RE: Question Regarding IEP Meeting!

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 7/21/2004 4:02:31 PM Eastern Daylight Time, cguth@...

writes:

Once you know that approval has been given from your school district to

attended a school out of district, who is responsible for setting up the IEP

meeting. I was just informed (after inquiring to my district), that my district

sent the approval for my daughter to go to a school (kindergarten) out of my

district. I was never told that the district approved the referral until I

inquired about it, and now the district is stating that the IU will set up the

IEP

meeting, and that the district and myself will be invited. Is this true?

I have talked to the IU several times this week regarding this issue and told

them, I haven't heard from my district regarding a time for the IEP Meeting

and I was told today by the district, that the IU will be the one to contact

me, and that the district will be invited. The reason I am asking this, is two

of my daughter's teachers have asked me if the district has set up the IEP

time yet, because I wanted them present. I just feel like I keep getting the run

around, and want to make sure this information I was given today is true. Any

help you can give will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Colleen

Colleen,

Here in NY, the regular yearly IEP is routinely set by the local district

even if the child is attending an out-of-district school. I don't know about the

procedure in any other state. An IEP meeting can be requested by anyone of the

team members at any point they feel one is needed, by the parents, the

school, the teachers ... and once the request is made, the IEP meeting is

scheduled

by the local school. A time is set and all participants are invited via a

letter.

I would send a letter (registered and return-receipt, as proof of it being

sent and received) requesting that the people you want to be there are invited.

If the school ignores your request and they are not there, then you can

immediately refuse to allow the meeting to continue and reschedule it when ALL

the

necessary participants are present. If the meeting is not how you wanted it, if

your people are not invited or unable to make that time slot, then reschedule.

We've had our TOD omitted (by accident ... yeah, right) and on several

occassions not one person in the meeting aside from myself and the CSE chair had

ever met our son. I immediately refused to allow those meetings to continue and

rescheduled.

According to NY state there has to be a teacher and a psychologist at the

meetings. Nothing says they have to be the ones who taught or tested the student

being discussed. We often had one of the other elementary school psychologists

attending, but that didn't bother me since they rarely had anything to

contribute anyway. They were ALL clueless about D/HOH kids and their educational

needs and were smart enough not to try to talk as though they knew anything.

On the same note, if the district invites any additional people into the

meeting without notifying you first, you can ask them to leave or refuse to

allow

the meeting to continue. Our district tried to initimidate me by having a

social worker at one of our meetings. I asked that the CSE chair justify the

need

for Social Services to be present at a confidential meeting when they had no

part in our lives and therefore no right to the information being discussed. He

had no valid rationale (we thought " another opinion would be a good thing "

was NOT a valid reason) and the woman left.

So, make your request in writing and then call often to see that they have

followed through. Be aware that you can also invite those teachers yourself,

even if the local district does not. You can bring along anyone you feel is

needed, even if it is just your best friend as moral support. Once you have the

date for the meeting, call and invite those teachers. Or send them a letter and

make it your own official invitation.

Best of luck .. Jill

[Guest guest]

Colleen,

Pardon me for being senile, but I cannot remember whether you're in NY as

well. My computer went though a tempre tantrum and in the process I lost almost

4

months of archived emails.

Anyway, my advice would be to call the State Ed Dept and find out exactly

what the proceedure is. Here in our town, I know the IEP is set by the local

school because one of my son's best friends goes to a private school. He is

severely dyslexic and this fall will be attending a school out of state. All

their

meetings are held right here.

Perhaps to make things easier the IEP meetings could occur at the

out-of-district school since the teachers and other professionals from that

school should

be the ones attending to discuss your duaughter. But then you and the local

district's CSE chair would be traveling to them.

I don't blame you for being confused ... it sounds bizarre to me. Call the

State Ed Dept ... or if there is a website, maybe you could search it for the

State's standard IEP proceedures. I know NY's website is immense and hard to

navigate, but my husband has a knack for it so I usually ask him to handle that

search process.

Good luck - Jill

[Guest guest]

Colleen,

Pardon me for being senile, but I cannot remember whether you're in NY as

well. My computer went though a tempre tantrum and in the process I lost almost

4

months of archived emails.

Anyway, my advice would be to call the State Ed Dept and find out exactly

what the proceedure is. Here in our town, I know the IEP is set by the local

school because one of my son's best friends goes to a private school. He is

severely dyslexic and this fall will be attending a school out of state. All

their

meetings are held right here.

Perhaps to make things easier the IEP meetings could occur at the

out-of-district school since the teachers and other professionals from that

school should

be the ones attending to discuss your duaughter. But then you and the local

district's CSE chair would be traveling to them.

I don't blame you for being confused ... it sounds bizarre to me. Call the

State Ed Dept ... or if there is a website, maybe you could search it for the

State's standard IEP proceedures. I know NY's website is immense and hard to

navigate, but my husband has a knack for it so I usually ask him to handle that

search process.

Good luck - Jill

[Guest guest]

Jill, Thanks for your response. I called my district on 6/10 and left a message

that after reviewing all my options that I am requesting that my daughter

attended a school out of the district. I never received a response from that

phone call. On 6/21 I sent a certified letter stating that I left a message and

never heard from anyone, and that I wanted to make sure the message was

received. I stated the main reason for the letter was to make sure that they

did receive my message, since there was never a response. However, I also

wanted to let them know of the people that I would like to be invited to the IEP

once the date was set and listed there names. I never received a response from

the certified letter either.

So I emailed the district yesterday with read receipt, and received a response,

that the request was approved and the referral was sent over to the IU on 6/24,

however no one ever let me know that until yesterday, when the district finally

responded. Now they are stating that the they do not arrange the IEP meeting

that the IU does, since the referral was sent for the child to be sent out of

district, but the district would be invited. I was told by the IU on Tuesday to

call the district for the IEP date. I sent many emails out last night trying to

get to the bottom of this. I will be out most of the morning but will research

this, when I return this afternoon. Thanks for your response and your help once

again

Thanks,

Colleen