Joyce: If I miss a triennial component meeting, can the school have the meeting anyway without me present or are they supposed to reschedule? I sent response that I would be there, but had the date wrong.
Parent Rights: CAN THE SCHOOL HAVE MEETING WITHOUT ME?
School has not provided me with my son’s special assessment testing results however they met with my ex husband, joint custody without my knowledge to sign off on accommodations that I wasn’t aware of.
The school *can* have the meeting without you present. That said, they *should* make reasonable attempts to reschedule for you. So do ask! IDEA emphasizes parent involvement, and states that meetings should be held at a mutually agreed upon time and place. It does not say how last-minute changes should be handled, nor whose needs (parents vs. school personnel) should be prioritized. That’s left to states to deal with. Most states do push school districts to be flexible, and recent caselaw backs this up (https://www.wrightslaw.com/law/art/dougc.hawaii.pwanalysis.htm). But it’s hard to say how accommodating individual school districts (or even individual IEP Teams within a district) will be. If the school does decide to have the meeting without you, perhaps think of other ways you can participate – providing your thoughts in writing beforehand, calling in to the meeting, meeting with teachers/therapists afterward, asking for a second meeting to review your concerns, etc