Why do principals seem to be against IEPs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Can someone explain the incentives ? In the IEP meeting the one who seemed against an IEP for my child was the principal. She seemed personally irritated by it. In the body language of the teacher I could see she was afraid of saying anything that the principal could interpret as ammunition we parents could use for an IEP. She genuinely seemed scared of saying the truth and was tiptoeing and sharing nervous glances. It was a weird dance to witness. "

The principal could also be kind of paranoid about legal complaints, and may have actually coached the teacher to avoid saying certain things. If so, this would likely be a larger issue at the school, needing to cover up/create fake documentation, etc. In which case it's a school/leadership level issue. My guess is there's a lot nobody knows, maybe past complaints, maybe personal histories, who knows. But, quite unfortunate that a) people feel so defensive/fearful, and b) that kids end up being the ones harmed.

At DC's school the principal had actually been subject to several legal complaints due to IEP compliance so her response to that was just not issuing them. The staff knew it. They were cowards. I'm thinking of one in particular who is a real piece of work. She knew the principal was hurting children and she just let it go. Just a bad person.

Sounds like some kind mafiosa culture, where bad characters get rewarded for harming others and protecting the boss. Yeah, this happens in toxic workplaces, but when the mission is for kids, and people are paid with tax dollars, too, that is just unconscionable.

[Anonymous]

None of the elementary, middle and high schools my son attended were against his IEP. They were Bethesda ES, North Bethesda MS and Walter Johnson HS (he switched cluster to attend the GT/LD program). In his elementary school, the Principal was the one to suggest an IEP in Kindergarten. Every IEP team, and most teachers, have been very supportive.

Generalizing in this way just hurts everyone OP. Stop it.

[Anonymous]

Convinced MCPS redirects spec Ed funds to general education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
None of the elementary, middle and high schools my son attended were against his IEP. They were Bethesda ES, North Bethesda MS and Walter Johnson HS (he switched cluster to attend the GT/LD program). In his elementary school, the Principal was the one to suggest an IEP in Kindergarten. Every IEP team, and most teachers, have been very supportive.

Generalizing in this way just hurts everyone OP. Stop it.

Would be excellent if your son's path at those 3 schools, with his teachers in that program, in that timeframe, generalized to all MCPS!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Convinced MCPS redirects spec Ed funds to general education.

Isn't it a felony to misdirect federal funds or commit fraud in some way with them?

[Anonymous]

Those are three of the best schools for kids with IEPs and all three host programs. No one is saying all principals are awful but there sure are a lot of them. Glad your child had a great experience but stop devaluing everyone else's experiences.

[Anonymous]

If teachers are doing their job, they are already differentiating in the classroom. I'm guessing the Principal would like to believe this and believe that this is possible. Same for Gifted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Convinced MCPS redirects spec Ed funds to general education.

Isn't it a felony to misdirect federal funds or commit fraud in some way with them?

There are a lot of ways to do it. I've seen schools use hours to hire additional SN staff and then not use those staff to help SN children but to fill in with other tasks like act as subs in gen ed classes, serve as recess or lunch monitors for gen ed students. Meanwhile the children who are. supposedly being taught by these staff do not actually get their hours but the hours are logged into the computer system as if they did. It's done pretty openly too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Convinced MCPS redirects spec Ed funds to general education.

Isn't it a felony to misdirect federal funds or commit fraud in some way with them?

There are a lot of ways to do it. I've seen schools use hours to hire additional SN staff and then not use those staff to help SN children but to fill in with other tasks like act as subs in gen ed classes, serve as recess or lunch monitors for gen ed students. Meanwhile the children who are. supposedly being taught by these staff do not actually get their hours but the hours are logged into the computer system as if they did. It's done pretty openly too.

OMG

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Convinced MCPS redirects spec Ed funds to general education.

Isn't it a felony to misdirect federal funds or commit fraud in some way with them?

There are a lot of ways to do it. I've seen schools use hours to hire additional SN staff and then not use those staff to help SN children but to fill in with other tasks like act as subs in gen ed classes, serve as recess or lunch monitors for gen ed students. Meanwhile the children who are. supposedly being taught by these staff do not actually get their hours but the hours are logged into the computer system as if they did. It's done pretty openly too.

OMG

Do people even realize this is not OK? And literally a felony? Is there any kind of oversight or ethics training?!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Convinced MCPS redirects spec Ed funds to general education.

That is illegal and should be able to be tracked. Get help and get on it. Loudoun did it, got caught, and had to replace the money.

[Anonymous]

Because it's a pain in the ass that requires extra work, so not everybody can be accommodated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
None of the elementary, middle and high schools my son attended were against his IEP. They were Bethesda ES, North Bethesda MS and Walter Johnson HS (he switched cluster to attend the GT/LD program). In his elementary school, the Principal was the one to suggest an IEP in Kindergarten. Every IEP team, and most teachers, have been very supportive.

Generalizing in this way just hurts everyone OP. Stop it.

Mmmmm no, i have nothing to stop... I am sharing my experience and when i opened to people around me several had same feeling (2 friends i talked to were in California and kentucky and then 3 others in MCPs). I say "seem" and itruly want to understand if there is an incetive i dont know about.

None of my friends had yet told me "oh yes it was wonderful, the school was proactive, they thought my kid needed it' or "when i asked they were positive and didnt pushback". I hear all of you having great experience and telling me it is actually very school dependent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because it's a pain in the ass that requires extra work, so not everybody can be accommodated.

This is the real reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain the incentives ? In the IEP meeting the one who seemed against an IEP for my child was the principal. She seemed personally irritated by it. In the body language of the teacher I could see she was afraid of saying anything that the principal could interpret as ammunition we parents could use for an IEP. She genuinely seemed scared of saying the truth and was tiptoeing and sharing nervous glances. It was a weird dance to witness.

We did get the IEP for dyslexia (the special Ed teacher was on our side + we were the annoying “rich” parents who came in with external private evaluation). I was expecting having to convince the team but I didn’t expect to feel that level of tension in the room. I could see something else was going on.

So, could teachers or people who know better on this forum explain to me the details ? What is the Budget impact for the school? What happens if they have too many IEPs? Why is it better for principals to limit them ? Do they have a specific % target ? Get penalized if too many?

Explanation I was given was : no it is not a budget issue as IEP come with Moco budget not school budget, but principal cares because the IEP tracking takes work so they want to avoid the burden on Special Ed teacher and classroom teacher if not necessary. That’s the explanation I got from the principal (which is a reasonable explanation but didn’t match the level of tension in the room)

At our school the IEP kids get everything. It's the regular kids that are ignored.