Banned from IEP/504 Meetings!!!

Do the parent want you in attendance? If so, the parents can request that you be there. Don’t know how your supervisor will react. But as a parent, I certainly would suppot you!

Thanks for the support!

I don’t think most parents realize that they can request specific teachers at the meeting.(One special ed and one regular ed are required by law) The other special ed teacher sits at the meetings and doesn’t open her mouth unless the case manager asks her something. I actively participate. Aren’t we supposed to be a team?

Also, how do I diplomatically tell parents I want to help and be at the meetings, but the case manager said NO! I can’t badmouth her to the parents, but what she’s doing is unfair! I thought of going to the union rep, but she’s also friendly with the case manager, and I’m the newbie.

This does not surprise me at all. I have recently found an advocate to work with me because I don’t feel that I can trust the school or district. Even when you have someone on your side, they are pressured. I love my dd’s teacher, but she is so young and new and impressionable by the special ed staff who is pressured by the district that I fear she could get caught in the middle. We are currently disputing the fact that I am removing my dd from school for private therapy. I told the teacher that I am working it out with the principal and that I did not want her to feel caught in the middle if anyone asks her if I am still taking her out of school.

And when we got to our meeting we could tell that the staff had already had some sort of a pre-meeting. Like, a meeting WITHOUT the parents to discuss where they stand on everything. I don’t know if the general ed teacher is all that involved in that process, but I’m sure the resource specialist and the school psychologist is there as well as anyone else from the district.

To answer your question, yes the parents are supposed to be part of the team, but every suggestion I have ever made has been shot down. I would bet that if I had a suggestion that they liked, they would shoot that down too, just because they wouldn’t want me to think that I am running the show. I have been put in my place on things, as has my private SLP who answers NOT to them, and my wrist has now been slapped for taking my dd out of school for private speech therapy, which has already shown to be helpful to her, because it doesn’t coincide with their plans for sending her down the path of low expectations.

Good luck. All I can say is to keep advocating for your students because you have to look yourself in the mirror and you have to be able to sleep at night knowing what is best for your students. You know the students and their families better than anyone else at the school or district.

Kathryn

Mermaid,

Banned from IEP/504 meetings? I’ve never heard of that ever happening. What have you been saying?

Just my honest opinions on how to help the student. Sometimes the district has their own agenda, and it’s not always in the students best interest. Also, most parents don’t even realize the kinds of things they can put in IEPs and 504 plans, so I’ll suggest what I think would be helpful.

It’s a sad indictment of our educational systems, where your experience is common practice!

It’s sad. I love working with my students. When I help a struggling child learn, or build a positive relationship with a defiant child, it makes it all worthwhile! But I hate being excluded from meetings, where my input could be helpful. I am so FRUSTRATED!!!! I don’t know where to turn. Everything is so political, and I don’t want to lose my job!

Mermaid,

I wish you lived near me… I’d hire you as an advocate to attend my son’s meetings.

Maybe advocating will be a better career choice?

DMS

You were banned because you became a part of the problem and not the solution.

DRHD, How did you mean this?

Did you mean that in the school’s eyes she is part of the problem because she won’t let them just skirt the laws like they do when she isn’t there?

Mermaid, Are they violating laws by what they are saying to parents in these meetings or are the just not providing the best services? If you buck them, you will probably loose your job. I’m sorry you are so torn. As a parent, I am thrilled that you did stand up for your students.

Are you really asking for something unreasonable for the student or will it just make the school and staff act in a manner that is different from their current way of doing things.

Always Wondering,

This is not too complicated to understand. Mermaid is an employee of a school district and her advocacy is an expectation to be afforded to her role as a public school employee. Should Mermaid wish to come into meetings and address matters that compete against her own interests as an employee, more power to her. I believe her longevity in her current role as member of that committee and even perhaps that school may be quite short lived. There is enough confusion as it is to sort out issues with parents and school districts of what they do and don’t understand. But to have a member of the school staff to add to the dilemma becomes a practical problem that should never take place. A parent must ubderstand that every person around anIEP table is an advocate for the child. Public school personnel by and large are the largest advocate organization in the world.

So do I still think Mermaid is part of the problem?: yes. Would I remove her from future meeings?: yes, you betcha’.

DRHD

Your students and other people’s students love you too. The fact is, we need more like you in the classroom and in the meetings and at higher levels of administration. Thank you so much for your effort. Hearing about it makes a difference and softens the heart of even the most jaded of us LD adults. Never think what you do makes a difference.

Here is my thought… We need more like you around LD youth. Which means, they should be your priority as they quite apparantly are. I don’t think going to the meetings is necesary to be useful. The school does not have a monopoly on parent meetings nor on parent advising. If you set meetings up after work hours with those you felt were getting shafted and did it somewhere off school property… You could explain to parents and do what you are there to do. Work with children who really are benefitting from learning from someone truly caring. Once again, thank you…. I hope you inspire more teachers to remember to care.