JSD24

PWN doesn't make sense to me. (I'm hoping someone else chimes in.) It might be a way to CYA so the school is 'protected' given they are admitting to not following the IEP. The way I'm reading this is: we thought about following the IEP but we decided not to because we don't have staff to do it. When a school (at least in PA where I live) gets a state complaint & are found out-of-compliance, the state watches them closely which creates more paperwork for them - I think they do this for 6 months. This says 'we know we're not following the IEP' and it might prevent the extra paperwork.

How is this an accommodation of "extra time" if your child has the same due date as their nondisabled classmates? If the teachers are not willing to give extra time on the back end, they can provide it on the front end. They can pre-teach the lesson to your child 3-5 days before they teach it to the class and give them the assignment 3-5 days before the rest of the class gets it. This way your child gets a jump start on the assignment which gives them more time than their classmates even though they all have the same due date. The Social Studies teacher could have the rest of the class have a due date that's 3-4 days before they end the unit and then let your child hand their assignment in the last day of the unit. There are ways to provide your child with the extra time they had in the past that helped them to be successful and still not hand in work after the end of the unit. You just need to think out of the box. I also think you need to speak with the teachers to understand their restriction of the extra time accommodation. It's possible they think having to finish the old unit is too much of a distraction with keeping up with the new unit. If they do 3 units per marking period, you don't want the 1st unit's work finished 3-4 day after where the 2nd unit's work ends up 6-8 days after the unit ends. (Do they know your child's track record where farther into the marking period the lateness doesn't get progressive? They might be judging him based on a student they had in the past who was like this.) It's possible they don't understand the disability and why it's key for your child to be given real extra time where they have time to melt down, get anxious, perseverate where they make no progress and get through the assignment eventually. When you know their backstory, you'll be better prepared to explain why your child needs the past wording.

If the placement the school has decided is appropriate for him has antecedents that trigger behavioral outbursts, my guess is that it is not an appropriate placement. You child is a "is very by the book follow the rules" person and he needs to be in a class where students who break the rules are disciplined. It is not appropriate for him to be in a classroom with students who have uncontrollable tics where he gets called names and cussed at - even if this is a manifestation of a classmate's disability and beyond their control. If they cannot get his classmates to stop calling him names and cussing him out, he needs different classmates. On the flip side, he needs therapy where he doesn't take a manifestation of a classmate's disability personally when he gets called names & cussed out. If they can't provide a different placement, he needs to be taught not to react to this. These are the only 2 options I see in this situation. You might want an FBA to see if you have the data on what's happening correct because if this isn't the trigger, the change you are requesting will not help. (I'm thinking that maybe the classmates cuss when they are given worksheets and it's the worksheets & not the cussing that's the real trigger.)

IDEA doesn't address the issue we have been seeing with schools looking to hire staff to provide services on an IEP where there are no qualified applicants. It's fairly typical that schools don't tell parents when this situation exists - again, no guidance in IDEA saying that schools should be transparent & keep parents in the loop. PWN gets written after an IEP meeting. It's the notice of what was discussed at an IEP meeting prior to implementing the updated IEP. I'm not sure the letter you got was PWN. Did they change the IEP? If they didn't, PWN isn't needed - if they did change the IEP, file a state complaint as it's not allowed without an IEP meeting that parents were invited to. My feeling is that this is a letter telling you they haven't followed the IEP and they owe services to your child - not PWN. https://adayinourshoes.com/iep-prior-written-notice-pwn/

I would write a parent letter of concern and ask that it be copied into the IEP. Make sure that it includes these points: She has nerve damage and cannot feel when her bladder is full. If she wets herself, changing clothes will mean more lost instruction time than a planned cath break - you also have concerns about teasing/bullying. If she is only emptying her bladder 0-1 time at school, she can end up hospitalized and/or with permanent damage to her kidneys. We had similar issues with my child and needed a letter from her doctor saying she needed to be told to use the restroom 3X per day. We worked with the school to make a schedule. Her whole class used the bathroom in the morning. She was told to use it around lunch time. She was sent to the nurse's office to use the bathroom in the afternoon - one of her classmates needed an afternoon snack & they went together. In MS & HS, we found logical breaks - when her classes were near the nurse's office. She eventually learned to go at prescribed times - I know she went at lunch & again before 8th period when they did a pm announcements. Her 8th period teacher started class when she got there.

School attendance laws vary a lot from state to state. I would see if this is OK per you state's laws. I'm in PA and I know the school nurse can excuse an absence if a student is sick. If they do end up suspending your child, I would want Monday to count toward the suspension. I would ask the school to document what they said during the call since a phone call isn't tangible proof the school said for him to stay home & the absence will be excused. This can be done with an email: Dear School- I'm looking to confirm the call from (school administrator) that I received on Tuesday requesting that I keep my son, XX, home on Monday, 11/27, so the school can investigate a fight of some sort that happened on Tuesday. I was told this will an excused absence but I thought that could only happen for medical reasons. I don't want keeping him home like (school administrator) requested to turn into a truancy issue since I only have a call as proof that the absence will be excused. If I have understood things correctly, there is no need to reply to this email. Thank you, There is a saying in schools: If it's not in writing, it didn't happen. This email puts things into writing.

Students who are post secondary - high school and middle school are secondary level so this is college level - do not get IEPs. In college, they expect students to self-advocate. This would include students who are 14. I'm confused with you saying your child is a high school freshman. I believe you meant to say your child is a freshman secondary school student and is transition age. Assuming that your child is 14 & in HS, I would include in any email that you will be following up in 6 school days if you do not receive a reply to your email. This sets an expectation that the school will be replying in a week which I feel is a reasonable time to respond. There are no timelines that I'm aware of with how long schools have to get back to parents. What I've seen is 'a reasonable period of time'. This tends to be defined by case law. (PA defines it as 10 calendar days; OH might be different.) I can see the school saying they got your email & will get back to you once they look into what you said where they reply in 6 days but not w/ an answer to your questions. (I've also seen in my district where email was delayed & received by a teacher months later where a timely reply wasn't possible. This teacher is a friend. She was frustrated that she got an email months after it was sent.) Not sure about saying to 'reply immediately so I know you got this in the email'. The way things work (I'm in PA, so giving their rules) is that the IEP that includes the 14th birthday is when students must be invited. In looking at the Ohio Invitation form (it's on this page: https://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Special-Education/Federal-and-State-Requirements/Ohio-Required-and-Optional-Forms-Updated) it does show the student being invited. I'm not sure if the invite was handed to your child on paper or emailed to their school email address but it is possible they got it and didn't read it. (I have an issue with Ohio Dept of Ed using Word for these forms as it requires you to pay for Word to have access.) If your transition age HS child was not invited to their IEP meeting (double check it wasn't emailed or they lost the envelope it was in), filing a state complaint is a better solution than telling the school they messed up. I've also seen where schools don't do well when an email covers more than one topic. They tend not to address everything when this happens. I'd number your questions so the person reading the email knows that it covers a few topics. For non-compliance with the IEP/not following it, filing a state complaint is a good solution if working with the school district isn't working for you.

Gebser letter with bullying from school staff.

IMO, coaching the parent ahead of time can mean you can sit back & watch the parent advocate. You can offer a reminder here & there and let the parent do the speaking - or at least most of it. Maybe, when the parent feels they can't advocate, they can turn to you and ask you to 'please cover this - you know how to say this better than I can' where you pinch hit when they request. I also like what Carolyn said: "thank you for your suggestion, but we will still be bringing our advocate as the IDEA allows parents to bring whoever they want to the IEP meeting."

Fidgety is a behavior. You want data on the behavior. What's the antecedent? An FBA is what's needed to get this data. He misses access to his education when he's sent out of the classroom so this should be kept to a minimum. Does he need a fidget? A weighted blanket? (OT can work with him on how to fidget less - especially if it's sensory.) Has a sensory eval been done? Schools follow their evals & consider outside evals. IMO, the school need to do more evals because 'all areas of suspected disability' weren't assessed. My feeling is his education isn't FAPE with the lack of classroom accommodations for fidgeting.

Where do you get data to show there is an EF issue? I thought the BRIEF was normed and provided that data. And I do agree that schools aren't great at teaching EF. I started watching the video: https://www.facebook.com/ADayInOurShoesIEP/videos/1034056741123429 and didn't finish it.

If a student gets expelled, it's still on the public school to provide an education. Not sure how long it should take to get transportation set up to get him to the new school. (If his IEP wasn't FAPE, it might not have had enough support to prevent this from happening. This is where an attorney can help.) It might be the public school who is causing the delay in the start date as they are the ones who might need to transport.

The way this was explained to me was using the word sponsored. My school has an activity fee. If you need to pay that fee, this is sponsored by the school & they need to provide an aide/support similar to during the school day. (My friend's daughter is diabetic so the school needed a nurse to be there with her activities.) There were also clubs that didn't need a fee & this was also where the school had to provide support. If the PTO/PTA/HSA had an event, this wasn't school sponsored. And the scouts rented space in the school - this also wasn't sponsored. Things like the sports teams & cheerleaders, the school band or school musicals & plays would be school sponsored. The Dear Colleague letter (https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201301-504.pdf) has a lot of details and starts out explaining the importance of extracurricular activities to all students. I'd start by reading though this & the other info in Lisa's link ^^. If the school pays a stipend for a teacher to be there when a group meets, you can take this as being something that is endorsed by the school. My district spells out who the teachers are, what they are paid & what things they oversee in their school board meeting minutes. You can probably get a list for your district to see if something is 'endorsed' through a Right to Know request if it's not publicly available - if you are looking to see if an activity is endorsed by the school.

There are schools where the accommodation is worded: Testing can happen in the resource room when requested by the student. Or: Extra time for testing and assignments when requested by the student before testing starts or when the assignment is given. If a student doesn't have the skills to self-advocate in a timely manner, the accommodation isn't going to help. I think this is what the OP is saying happened. 9 seems really young - even for a gifted student - to be able to do this. Self-advocacy can be an IEP goal but GIEPs are strength-based so maybe this student needs an IEP.

When I took advocacy training, my mentor told us that it's OK to write on the school's paperwork. I'd request a 504 meeting. Have the school write up the accommodations however they want. If the student has to advocate to be able to use the accommodation, you can ask the school for data that shows they have the skills to do this in an appropriate manner. If they won't budge on their wording, take the 504 to review at home & so you can go over it with your child/spouse - come up with a reason to bring it home to look over. Scan in a copy. Now, write on the 504 and fix what you you feel needs to be fixed. Sign this copy - make a copy for your records and send the signed copy back to the school. In theory, they should initial the changes and then you have a finalized 504 that works for your child. You might have a case against the school for failing to accommodate a disabled student with how things were handled which violates their civil rights. You could file a complaint with OCR but this might get you on the school's naughty list going forward.

Under McKinney-Vento, she should stay in her old school so she's not experiencing more changes than necessary with being homeless. There shouldn't be an analysis of her being in a stable home. IMO, the principal was wrong to withdraw her at a time when she was vulnerable with being homeless. My suggestion is to go to the disability right group in your state or the ACLU to help with getting her back in the school she's familiar with and has peer support. You can also see if your state rep or senator can help. This is a federal law so I'm thinking to legislators who work in DC are the ones to help but I'm not sure about this.

I remember being in a meeting with my Pupil Services Director. She said the school needs to meet the student's needs and if they don't have a program that does this, they need to create one. What data do you have to show he only learns in a 1:1 group? We have a private school in my area that's all done 1:1 - Fusion Academy. They have a few campuses. Goes to show he's not alone with needing 1:1 school. I've seen public schools pay for students to go there.

So the ED box is checked and there are no ED services or goals. If there are ED needs, there should be ED services & goals. If the IEP shows a student has a needed, the IEP should address that need. What testing did the school do for EF? My school does the BRIEF. Also, ED can prevent a person from being able to EF well because working memory is working on ED things and not EF things. They can accommodate the ED & EF by prompting to turn in homework if they are not remediating it.

Are you in PA (GIEPs are a PA thing - I'm in PA - my child had a 504 & GIEP)? When my child had a 504, I never signed it. Parents are not required members of the 504 team. A signature isn't needed. It is best pract to review the 504 annually so it can be tweaked as the student grows and school demands change. It might be school policy to get parents to sign off on a 504 and to discontinue it if the parent doesn't OK it by signing. You can request a 504 meeting at any time. Sounds like a meeting is needed to put support back in place.

IEPs should be individualized to the disabled student. If the disabled student is being distracting with using a fidget, they can be taught to use it in a way that's not distracting. If they don't learn to do this, I can see access to this fidget being limited. My daughter's school had a universal ban on water bottles (this was pre-pandemic, now they are allowed because there are no water fountains in the school). Because she had a need and it was in her IEP, she was allowed to have one with her. It didn't matter that other kids put vodka into their water bottle in the past. I would request that the specific fidget your child gets comfort/stimulation from be mentioned in the IEP & then you can ask that the IEP gets followed. Telling a student that they can't have a fidget due to their disability because a gen ed student abused the use of the same sort of thing doesn't follow IDEA. Diabetic students need access to sweets even if another child made a mess with candy in the classroom. You need to meet the need of the disabled student - not their classmates. I would see how the alt fidget goes. If it works, great. If not, they need to find something that meets the student's needs like the banned fidget does.

I've run into this. In order to do teletherapy or telemed, the provider has to be certified in the state the patient is in. I've seen it with ADHD meds and a student going out of state to college. Also happened during the pandemic with kids staying in another state with grandparents while the parents, who are essential workers, went to work. The therapist wasn't certified to work in the other state so they couldn't provide services. In theory, the teachers are certified in your state and shouldn't be teaching kids in other states either. I have a feeling that some parents get around this by not mentioning that they aren't home. I know when it comes to home/hospital education, the LEA is the district the hospital is in. The only exception I know is McKinney-Vento which covers homeless students who might be staying outside of the district where the familiar district provides bussing to the old school so they have some continuity and this doesn't apply to traveling. I know some virtual school cater to actors and athletes who might be out of state for work/competitions. Not sure how they get around the teacher not being certified in the state they are in.

If an IHP is attached to an IEP, you might need the whole IEP team to make changes to it. I hate IHPs. There is no agency to oversee that they are followed. Is there a way to put some of the accommodations in the IHP into the IEP? You could write a parent letter of concern that you didn't get a copy of the IHP to review. You can also mention that your concern is the IHP not being followed since it doesn't seem to be as accessible as the IEP. Sending a PWN with a draft IEP sounds like predetermination...

There was a stretch of time that schools in my area weren't sending parents finalized IEPs. I think attorneys got involved & that changed. I know my district sends most things via email. Did they email it as an attachment? Did it go to Spam? Was it too big for your email box?

There should be an IEP meeting with all required members where placement gets discussed. The PWN to change the placement should be issued soon after the IEP meeting. I think an email is in order. Dear sp ed teacher- We met on October 20 and discussed changing XX's placement to 2 days of ABA & 3 days of Pre-K. I have yet to see the IEP & PWN reflecting these changes. Please send me a copy of the IEP ASAP. Thanks.

District of residence is based on where a student sleeps. If they are sleeping at a RTF or hospital, the district the RTF or hospital is in is the LEA. When they sleep at home, the district you pay taxes to is the LEA. (I've not seen this written but I used to meet regularly w/ my Pupil Services Director. We have a RTF in my district & she explained how things work.) Not a red flag bad vibe in my eyes because I've seen it before. (Most districts have policies where a student can live/sleep in a district their parents don't live in and they can go to the other district's schools. It's also how foreign exchange students get to go to US schools. If you sleep in the district, you can go to school there.) Not sure if this applies but a students needs to be available for evals. 'In the hospital' is not available.