the teacher has a life....

November 10, 2004

I need some advice on how to proceed with a delicate situation.

's teacher is really sweet, works well with , and

tries very hard. We really like her and don't want to do something to

harm a good situation. However, we've been trying to develop this

year's IEP, and because the teacher is a single mom and needs to get her

own child, she can only stay about 1 hour after school for the meeting.

How many IEPs can be completed in 1 hour? Not ours :-) Last meeting, I

was shocked when she announced she had to leave (we didn't know this

before the meeting began, just when she started packing up to leave).

We continued as best we could without the classroom teacher, but found

that there were still some areas we needed her input on (imagine that

:-) So, a meeting was scheduled for next week to complete the behavior

plan, and receive training on Touch Math. She just emailed me that she

was unaware that we were doing the behavior plan, as well as a writing

goal, AND the Touch Math training, and that she still had to leave at

4:30 (this is when we were told that every meeting would be over for her

at 4:30pm due to her " hectic home life " )

When the team has to check their calendars and try to plan another

meeting, things just drag out. With our Veteran's Day holiday tomorrow

and Friday, we then have school next week, then off the following week

for Thanksgiving. The first IEP meeting was 11/4, the second will be

11/17, and I'm sure the next one (because there is no way we will finish

everything in 1 hour..... it's behavior, after all) won't be until

sometime in December (if it can get scheduled before Christmas break).

It seems like when they schedule an annual review of the IEP, everyone

should have at least 2 hours blocked out for the meeting... it's like

they are complying because they called a meeting before the " expiration

date " , but really weren't able to have the necessary time for the meeting.

I dont' know why we can't meet during the school day..... shouldn't the

school pay for a sub for the teacher so she could attend a meeting? My

thought was, even if they got her a sub for the last hour of the day, we

could get started much earlier, and perhaps finish. Am I crazy to think

this might work? Any ideas? How long is an average IEP meeting, and

how does one get the team there, especially if it's broken up into

several meeting? I should say that is fully included in 1st

grade with a 1;1 aide, pulled for Speech, OT, and PE. She is social,

participates well in class, is reading at grade level, writing OK, and

does terrible in math. She can be very sweet and do her work willingly,

or can cross her little arms and refuse to do anything.

, mom to (9), (6 DS), and (5)

Recommended Posts