Summer is coming and the end of school to-do list can get quite long. Here are some things you can do to get ready for your child’s next school year. Almost all parents have a zillion things to track for themselves and their families. Those of us who have children with IEPs, 504s, medical conditions and the like have quite a few more. Anything we can put on the calendar now and know that it will be there, waiting for us when we need it, gives us a bit more time and energy now.
Important Dates For Your To-Do List
Write all important dates for the next school year on your calendar now. What is the date of the first day of school? When are school progress reports due? If there are any assessments due, when are they due? Right now, all of these dates are clear in your mind. In two months—if your mind works anything like ours—it will be a LOT harder to recall. Writing down important dates should be a high priority for your end of school to-do list.
IEP-Related Items
If you request an IEP fewer than 30 days before school ends, it is highly likely that you will have to wait until the next school year starts to meet with the IEP team and make changes to your child’s IEP. Make yourself a note to contact the school one or two days after school starts to find out what date they propose. Please bear in mind that your child’s IEP is more accurate if you schedule the IEP during your child’s current school year. Your child’s current teacher has gotten to know your child, your child’s strengths, and their areas for improvement. If you schedule an IEP team meeting and it takes place during the first few days or weeks of school, you will meet with a teacher who is significantly less familiar with your child’s areas of ability and areas where they need more support.
Assessments On Your End of School To-Do List
Does your child have assessments that started just before school gets out, or due to commence once class begins? Count out 60 days from your next IEP team meeting. Around day 40, write and ask the school to send you a copy of the assessments prior to the IEP team meeting to discuss them. We typically ask to receive the assessments 7 days in advance. Note: this rarely happens, but requesting the assessment materials early makes it far less likely that you will receive them at 11:30 pm the night before the IEP team meeting.
When the school has offered to provide new or additional services in the fall, also make a note to check a week or two into school if those are in place yet.Those services don’t start the first day of school, but should start no later than two weeks after school begins.
Securely Store Your End of School Paperwork
Find a good, secure spot to put your child’s IEP and assessments so that you will be able to refer to them next school year. It can be extremely stressful to search for missing pages and our children can have large amounts of paperwork related to their education. If you have an extra binder at home, consider hole-punching your child’s paperwork and storing it in a binder. Alternatively, open a file on the cloud and store electronic copies of all documents there as that way you’ll have them without having to store reams of paper.
As parents, we understand. As advocates, we can help.