I have a new student who has an IEP. The IEP came from another school in our district and is valid. Now, district is changing his IEP without a reevaluation. They are changing his setting as well as majorly decreasing the amount of resource time he is to recieve. This is being done with no reevaluatin and no data to support that he has met his goals. When I continually asked why, the resource teacher said that's what the district program specalist told her to do because she doesn't have time to service him. I'm not a special education teacher, but is this legal?
I'm not sped either, but I would think at the very least they would have to have an IEP meeting and consult with the student's parents before changing his services. If I were you, I would tell this child's parents what is going on and advise them to request a meeting with the resource teacher and the program specialist.
it is illegal and the parents have every right to know what is going on. If the school is not following the IEP as stated they are out of compliance and can be sued. They have to either meet with the parents or complete a re-eval on him.
Yes you can change the IEP if a student is new. The new school can either just accepts the IEP as-is or hold a meeting and change the IEP. If ABC program was offer at the other school which required x amount of hours and your school has XYZ program that takes less hours then you would change the IEP accordingly. Either way the parents should know what's being changed and they need approve.
Changes to I.E.P. need to have parent consent. Nothing should be changed without the parent knowing. Plus, the fact that they just don't have the time, really doesn't seem like a valid reason. The parent could probably file a grievance with the ADA or something similar.
The problem is the parents didn't show up today, and even if they did, having met them, I highly doubt they would understand their legal rights. In speaking with them before, I don't think they really understand the process. It's not that we use different programs, it's simply "we don't have time for this student". We have a seperate setting classroom, which is on his orginal IEP, but they decided to change his setting to resource. This child has a learning disability among other serious health issues. It seems outragous that we simply don't have time to accomodate his needs. I also don't want this child written off simply because he doesn't have the best parents either.
The parents need to be informed that things will not be status quo at the new school. Yes, the school must inform them at a meeting which should be called ASAP and have the District Program Specialist and Resource Teacher there and the Administrator of New School to explain what is going on.
Oh yes, teachers are always the last to know, aren't they? It really irks me when resource, district specialist,etc had a meeting during my teaching time and tell me about it a week later what they decided. Arrgh!
I wonder if you could suggest to the parents that they find an educational advocate to help them understand the IEP process and get advice at meetings.
I know I have recommended that to parents before. Actually had to earlier this year when we were trying to get appropriate services for a child in my class. It was the district that was refusing to provide service and as we all know parents often have a lot more power than we as teachers do. Of course as soon as the parent showed up with an advocate the services we (teacher and principal) had been asking for were instantly granted. Annoying that it has to go that route.
But they must have an IEP meeting. As the classroom teacher you would be at that meeting. The IEP needs to be made by the team. If you don't agree with the changes you need to say so.
A parent signature is needed at a meeting to change an IEP. Do you have a director of SPED who is responsible for your resource room/SPED teachers in your district? If the resource room teacher admitted that she is giving a student with an IEP less services...because of TIME...that is very illegal!
amendment meeting, evidence of an invitation (parents can give permission to hold all but the initial meeting without them), and additional support needs to be provided to the sped teacher from the district if the teacher is overloaded.
Decreases in service and changes in placement can happen, BUT they cannot be unilateral decisions made by a new school in the same district. The previous IEP is from the same district: it stipulates the level of services that are to be provided until an annual or other IEP meeting is held. If the school proposes changes, they MUST file some form of Prior Written Notice, delivered to the parent in advance of the changes, with an explanation of the reasons for the changes. "Don't have time to service him" is NOT a legally valid reason: if the school he's at right now can't serve him, he must be placed at a school that can.
I absolutely hate working with advocates, because they very often make unreasonable demands in situations where the system actually IS doing right by the child, but in this case, the system doesn't sound like it's holding up its end of things. I would first encourage the resource specialist to look into this further (letting her know, dude, this could be a much bigger pain in your butt if it turns into a mediation/due process issue...), then ask to communicate with the district PS myself, then alert the family about advocates if that didn't work. All states, to my knowledge, have systems in place with multi-lingual individuals who can advocate for families and students who cannot press through the system without help. If you let me know the state you're in, I can do some digging. But again, I'd try to get a better feel for what the district is up to before dragging in the big guns.
Items on an IEP can be changed but only with the consult of the team. It cannot be a unilateral decision by a sped teacher, parent, reg ed teacher or principal. It needs to be a team decision. Certain things on an IEP can be changed with parent permission (written, phone call, in person) to match time at a new school. Saying there is no time to service a child is not an excuse in sped. You MAKE the time if need be. Because of this philosophy, my schedule changes on a weekly basis to meet the needs of my students.
Does your admin know this is being done? If the parents are informed they would ask for a Due Process and get that ball rolling in order to make things equitable for their child. Also, the changes can be made without having a full IEP and just making it an amendment.
You can change the iep if you add what is called an amendment, and if the parent signs that she/he agrees with the changes. At least that is how it is in Illinois. However, there needs to be a good reason if there is a major change, such as with the minutes.
trying to "back door" this thing. In other words, they are going to do what they want and then have the IEP, or maybe they'll just file the paperwork as if the IEP was held. Our special ed teacher is constantly asking me to sign IEPs that I've never attended. She just says, "Nothing's changed on this IEP," yet how would I really know for sure since I was never there? I have refused to sign a few IEPs in my career. You don't have to sign them you know if you don't agree with the IEP. All you have to do is submit a letter saying why you refused to sign.
The entire grade level was in this meeting and his math teacher as well as his homeroom teacher all disagreed. The resource teacher tried to say he could do things in math he clearly cannot, like basic computation. The principal was there too, and he doesn't agree with this because there's no data to support it. He called the district coordinator, and she said it was because our resource teacher didn't have the time to service him as much as the last school did. We have a seperate setting classroom, which his IEP actually calls for, and the principal wants a meeting in December with that teacher, so he's on our side, but being overruled by district.
Thanks for all the feedback! I really appreciate it!
I have seen this happen many times. It is usually done b/c the programs are slightly different and the need to adjust the IEP arises. Of course, an IEP meeting needs to be held. But, at least in my experience, most parents don't really have a clue about what is going on in the IEP meeting anyway. So, at least in my district, the SPED people pretty much do their own thing unless a parent pitches a fit.
Takawiri, I can't pm you since your new, but the state is North Carolina. I see no harm in calling the parent, letting them know amendments were made and letting them know that advocates are available to help them understand the process. Any information you can provide would be great!
Guest, I can't say how things work for an IEP in your state, but in most places I have been, even if the case manager wants to do an amendment it needs to be run by the parents first. It's just the way I know.
In our state, you can go into the meeting with a draft IEP but it is not final until the meeting has been held. Same thing for amendments and we have strict guidelines on what we can and cannot do for an amendment.
In the future, please do NOT sign any IEP that you have not attended. In signing the papers, you are therefore held responsible for knowing what is in the IEP and implementing it. Don't put yourself in that situation. Glad your admin is on the right and legal side.
I did a little digging into North Carolina's system, and couldn't find the equivalent advocate service to what we have in California. But if you google "exceptional children's assistance center" and North Carolina, you'll find a statewide clearinghouse/support center that should be able to advise on services more specific to your district.
11-20-2009, 08:16 PM
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