecting with families and helping them to understand what was going on with our school plans. I've been a 504 case manager, general ed behavior intervention guru, and of course spent many years doing psychoeducational evaluations and leading teams through decisions about eligibility and services. What I love about it: helping families know what the school could and should be doing for their kids coming in as a partner so the parent isn't alone on their side of the table getting teams back on track - educators are swamped and sometimes it takes a gentle nudge to help them be their best selves prepping with families so they know what to expect in meetings flexible schedule so I can have more time for me and my fam I'm happy to be here! Need help? Ask me.

That’s possible. When I view in Safari on my MacBook I have more options than viewing on my iPhone.

Not a lawyer or a school administrator. Who at the school does Mom have the best relationship with? Could you or that specific person reach out from your school email address and request a video chat with the parent to explain who the SPED director is and that she's left multiple texts/voicemails/etc. for her? Maybe texts/calls from the SPED director go through from an unknown number, or maybe they're flagged as a scam call? Perhaps emails from the virtual school are sometimes sent to a "promotions" or "spam" folder? Has the school mailed a paper letter to the parent? If the student is attending virtual classes, has the staff asked the student to have the parent call/email/etc? You mentioned that Mom asks about the IEP and modified work...did the child transfer to the virtual school? Perhaps she thinks that the child already has an IEP that the virtual school should be following?

Perfectly normal. When you see soooo many parents, fighting so hard and for so long....to get something, it feels weird to turn that same thing down. But, you know what is best. When Kevin was in preschool I didn't do ESY because I was not going to ruin our summer and be tethered to school days for a worthless program. Didn't feel like fighting, so we just took summers off.

My kids have SLD, so a slightly different situation. However, I found that they transitioned to kinder best based on having had the preschool experience that was most tailored to them. Other students who had been in the school prek actually struggled more with behavior. I would say do what makes your child thrive.