(1) Detailed records of telephone calls made or attempted and the results of those calls;

(2) Copies of correspondence sent to the parents and any responses received; and

(3) Detailed records of visits made to the parent’s home or place of employment and the results of those visits.

IDEA 2004 excludes the language that identifies the efforts schools must undertake prior to going ahead with an IEP without a parent in attendance.

Should the Vermont special education regulations retain its current description of the types of efforts a school district must undertake before convening an IEP meeting without a parent in attendance, even though this information in not required by federal law?

Yes:

51

No:

0

Don't Know:

8

Comments:

If not, due diligence will get lost.

This is one area where we clearly exceed the federal regulations and should continue to do so!

I believe that in most cases the parent wants to attend. The school needs to ensure that there are accommodations made so that the parent can attend either in person, on the phone or by computer. If it is a case where the parent is completely unreachable or unwilling to attend than that should be documented with the reason why they are not attending.

Some of the schools staff is disrespectful to parents and that may be the reason why the parents are not attending. Special education surveys should go out a few times a year to those who are on both 504s and IEPs.

Yes. I would think the Dept. Ed attorneys would want this to stay in as well. We must be sure that we are going to extremes to locate and communicate with parents if a child is in need of special education. Should a school go ahead with a meeting without the parents the school should have plenty of legal support (documents) outlining their attempts to include the parents. I would not want to be the principal of a school that was sued without "enough" documentation...

There should be some requirement to document efforts, but this may be excessively burdensome. I would like to see more parents offered a meeting outside of school hours if their work or transportation schedule does not permit meetings during school time.

Is there a possibility of giving the parents the opportunity to allow another adult involved in the child’s life to attend the meeting? A form could go home requesting the parents to attend the meeting and if they can't or won't is it possible to have names of other parents from the school district willing to advocate for the child, with permission from the parents of course, to go in their place. All students should be represented.

I would think that this would be wise should any legal actions be brought against the school. To keep detailed records of all attempts would only help demonstrate the schools commitment to the student.

It keeps our schools above reproach.

It's a good reminder, it can become easy to just give a half hearted effort to draw parents in if you don't really want their input or feel they have anything to offer or they don't really care - this will help remind special educators that parents are still the first teachers and should be valued members of a team.

My personal experience is that available IEP meeting times are limited in terms of choices and are NEVER convenient with my work schedule as they occur during the teachers' work schedule. They are never offered in the evening, for example. I can flex my schedule, but many parents are far more restricted by their employers. When the parent cannot attend these limited times, it would be easy for them to be labeled as "unwilling" to attend. The special educators I have worked with would never do this, but there needs to be documentation

I cannot imagine a parent not responding to the needs of their child.

Documentation, while timely, is clearly black and white and gives creditability when needed.

Yes, it helps remind everyone of what should be done. And eliminates district to district differences

The schools are in a bind if parents refuse to come to meetings. The child should not be made to suffer if this is the case.

Just to ensure that the school does go through all the steps to try to connect with the parent

OH MY!!!! Talk about finding ways NOT to help children. I happen to live in Richmond, Vermont. If I lived in Essex, my child would have been lost in the system. When you give a town an opportunity not to do the right thing, the ones that already try not to, will succeed. The only ones that will be hurt are the children.

I have spoken with two women that both lived in Essex. Both had their children denied help until they were pushed. I wish the tears could be seen by all of you. I was so lucky that I lived in Richmond. They are incredible!

I recently had an IEP meeting for my son which took place a week later than the originally scheduled time(which I consented to). The OT's report should have been ready at LEAST a week prior to the meeting. I did not receive the report until the actual meeting. Parents (and other members of the team) should always have access to reports/recommendations prior to meetings!

It is of the utmost importance that all members of the team be present if there is to be an IEP that encompasses all aspects of needs of the student. Just because the member may have gone over all of his/her information, does NOT mean that they have nothing valuable to contribute to the rest of the meeting! On the contrary, having all team members present has the potential result of everybody "being on the same page", something I have personally seen to be a problem.

I think I understand the question, but not sure. The parents should be able to agree or disagree that a team member is not in attendance at an IEP meeting. All team members should be present if the parent the wants them to participate.

I think that this is a positive effort showing that there is a greater concern for the child despite the absence of the parent(s).

Parental involvement is critical and should require the level of communication and documentation that is already in VT's regs.

Also that a representative of the school make sure that the parent understand what they are consenting to.

The potential arises that schools may say they tried to include a parent. The requirement to document ensures that schools will take necessary steps to include parents. Including parents in education tends to not be part of school culture, in some schools.

I believe that there are occasions when the meetings have taken place and the parents have NOT been invited. Worse yet the team have made the meetings when the parent CANNOT attend.