Back to school, yay!! It has been a rough 18 months for all of us, and a rocky start of the new school year in Montgomery County. But, we made it through the first week. Now it is time to start thinking about IEP meetings. This year, IEP meetings will be very different. All IEP teams are required to meet to discuss whether each individual child had a lack of progress towards goals, or regression. Yes, I said ALL and REQUIRED. If there was a lack of progress or regression, your child is entitled to compensatory education. What does this mean? Your child is entitled to additional services outside of the regular school day. This is not the same as making up services that might have been missed. This is additional services.
I was at a meeting at the end of last school year, and the school tried to say Extended School Year (ESY) is the compensatory education. My clients almost agreed. But, I stopped them. That is not how it works. If a child qualifies for ESY, then the child gets ESY. Your child is still entitled to compensatory services if he/she regressed or failed to make progress towards goals. As a result, the team deferred the compensatory services decision to when the new school year starts so that the school could determine present levels. The team will then be able to come to the table to determine whether there was lack of progress towards goals or regression last school year. And if so, what services will bring the child back to where the child was before the pandemic. I know. What about where the child should have been had appropriate services were provided during the pandemic. Unfortunately, that is not the standard. But, at least we got something.
This is just one example of why having an attorney at a meeting that you think will not be adversarial is important. You don’t know what you don’t know. Had I not been at the meeting, my clients would have agreed and the school would have checked the box that the regression/lack of progress discussion had occurred. Unfortunately, schools do not always know the laws, or follow “policies” that might conflict with the law, or just take advantage of the parents that do not know their rights. Remember, I am here for you if you are unsure of whether what the school is doing is correct. Just call my office to schedule a consultation. In the meantime, here is a video with more examples of why bringing an attorney with you BEFORE things get adversarial is something you might want to consider.
IEP SEASON IS HERE
Back to school, yay!! It has been a rough 18 months for all of us, and a rocky start of the new school year in Montgomery County. But, we made it through the first week. Now it is time to start thinking about IEP meetings. This year, IEP meetings will be very different. All IEP teams are required to meet to discuss whether each individual child had a lack of progress towards goals, or regression. Yes, I said ALL and REQUIRED. If there was a lack of progress or regression, your child is entitled to compensatory education. What does this mean? Your child is entitled to additional services outside of the regular school day. This is not the same as making up services that might have been missed. This is additional services.
I was at a meeting at the end of last school year, and the school tried to say Extended School Year (ESY) is the compensatory education. My clients almost agreed. But, I stopped them. That is not how it works. If a child qualifies for ESY, then the child gets ESY. Your child is still entitled to compensatory services if he/she regressed or failed to make progress towards goals. As a result, the team deferred the compensatory services decision to when the new school year starts so that the school could determine present levels. The team will then be able to come to the table to determine whether there was lack of progress towards goals or regression last school year. And if so, what services will bring the child back to where the child was before the pandemic. I know. What about where the child should have been had appropriate services were provided during the pandemic. Unfortunately, that is not the standard. But, at least we got something.
This is just one example of why having an attorney at a meeting that you think will not be adversarial is important. You don’t know what you don’t know. Had I not been at the meeting, my clients would have agreed and the school would have checked the box that the regression/lack of progress discussion had occurred. Unfortunately, schools do not always know the laws, or follow “policies” that might conflict with the law, or just take advantage of the parents that do not know their rights. Remember, I am here for you if you are unsure of whether what the school is doing is correct. Just call my office to schedule a consultation. In the meantime, here is a video with more examples of why bringing an attorney with you BEFORE things get adversarial is something you might want to consider.
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