Title 1 School: teacher not certified? (PA)

[Mandypenn76]

We just received a letter that our son's ELA teacher is not state certified. They sent out a "4-Week Consecutive Letter" earlier in the year without specifying which teacher at the school, but now it was listed as his ELA teacher. He had the same teacher last year (no letter). Is this OK, especially with an IEP (this is not being upheld, by numerous teacher, including this one)?

What questions do I need to ask? 

[Carolyn Rowlett]

I would call the Pennsylvania Department of Education and ask if this is ok.  Many requirements for teachers have been modified to address the staffing shortage.

But regardless if this is ok or not, the IEP MUST be followed.  There is no excuse for not doing this.  I would first go over all the accommodations with your son to see which ones are being followed (and if not being followed, does he still need them?).  Then I would gather information as to how this failure to follow the IEP is affecting your son in the educational environment - is he getting low grades? is he struggling to turn in assignments, keep up with homework, etc.? is he frustrated or does he "hate" school? are his standardized test scores going down?  Then request an IEP meeting (ask that every teacher attend, but you probably won't get that) and ask how accommodations are being implemented and outline the struggles he is having based on not following the IEP.  For teachers who are not at the meeting, ask them in an email or phone call or informal meeting (during the latter two taking meticulous notes and following up with an email as to what was said).

If you continue to have issues with implementation of the IEP, contact the director of special education.  Next step would be filing a state complaint.