Sher: I’m in California. I am being TOLD when my son’s IEP meeting will be. I can not make the one time/day they gave me. Can they do that? Or do they have to give me a time and day that works for me?
IEP Meeting: NO OPTION FOR IEP MEETING THAT I CAN ATTEND
They must give you a time and day that works for you, they can not hold an IEP meeting without you if you request to be there. The school and parents have to agree on when and where they are going to meet.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has recently reaffirmed the school’s obligation to accommodate parents! See: https://www.wrightslaw.com/law/art/dougc.hawaii.pwanalysis.htm.
Sher, I encourage you to ask the school again to reschedule the meeting, perhaps giving them a few other dates/times when you would be available to attend.
If the school remains reluctant, consider filing a state (compliance) complaint.
Sher, You ask, “Can they do that?” They just did. Is it legal to give you one time/day? Take it or Leave it. No.
You’ll find the answer to your question in Chapter 3 – Parental Participation in our book, “All About IEPs.” https://www.wrightslaw.com/store/aaieps.html
We get thousands of questions about IEPs every year and simply don’t have the time to answer all of them. That is why we wrote “All About IEPs” with answers to more than 200 questions. If you have questions about IEPs – and most people do – please look for answers in “All About IEPs.” You won’t be sorry – it will save you time and headaches. People love this book!
Moving on.
§300.322 Parent participation.
(a) … [the school] . . . must take steps to ensure that one or both of the parents of a
child with a disability are present at each IEP Team meeting or are afforded the opportunity to participate, including–
(1) Notifying parents of the meeting early enough to ensure that they will have an opportunity to attend; and
(2) Scheduling the meeting at a mutually agreed on time and place.
I would love feedback on this topic. We were presented less than 60 days before our sons tri-annual IEP a meeting date and assessments they wanted to perform. I only agreed to certain assessments, and did not agree to attend because they also were indicating this would only be Part 1 of the Tri-Annual (because they knew they wouldn’t have the results in on time) NO RESPONSE for almost 2 weeks. Director of Special Services sends emails at early morning hours to me and our advocate. THIS week I remind them we still never agreed to attend, no response. So then I tell them we can’t attend anyway regardless because my husband had to travel for work cant be in town and always attends the IEPs. ADVOCATE requests a reschedule! THE district denies us telling us that they are going to hold it to be in compliance. Our advocate tries to get hold of them to see if she can conference call in on behalf of us, or she will attend. District waits until 30 minutes before the meeting to tell her no, and this doesn’t give her time to travel to the school. They hold a meeting which was suppose to be a quick check in,and they ended up talking about my child with two teachers present who were not on paperwork, whom I have been asking to be there and was being told they can’t make it happen. HELP!!!!