Teachers, how would you take this?

[Anonymous]

That’s nice they get an hour. Usually our meetings are once a year for 30 minutes and nothing is accomplished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in a student's special education meeting and we were all talking (the school team) with the parents and the mom was sort of sitting through the discussions and contributing while the father was sort of silently sitting there until the very end when the group proposed a plan (with a plan to check on the plan in six weeks) and he said "this all sounds like a great plan, but does Teacher X have everything she needs to actually accomplish what we all spent the past hour discussing? Because it doesn't seem fair to her or everyone's time if we reconvene and the answer is that circumstances prevented certain aspects of the plan (interventions, record keeping, etc) to actually be accomplished in a meaningful way. She has 28 students and this seems like a bit more work for her to take on." It got very weird after he spoke.

I was one of the teachers in the group (not the classroom teacher) and our principal actually took offense. I'm not sure if this makes sense, though. Am I missing something?

Yep, dad probably knows exactly how all of this works - lots of talking about it, ok’ing up with so many ridiculous accommodations, writing 100+ pages of paperwork, but in the reality, it doesn’t happen

[Anonymous]

As a teacher how would I take it?

Like it was mansplaining the problem to me.

Do I say thanks to a dad because pointing out all the inequities of the system I as a teacher have no control over, but am held accountable for and am operating within constantly?

I don’t know but we are all aware the system is broken. I guess the question is what is he going to do about beyond pointing out the issue. And will his advocacy lift up the people in the system or tear his kids team down?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in a student's special education meeting and we were all talking (the school team) with the parents and the mom was sort of sitting through the discussions and contributing while the father was sort of silently sitting there until the very end when the group proposed a plan (with a plan to check on the plan in six weeks) and he said "this all sounds like a great plan, but does Teacher X have everything she needs to actually accomplish what we all spent the past hour discussing? Because it doesn't seem fair to her or everyone's time if we reconvene and the answer is that circumstances prevented certain aspects of the plan (interventions, record keeping, etc) to actually be accomplished in a meaningful way. She has 28 students and this seems like a bit more work for her to take on." It got very weird after he spoke.

I was one of the teachers in the group (not the classroom teacher) and our principal actually took offense. I'm not sure if this makes sense, though. Am I missing something?

Yep, dad probably knows exactly how all of this works - lots of talking about it, ok’ing up with so many ridiculous accommodations, writing 100+ pages of paperwork, but in the reality, it doesn’t happen

+100 Don't we all think this way in IEP meetings? (Perhaps I am just jaded after attending them for my son for going on 12 years now...)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. That dad was advocating for the teacher and his kid at the same time. I’m impressed

I thought the same. Not many people ask if the teachers are ok~ this Dad realizes there is only so much you can do during a day when you have 28 children who need your time. Good for Dad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in a student's special education meeting and we were all talking (the school team) with the parents and the mom was sort of sitting through the discussions and contributing while the father was sort of silently sitting there until the very end when the group proposed a plan (with a plan to check on the plan in six weeks) and he said "this all sounds like a great plan, but does Teacher X have everything she needs to actually accomplish what we all spent the past hour discussing? Because it doesn't seem fair to her or everyone's time if we reconvene and the answer is that circumstances prevented certain aspects of the plan (interventions, record keeping, etc) to actually be accomplished in a meaningful way. She has 28 students and this seems like a bit more work for her to take on." It got very weird after he spoke.

I was one of the teachers in the group (not the classroom teacher) and our principal actually took offense. I'm not sure if this makes sense, though. Am I missing something?

Yep, dad probably knows exactly how all of this works - lots of talking about it, ok’ing up with so many ridiculous accommodations, writing 100+ pages of paperwork, but in the reality, it doesn’t happen

+100 Don't we all think this way in IEP meetings? (Perhaps I am just jaded after attending them for my son for going on 12 years now...)

I actually turned down an IEP for my DC. As an educator I know the system is over loaded. The needs were needs we could handle so we have a 504 and a tutor. We have to as schools and parents start realizing the limitations. There is no magic wand and I didn't want to sit in meetings where this is what I'd be thinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher how would I take it?

Like it was mansplaining the problem to me.

Do I say thanks to a dad because pointing out all the inequities of the system I as a teacher have no control over, but am held accountable for and am operating within constantly?

I don’t know but we are all aware the system is broken. I guess the question is what is he going to do about beyond pointing out the issue. And will his advocacy lift up the people in the system or tear his kids team down?

Why on earth would this be your response? As a teacher myself this is a weirdly adversarial stance to take against a parent trying to help YOU in this case. He knows his voice matters more to admin than yours and is using it.

[Anonymous]

I’m team dad. We want services for our child, but know there are only so many hours in a day. It’s unrealistic to think a teacher alone can do not all. Asking admin for support I think is great. We just had an iep meeting that would greatly change what we have written, but we agreed to everything ahead of time. After 15 minutes we were happy with changed, but we had an hour of the team time booked. I suggested they eat their lunch instead of more time with us- that’s how busy teachers are

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher how would I take it?

Like it was mansplaining the problem to me.

Do I say thanks to a dad because pointing out all the inequities of the system I as a teacher have no control over, but am held accountable for and am operating within constantly?

I don’t know but we are all aware the system is broken. I guess the question is what is he going to do about beyond pointing out the issue. And will his advocacy lift up the people in the system or tear his kids team down?

Most parents have no clue about a teacher’s workload much less the impact that IEPs can have on a teacher’s workload.

Consider posting a new thread with each specific inequity you face, and add some tips on how parents can help you resolve these issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher how would I take it?

Like it was mansplaining the problem to me.

Do I say thanks to a dad because pointing out all the inequities of the system I as a teacher have no control over, but am held accountable for and am operating within constantly?

I don’t know but we are all aware the system is broken. I guess the question is what is he going to do about beyond pointing out the issue. And will his advocacy lift up the people in the system or tear his kids team down?

Why on earth would this be your response? As a teacher myself this is a weirdly adversarial stance to take against a parent trying to help YOU in this case. He knows his voice matters more to admin than yours and is using it.

Ok! I don’t think it was in service to the teacher and watch his next steps as that will prove his intentions.

[Anonymous]

We used to sit in DC's IEP meetings and listen to all the goals and accommodations.
DC is not going to UVA and med school. Is DC happy and treated well? All the rest is BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It also sounds like this family has been burned before. For many families, this is not their first rodeo, and a lot of schools have made getting and implementing IEPs really, really challenging.

+1 these parents have been around the block a few dozen times. The dad was just saying what any reasonable person would think - this is a nice plan but it’s not going to be implemented in any reasonable way, soooooo …

[Anonymous]

Wow, that dad thinks outside of himself and can put himself in the shoes of others. How weird! Let's discuss!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. That dad was advocating for the teacher and his kid at the same time. I’m impressed

Agreed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher how would I take it?

Like it was mansplaining the problem to me.

Do I say thanks to a dad because pointing out all the inequities of the system I as a teacher have no control over, but am held accountable for and am operating within constantly?

I don’t know but we are all aware the system is broken. I guess the question is what is he going to do about beyond pointing out the issue. And will his advocacy lift up the people in the system or tear his kids team down?

Why on earth would this be your response? As a teacher myself this is a weirdly adversarial stance to take against a parent trying to help YOU in this case. He knows his voice matters more to admin than yours and is using it.

Ok! I don’t think it was in service to the teacher and watch his next steps as that will prove his intentions.

What do you mean “prove his intentions?” He’s suggesting the teacher needs support to accomplish the goals of the IEP