Lisa: In my district when a parent does not come to an IEP meeting, it is common practice to have all members sign as participants and then “document” this attempt as IEP part 1. When asked about this process I was told “well it stops the 60 day timeline”.
I find this to be quite illegal….should the IEP team simply reschedule, notify the family of new dates/times offered, and note in the file that the parents did not come to the first meeting scheduled?
We have tried to get a parent to commit to having a meeting to renew an IEP for speech services. The attempts have been by (7 times) phone, through ( 2 times) email and (4 times) text (with return receipt). This parent would call back and say she just wanted her son exited but would not put it in writing. I would not change the IEP without written consent. This was over a 3 month period. The team finally met to continue services until we were able to get mom in (virtually, by phone or physically) we changed nothing on the IEP but extended the time line so that he would still get services until we had a legal meeting. How many times do you have to contact a non responsive parent before you proceed wihtout?
To me, this is a question for the school attorney.
Hello,
I’m an RSP Teacher for Special Education at the elementary level. I’ve been trying to contact a parent by using all channels of communication for the better part of 3 months. The parent doesn’t return calls/emails and we cannot hold the Triennial without her. What do I do?
Your district should have a policy on this. If not they need to develop one. If you are talking about the 3 year re-eval, the school can do a REED (review of existing educational data) without a meeting or parent consent, if that is determined to be enough.
It is best to try a second time and to schedule the first meeting so that the timeline does not expire. It also works to ask if a phone meeting with all PPT members present is a possibility. I have see that to be very successful and it engages the parents who cannot leave their places of work.