I was as surprised as anyone when I learned that a special education teacher, or worse yet, an administrator could provide authorization to hold an Individual Education Plan (IEP) meeting without at least one of the parents in attendance. Unfortunately, this fact is true, but there are things parents can do to prevent this from ever happening to their child.
Where disabled students are concerned, there are two sides to every story and somewhere in between is the truth.
Their side
According the Center for Parent Information and Resources, the school is entitled to hold a meeting without parent participation under certain circumstances. For example, the school needs to prove they have made a reasonable effort to ensure parent participation. Fair enough.
The special education teacher will make an effort to find the parents, yet some teachers might say it is also the parent’s responsibility to communicate. That’s true. Teachers and administrative staff work very hard for the education of all the students. It would not be fair to say teachers just don’t care whether or not the parents attend the meeting. Nevertheless, it is also not fair to the teachers to have to chase parents to gain input for such items as surveys or transition information. The teacher will say the decision to hold the meeting was based on the best interest of the student and the meeting will be held regardless. For an IEP to be legal, there are mandatory timelines that schools must follow. Unfortunately, that means that there will be students who simply will not have parents or guardians present, or who feel the need to be involved in the meeting.
Parents’ side
We work hard at our jobs, our families, and basically, managing life. Sometimes, parents will genuinely not get the notice of the date and time of the meeting. Further, many parents feel that most meetings are held only during the school day. Rarely are meetings held before or after school. Hourly employees, day laborers, corporate managers, or traveling executives will find some of these meeting requests simply impossible. Technology and language barriers play a role in this as well. Not that it is anyone’s fault, it is just the way it is. Of course, there is also the idea that many parents simply don’t understand what the IEP meeting is for and ignore requests–intentionally or not.
The truth
Anything added or changed to the IEP is part of the legal document and the school will enforce the accommodations even if there was no parent participation at the meeting. Do you want the school making educational decisions for your child without your input?
Parents should know that if a school sets a date for an IEP meeting, and it is not convenient or is impossible for either parent to attend, the parent can ask for another date and time. With the onset of the pandemic, Google Meets, Zoom, and phone conference calls became readily available and easily managed. There really is no excuse now for parents not showing up either way.
Under these circumstances, if there are no responses after three attempts to contact the parents or guardians, the school will have no choice but to hold the IEP meeting without family input.
One thing parents can do at the start of the school year, is to send an email (remember everything in writing), and let the special education teacher know they will not approve of an IEP meeting held without their participation. Let them know you want to be at all conferences. If you plan to make your intentions known, then I recommend you make sure you are available when the school needs you to be available.
Keep in mind that raising a special education child is a team effort; but don’t be fooled. Most teachers will make a concerted effort to locate the parents, but others will enforce their authority simply because they can. As heartbreaking as this seems, it is plausible the administrators will ultimately hold the meeting without a family representative. I agree that many students, especially in high school, need the experience of advocating for themselves. However, they also need a representative to bounce ideas off of and help to make future transition plans.
What can you do?
Make sure the school has all current contact information. This should include but not be limited to, street address, home phone, cell phone, office phone, email, or even social media. Parents would be surprised at the amount of people who move or change phone numbers and legitimately forget to notify school personnel. Many times, parents will find IEP invitations in the child’s backpack; even official documents can end up there.
Don’t let it happen to your little one
I have always felt the practice of holding an IEP meeting without a parent representative was no more than a power struggle. Most times it is not; it is a lack of communication on both parts.
Go ahead, get in there and advocate for your child–you know you want to.
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