Special Ed Advocate Info San Jose
-District cannot arbitrarily limit IEP to 30 or 60 minutes. We were recently at an IEP where the District’s administrator said “My IEPs usually take 30 minutes, and a maximum of one hour.” Like everything else in this process, IEP meetings need to be individualized and based on need. We recommend asking the district for a two hour IEP meeting.
That seems like a long time. However, if you are in the middle of a key discussion, about to get your child the services s/he needs, and the administrator gets up and says “I have to leave, I have another meeting” then your child’s IEP cannot be finished and the previous IEP remains in place. It is much better to have two hours set aside and leave early than to have a key discussion terminated halfway through.
If two hours is good, isn’t three better? No. This is an important meeting where everything said matters. You want to be able to maintain focus the entire time. Two hours seems to be a good amount of time for everyone to keep focus and still allow adequate time to make progress in writing an IEP for your child.
Special Ed Advocate Info San Jose
-District cannot require you to sign IEP, except to sign that you were in attendance. Districts sometimes strongly urge a parent to sign the IEP at the end of an IEP meeting. It is never required. Do keep in mind that any new services in the IEP will not be implemented until you sign and return the IEP.
-Meeting notes matter. Few families want to go to hearing. Sometimes it is the only way to get your child what s/he needs. During a hearing, the IEP meeting notes are part of the evidence. It is worth your time to make sure the meeting notes are accurate. We have had districts flat out refuse when we ask them to write down a damaging admission they just made, saying those are the district’s meeting notes (NOT true), or refuse to read the notes before we end the meeting. If you are not able to get a copy before you leave, review the copy as soon as you receive it, and add any additional items you remember from the meeting. Ask the district (in writing) to include your corrections, or add on as an addendum.
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