Parent-teacher conference is not an IEP meeting

Parents are asked to go to a meeting at the school for their child who has an IEP. The school has not provided any paperwork to the parent about the upcoming “meeting”. Parents, hoping for the best, attend and participate. Hopeful that these discussions will help the child the parents rely on these discussions.

The parent later receives paperwork indicating there will be an upcoming “IEP meeting”. Parents attend, again hopeful. Discussions include items discussed in the previous “non-IEP meeting” where the parents learn that some of the ideas were tried or not carried out. Parents ask about the previous meeting only to learn that it was a “parent-teacher conference”. Decisions made in “parent-teacher conferences” do not get included into the IEP.

Parents of students with special needs’ must realize that the IEP meeting is the forum for “official” changes to a students education programming.

theiepcenter.com

Governor Nixon gets special ed bill that changes Missouri due process

Governor Nixon received the bill yesterday (Senate bill 595) that would take special education due process hearings away from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MODESE) and places them into the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission (AHC).  If he signs it, this will make a significant change in how the system’s game of manipulating parents plays out.</p><p>First, the AHC will need a commissioner who meets the requirements in the bill;  a commissioner who has been involved in a special ed due process proceeding in the last five years will not be considered to participate. This should be a stimulus for school districts to avoid going into due process and consider mediation.  Currently, some districts refuse to mediate with parents even though a mediator is provided free from DESE.</p><p>In many scenarios due process has been a black hole for families for years.  Families who make valiant attempts to bring their school district up-to-speed on appropriate instruction for students have paid a great price.  For some parents it meant moving, going bankrupt, private schooling, homeschooling or allowing their child to continue is sub-par programs. For some students the system allowed for forced dropouts.</p><p>The system allowed for attorneys who actively represented school districts against parents to serve as hearing officers throughout the state. </p><p>Past hearing decisions can be found on the DESE website under “special education” compliance. Scroll down for more stories and how to contact advocates. </p>