Elementary school has only one IEP class per grade

[Anonymous]

We moved to a new school district this year and just learned that the elementary school my son goes to has one class in each grade designated as “the IEP class”. Apparently, the class is about 2/3 kids with IEPs and 1/3 kids without. All the IEP kids will stick together throughout elementary school, with about 6-8 non-IEP kids rotating in and out each year. I am told this is to make it easier to schedule services and support. It just seems weird to do it this way? Does anyone else’s school do this?

[Anonymous]

Many schools do this. All schools are short staffed. Having all the kids together makes it easier to support them.

[Anonymous]

This is normal. Sometimes we have two per grade but if we can make it work with 1 class we do. Just this year we lost funding for one of our sped teachers even though total school caseload didn’t go down.

[Anonymous]

It is awful for some students. I actually had to fight to give up my child’s IEP to get him out if the IEP inclusion class. He has dyslexia and was not really being taught how to read well. The general Ed and special Ed teachers’ and side’s time all got sucked up by behavior and social/emotional problems.

My kid got better services and had a wider choice of friends once he was out of that class. He was in a calmer class and got help from a gen Ed reading teacher.

[Anonymous]

My kid was one of 5 non IEP kids in the IEP class last year and it was a total disaster and waste of a year. The teachers were tied up all day with social and behavioral issues, and the non-IEP kids were basically left to fend for themselves. It got so bad that towards the end of the year they would just play movies for the non-IEP kids every afternoon while the general teacher and special Ed teachers worked with the IEP kids. My kid literally learned nothing, and when I complained all they could do was promise that he wouldn’t get stuck in the same environment for at least the next two years. After that, all bets are off.

[Anonymous]

Our school does smaller clusters. No more than 1/3 of the class is IEPs so there are usually 2-3 of classes per grade that get IEP services.

[Anonymous]

Our school did it and it was terrible for my child. I had to fight with them to keep him out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid was one of 5 non IEP kids in the IEP class last year and it was a total disaster and waste of a year. The teachers were tied up all day with social and behavioral issues, and the non-IEP kids were basically left to fend for themselves. It got so bad that towards the end of the year they would just play movies for the non-IEP kids every afternoon while the general teacher and special Ed teachers worked with the IEP kids. My kid literally learned nothing, and when I complained all they could do was promise that he wouldn’t get stuck in the same environment for at least the next two years. After that, all bets are off.

This is the problem with that setup. It’s easier for the adults, and possibly better for the IEP kids if it allows them to actually get their services/hours. But it sounds terrible for non-IEP kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid was one of 5 non IEP kids in the IEP class last year and it was a total disaster and waste of a year. The teachers were tied up all day with social and behavioral issues, and the non-IEP kids were basically left to fend for themselves. It got so bad that towards the end of the year they would just play movies for the non-IEP kids every afternoon while the general teacher and special Ed teachers worked with the IEP kids. My kid literally learned nothing, and when I complained all they could do was promise that he wouldn’t get stuck in the same environment for at least the next two years. After that, all bets are off.

My DD’s school stopped doing this for the exact same reason. They would always stick a group of bright, highly motivated kids in the IEP room to make it easier on the teachers. The result was that the most driven kids ended up getting zero attention and many fell behind or just lost interest in going to school. It was really sad.

[Anonymous]

This sounds like it would be against least restrictive environment and you could likely fight against it with a threat of legal action. This is not good for the students or the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like it would be against least restrictive environment and you could likely fight against it with a threat of legal action. This is not good for the students or the teacher.

It may not be a great policy but there’s nothing illegal about it. As long as they have a couple non-IEP kids in the room they can bill it as an inclusive setting.

[Anonymous]

Our school did this during covid for virtual school. My daughter has an IEP with pull out services for math and reading, and was in a class with a cluster of kids with IEP, and a cluster of kids that were in the advanced academic pull out program. So between the two groups there were only like 5 kids left in the classroom most of the day, and they seemed to get better instruction. So, I guess it can be beneficial to all if done right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like it would be against least restrictive environment and you could likely fight against it with a threat of legal action. This is not good for the students or the teacher.

We don’t have enough bodies to meet the service minutes if we split them up. So pick your poison I guess. It’s just reality.

[Anonymous]

We're seeing more and more of this because it is a way to technically give kids with IEP their required minutes with less special education staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like it would be against least restrictive environment and you could likely fight against it with a threat of legal action. This is not good for the students or the teacher.

It may not be a great policy but there’s nothing illegal about it. As long as they have a couple non-IEP kids in the room they can bill it as an inclusive setting.

But it’s not. You realize that, right?