Are IEP meetings still being held virtually?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Yes, I would like the option of virtual as well but I prefer in person at least for my son’s IEP meeting. I find that in a virtual meeting, people are easily distracted and I saw that the PT/OT was doing other things as soon as her part was done. I can’t imagine that happening in person. I wholeheartedly agree that virtual is easier for parents who can’t get away or who have childcare issues. In my case, we have no problem taking time off from work to do this. I’m just surprised I was told that IEP meetings are still virtual and an in-person option was not presented. Our IEP meeting would be in early April.

He among us who has not done something else in a meeting when our part is over throw the first stone

OP here. Sure I have done other things during routine staff meeting but this is IEP which is only held once a year. You would think staff can stay a little more engaged. I’m not against virtual meetings, I’m just would like the option.

[Anonymous]

If the IEP meeting was for your child, would you want staff engaged and participating? Staff have a job to do. It’s completely unprofessional and disrespectful for the child for staff to be doing other things during an IEP meeting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These meetings are during school hours. Very few staff members are mandated attendees. Those employees should have ample coverage for their attendance responsibilities. Meetings typically are scheduled two weeks to four weeks in advance so there’s time for their duties to be covered or another person assigned to the meeting. It’s unacceptable not to give the student the attention that these meetings require and is definitely not a reason to mandate that they stay virtual.

Sounds like virtual allows for school staff to do other things during the meeting than be full participants in the meeting.

In a perfect world yes it is possible to get coverage for IEP meetings in reality you might have scheduled a para to cover the class and then somebody else calls out sick and then there's no sub and the para gets pulled to do that and then there's a whole cascade of people being shifted around to do extra things they weren't supposed to do. It's been an extremely difficult year to find subs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These meetings are during school hours. Very few staff members are mandated attendees. Those employees should have ample coverage for their attendance responsibilities. Meetings typically are scheduled two weeks to four weeks in advance so there’s time for their duties to be covered or another person assigned to the meeting. It’s unacceptable not to give the student the attention that these meetings require and is definitely not a reason to mandate that they stay virtual.

Sounds like virtual allows for school staff to do other things during the meeting than be full participants in the meeting.

In a perfect world yes it is possible to get coverage for IEP meetings in reality you might have scheduled a para to cover the class and then somebody else calls out sick and then there's no sub and the para gets pulled to do that and then there's a whole cascade of people being shifted around to do extra things they weren't supposed to do. It's been an extremely difficult year to find subs

Then schedule IEP meetings after school. Staff meetings are typically after school so why not IEP meetings? Or schedule on the many half days or professional days? The lack of coverage is a school problem. Find a solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These meetings are during school hours. Very few staff members are mandated attendees. Those employees should have ample coverage for their attendance responsibilities. Meetings typically are scheduled two weeks to four weeks in advance so there’s time for their duties to be covered or another person assigned to the meeting. It’s unacceptable not to give the student the attention that these meetings require and is definitely not a reason to mandate that they stay virtual.

Sounds like virtual allows for school staff to do other things during the meeting than be full participants in the meeting.

In a perfect world yes it is possible to get coverage for IEP meetings in reality you might have scheduled a para to cover the class and then somebody else calls out sick and then there's no sub and the para gets pulled to do that and then there's a whole cascade of people being shifted around to do extra things they weren't supposed to do. It's been an extremely difficult year to find subs

Then schedule IEP meetings after school. Staff meetings are typically after school so why not IEP meetings? Or schedule on the many half days or professional days? The lack of coverage is a school problem. Find a solution.

I believe that teachers are only contracted for specific school hours. I'm guessing that many of them have kids of their own and need to leave after their contract hours are over. The problem with half days is that IEPs need to be reviewed annually. Students have all different IEP annual review dates. It would be impossible to conduct all of the meetings on a half day. The reason it takes so long to schedule an IEP meeting is that most schools have designated days for IEP meetings. There are many moving parts and various parties that have to participate including psychologists, speech, OT, PT etc., most of them are only in the school on specific days. Without this type of system, can you imagine how often teachers and related service providers would be pulled from the classroom to attend meetings? Their primary job is to teach or provide services. I can't imagine anyone wanting their child to miss out on instruction or OT or PT services due to a meeting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These meetings are during school hours. Very few staff members are mandated attendees. Those employees should have ample coverage for their attendance responsibilities. Meetings typically are scheduled two weeks to four weeks in advance so there’s time for their duties to be covered or another person assigned to the meeting. It’s unacceptable not to give the student the attention that these meetings require and is definitely not a reason to mandate that they stay virtual.

Sounds like virtual allows for school staff to do other things during the meeting than be full participants in the meeting.

In a perfect world yes it is possible to get coverage for IEP meetings in reality you might have scheduled a para to cover the class and then somebody else calls out sick and then there's no sub and the para gets pulled to do that and then there's a whole cascade of people being shifted around to do extra things they weren't supposed to do. It's been an extremely difficult year to find subs

Then schedule IEP meetings after school. Staff meetings are typically after school so why not IEP meetings? Or schedule on the many half days or professional days? The lack of coverage is a school problem. Find a solution.

I can appreciate your "find a solution" approach, but I don't think you realize quite how many of these meetings occur in a given school, on a given day. Speaking only from my experience in elementary, there is one day a week devoted to these meetings, and it fills up. Sometimes staff have to be double-booked, or meetings on different days when some staff aren't available (some psychologists are assigned to a different school each day for this purpose--you can't just say, well Wednesday is full, let's do it Thursday, because on Thursday, that staff member has a full slate at another school.) Another reason virtual meetings provide equity. Those staff would need a shorter break in their already packed schedule, and could join virtually as soon as another meeting ends, versus needing to find a block of time long enough for travel.

All participants should be full engaged in the meeting when they are attending. But let's not pretend the occupational therapist needs to know about the student's math progress.

[Anonymous]

What is the big deal if some is driving? I do that all the time for work meetings while I am shuttling my kids around.
School staff are usually juggling a million different things. Your expectations are unrealistic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These meetings are during school hours. Very few staff members are mandated attendees. Those employees should have ample coverage for their attendance responsibilities. Meetings typically are scheduled two weeks to four weeks in advance so there’s time for their duties to be covered or another person assigned to the meeting. It’s unacceptable not to give the student the attention that these meetings require and is definitely not a reason to mandate that they stay virtual.

Sounds like virtual allows for school staff to do other things during the meeting than be full participants in the meeting.

In a perfect world yes it is possible to get coverage for IEP meetings in reality you might have scheduled a para to cover the class and then somebody else calls out sick and then there's no sub and the para gets pulled to do that and then there's a whole cascade of people being shifted around to do extra things they weren't supposed to do. It's been an extremely difficult year to find subs

Then schedule IEP meetings after school. Staff meetings are typically after school so why not IEP meetings? Or schedule on the many half days or professional days? The lack of coverage is a school problem. Find a solution.

I can appreciate your "find a solution" approach, but I don't think you realize quite how many of these meetings occur in a given school, on a given day. Speaking only from my experience in elementary, there is one day a week devoted to these meetings, and it fills up. Sometimes staff have to be double-booked, or meetings on different days when some staff aren't available (some psychologists are assigned to a different school each day for this purpose--you can't just say, well Wednesday is full, let's do it Thursday, because on Thursday, that staff member has a full slate at another school.) Another reason virtual meetings provide equity. Those staff would need a shorter break in their already packed schedule, and could join virtually as soon as another meeting ends, versus needing to find a block of time long enough for travel.

All participants should be full engaged in the meeting when they are attending. But let's not pretend the occupational therapist needs to know about the student's math progress.

An occupational therapist is not listed in the IDEA and therefore does not have to attend the meeting, let alone the entire meeting. However, a general education teacher of the student is listed in the IDEA and therefore the general education teacher is required to stay for the IEP meeting and cannot be dismissed unless the parent and teacher agree.

It’s surprising how many people in MCPS do not know the requirements listed in the IDEA.

[Anonymous]

Don’t teachers have team meetings after school? Their duty day doesn’t end when the dismissal bell rings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These meetings are during school hours. Very few staff members are mandated attendees. Those employees should have ample coverage for their attendance responsibilities. Meetings typically are scheduled two weeks to four weeks in advance so there’s time for their duties to be covered or another person assigned to the meeting. It’s unacceptable not to give the student the attention that these meetings require and is definitely not a reason to mandate that they stay virtual.

Sounds like virtual allows for school staff to do other things during the meeting than be full participants in the meeting.

In a perfect world yes it is possible to get coverage for IEP meetings in reality you might have scheduled a para to cover the class and then somebody else calls out sick and then there's no sub and the para gets pulled to do that and then there's a whole cascade of people being shifted around to do extra things they weren't supposed to do. It's been an extremely difficult year to find subs

Then schedule IEP meetings after school. Staff meetings are typically after school so why not IEP meetings? Or schedule on the many half days or professional days? The lack of coverage is a school problem. Find a solution.

I can appreciate your "find a solution" approach, but I don't think you realize quite how many of these meetings occur in a given school, on a given day. Speaking only from my experience in elementary, there is one day a week devoted to these meetings, and it fills up. Sometimes staff have to be double-booked, or meetings on different days when some staff aren't available (some psychologists are assigned to a different school each day for this purpose--you can't just say, well Wednesday is full, let's do it Thursday, because on Thursday, that staff member has a full slate at another school.) Another reason virtual meetings provide equity. Those staff would need a shorter break in their already packed schedule, and could join virtually as soon as another meeting ends, versus needing to find a block of time long enough for travel.

All participants should be full engaged in the meeting when they are attending. But let's not pretend the occupational therapist needs to know about the student's math progress.

An occupational therapist is not listed in the IDEA and therefore does not have to attend the meeting, let alone the entire meeting. However, a general education teacher of the student is listed in the IDEA and therefore the general education teacher is required to stay for the IEP meeting and cannot be dismissed unless the parent and teacher agree.

It’s surprising how many people in MCPS do not know the requirements listed in the IDEA.

So the class gets stuck with a substitute while the teacher attends an hour + meeting for one child? How does that make sense? At the high school level, some teachers have 20-30 kids with IEPS. There has to be a balance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These meetings are during school hours. Very few staff members are mandated attendees. Those employees should have ample coverage for their attendance responsibilities. Meetings typically are scheduled two weeks to four weeks in advance so there’s time for their duties to be covered or another person assigned to the meeting. It’s unacceptable not to give the student the attention that these meetings require and is definitely not a reason to mandate that they stay virtual.

Sounds like virtual allows for school staff to do other things during the meeting than be full participants in the meeting.

In a perfect world yes it is possible to get coverage for IEP meetings in reality you might have scheduled a para to cover the class and then somebody else calls out sick and then there's no sub and the para gets pulled to do that and then there's a whole cascade of people being shifted around to do extra things they weren't supposed to do. It's been an extremely difficult year to find subs

Then schedule IEP meetings after school. Staff meetings are typically after school so why not IEP meetings? Or schedule on the many half days or professional days? The lack of coverage is a school problem. Find a solution.

I can appreciate your "find a solution" approach, but I don't think you realize quite how many of these meetings occur in a given school, on a given day. Speaking only from my experience in elementary, there is one day a week devoted to these meetings, and it fills up. Sometimes staff have to be double-booked, or meetings on different days when some staff aren't available (some psychologists are assigned to a different school each day for this purpose--you can't just say, well Wednesday is full, let's do it Thursday, because on Thursday, that staff member has a full slate at another school.) Another reason virtual meetings provide equity. Those staff would need a shorter break in their already packed schedule, and could join virtually as soon as another meeting ends, versus needing to find a block of time long enough for travel.

All participants should be full engaged in the meeting when they are attending. But let's not pretend the occupational therapist needs to know about the student's math progress.

An occupational therapist is not listed in the IDEA and therefore does not have to attend the meeting, let alone the entire meeting. However, a general education teacher of the student is listed in the IDEA and therefore the general education teacher is required to stay for the IEP meeting and cannot be dismissed unless the parent and teacher agree.

It’s surprising how many people in MCPS do not know the requirements listed in the IDEA.

So the class gets stuck with a substitute while the teacher attends an hour + meeting for one child? How does that make sense? At the high school level, some teachers have 20-30 kids with IEPS. There has to be a balance.

Students with IEPs have general education teachers and special education teachers. I assume by your post you are referring to a middle school or high school general education teacher because an elementary general education teacher would have 20 to 30 students in total - not just students with IEPs.

For middle and high school children, the students have seven classes. That’s seven teachers for the school team to choose from for an IEP meeting. Teachers attend a small fraction of the IEP meetings for their students with IEPs.

For the 45 minutes one class has a substitute, think about what the alternative would be for a disabled child. A whole educational experience without a Free Appropriate Public Education. The school system accepts millions of dollars from the Federal Government. In return for Federal funding, laws such as the IDEA and Section 504 are expected to be followed and can be enforced. These laws were written specifically to prevent discrimination on the basis of a child’s disability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the big deal if some is driving? I do that all the time for work meetings while I am shuttling my kids around.
School staff are usually juggling a million different things. Your expectations are unrealistic

So is this a MCPS rationale as to why staff want to keep IEP meetings virtual in perpetuity??? Staff want to be free to do other things - grade papers, text, have side bar conversations, and drive - while checking off a legal requirement to hold an IEP meeting for a child.

Do you have the same expectations as to when a teacher is supposed to be teaching a class? They can be driving a car and teaching at the same time?

In my line of work, doing other tasks during an office meeting would be considered rude and unprofessional. If we are meeting with a client, 100% cause for being terminated. It sends a clear message that you do not value their time and the purpose of the conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the big deal if some is driving? I do that all the time for work meetings while I am shuttling my kids around.
School staff are usually juggling a million different things. Your expectations are unrealistic

So is this a MCPS rationale as to why staff want to keep IEP meetings virtual in perpetuity??? Staff want to be free to do other things - grade papers, text, have side bar conversations, and drive - while checking off a legal requirement to hold an IEP meeting for a child.

Do you have the same expectations as to when a teacher is supposed to be teaching a class? They can be driving a car and teaching at the same time?

In my line of work, doing other tasks during an office meeting would be considered rude and unprofessional. If we are meeting with a client, 100% cause for being terminated. It sends a clear message that you do not value their time and the purpose of the conversation.

A teacher driving and teaching at the same time is a dumb analogy and you know it.
I’m sorry but most people who work are doing multiple things while on a zoom meeting.
That’s just how it is. It isn’t ideal but people are often overloaded and trying to manage as best they can.
Do you advocate for more school staff? Because that is what schools probably need to be able to get everything done with fidelity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the big deal if some is driving? I do that all the time for work meetings while I am shuttling my kids around.
School staff are usually juggling a million different things. Your expectations are unrealistic

So is this a MCPS rationale as to why staff want to keep IEP meetings virtual in perpetuity??? Staff want to be free to do other things - grade papers, text, have side bar conversations, and drive - while checking off a legal requirement to hold an IEP meeting for a child.

Do you have the same expectations as to when a teacher is supposed to be teaching a class? They can be driving a car and teaching at the same time?

In my line of work, doing other tasks during an office meeting would be considered rude and unprofessional. If we are meeting with a client, 100% cause for being terminated. It sends a clear message that you do not value their time and the purpose of the conversation.

A teacher driving and teaching at the same time is a dumb analogy and you know it.
I’m sorry but most people who work are doing multiple things while on a zoom meeting.
That’s just how it is. It isn’t ideal but people are often overloaded and trying to manage as best they can.
Do you advocate for more school staff? Because that is what schools probably need to be able to get everything done with fidelity

Case in point, people do all sorts of things in Zoom meetings that they don’t do during in person meetings. Children with disabilities deserve the full attention of all members of IEP and 504 teams. Meetings where all members are present in person should resume. That should be the standard. Let parents opt in virtually if they want.

[Anonymous]

IEP meetings are usually scheduled for a teacher's planning/meeting time. Or are in schools with competent leadership.