Why do principals seem to be against IEPs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

My child had an IEP for years. It was a joke. They got nothing and if we hadn't supplemented at home and with private services our kid would have still been struggling.

+1 Those who can afford testing, private providers, advocates, and lawyers receive an IEP. The services still are not being provided though. However, those who don’t have financial means are left with nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are special trainings run by the school attorney associations and school administrators groups where they teach those staff strategies to manage parents so that they avoid enforceable commitments to educating children with disabilities. They learn things like responding to emails with a phone call, suspending kids with disabilities repeatedly as a harassment tactic and also to tell staff it is illegal to say things like dyslexia since they aren’t qualified to diagnose.

IDEA is the only federal law enforced entirely by private citizens aka parents.

If only we spent equivalent energy on universal design for instruction, structured literacy for all, appropriate standards for early childhood to include more fine motor development and social emotional learning. But our curricula are now defined by what can be easily measured on standardized tests, our teachers aren’t prepared to use effective reading instruction and after COVID everyone is burned out.

+1 MCPS has a mindset to avoid IEPs and 504s so students with disabilities constantly struggle to receive FAPE. Despite the propaganda coming from Dr. McKnight, there’s no putting the child first. Parents constantly pay thousands of dollars for private assessments, services, advocates, and lawyers to navigate the IEP and 504 processes.

Education is not equal and education is not free in MCPS. The discrimination is sewn into the culture of the school system when staff are trained how to avoid identifying a child’s needs instead of objectively collaborating with families to educate children with disabilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are special trainings run by the school attorney associations and school administrators groups where they teach those staff strategies to manage parents so that they avoid enforceable commitments to educating children with disabilities. They learn things like responding to emails with a phone call, suspending kids with disabilities repeatedly as a harassment tactic and also to tell staff it is illegal to say things like dyslexia since they aren’t qualified to diagnose.

IDEA is the only federal law enforced entirely by private citizens aka parents.

If only we spent equivalent energy on universal design for instruction, structured literacy for all, appropriate standards for early childhood to include more fine motor development and social emotional learning. But our curricula are now defined by what can be easily measured on standardized tests, our teachers aren’t prepared to use effective reading instruction and after COVID everyone is burned out.

+1 MCPS has a mindset to avoid IEPs and 504s so students with disabilities constantly struggle to receive FAPE. Despite the propaganda coming from Dr. McKnight, there’s no putting the child first. Parents constantly pay thousands of dollars for private assessments, services, advocates, and lawyers to navigate the IEP and 504 processes.

Education is not equal and education is not free in MCPS. The discrimination is sewn into the culture of the school system when staff are trained how to avoid identifying a child’s needs instead of objectively collaborating with families to educate children with disabilities.

This has been going on for many years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

My child had an IEP for years. It was a joke. They got nothing and if we hadn't supplemented at home and with private services our kid would have still been struggling.

+1 Those who can afford testing, private providers, advocates, and lawyers receive an IEP. The services still are not being provided though. However, those who don’t have financial means are left with nothing.

We had no issue getting an iep on paper but it was pretty worthless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

This is such a white supremacy culture outlook on things. That everything is a competition for resources (not to mention defensiveness and power hoarding, etc. etc.)

How interesting of you to assume that the “regular kids” are white. Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are special trainings run by the school attorney associations and school administrators groups where they teach those staff strategies to manage parents so that they avoid enforceable commitments to educating children with disabilities. They learn things like responding to emails with a phone call, suspending kids with disabilities repeatedly as a harassment tactic and also to tell staff it is illegal to say things like dyslexia since they aren’t qualified to diagnose.

IDEA is the only federal law enforced entirely by private citizens aka parents.

If only we spent equivalent energy on universal design for instruction, structured literacy for all, appropriate standards for early childhood to include more fine motor development and social emotional learning. But our curricula are now defined by what can be easily measured on standardized tests, our teachers aren’t prepared to use effective reading instruction and after COVID everyone is burned out.

Cool story. Proof?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are special trainings run by the school attorney associations and school administrators groups where they teach those staff strategies to manage parents so that they avoid enforceable commitments to educating children with disabilities. They learn things like responding to emails with a phone call, suspending kids with disabilities repeatedly as a harassment tactic and also to tell staff it is illegal to say things like dyslexia since they aren’t qualified to diagnose.

IDEA is the only federal law enforced entirely by private citizens aka parents.

If only we spent equivalent energy on universal design for instruction, structured literacy for all, appropriate standards for early childhood to include more fine motor development and social emotional learning. But our curricula are now defined by what can be easily measured on standardized tests, our teachers aren’t prepared to use effective reading instruction and after COVID everyone is burned out.

Cool story. Proof?

This year they were in Sarasota FL and they are worried about the universal dyslexia screening legislation, so you will see lots of inaccurate language describing reading interventions in IEPs designed to minimize risk of due process litigation. Most parents don't know enough to question textbook publishers' descriptions of their products as based on the Science of Reading. Quick Tip- nothing from Lucy Calkins or Fountas & Pinnell is appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Ha, not making any assumptions about the kids. This is about the comment/outlook. Maybe read it?
This is such a white supremacy culture outlook on things. That everything is a competition for resources (not to mention defensiveness and power hoarding, etc. etc.)

How interesting of you to assume that the “regular kids” are white. Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Ha, not making any assumptions about the kids. This is about the comment/outlook. Maybe read it?
This is such a white supremacy culture outlook on things. That everything is a competition for resources (not to mention defensiveness and power hoarding, etc. etc.)

How interesting of you to assume that the “regular kids” are white. Wow.

Ha, not making any assumptions about the kids. This is about the comment/outlook. Maybe read it? Better, look it up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

BS. Tell me the county and I'll give you the truth.

At our school very few kids don't have an IEP these days. Everyone has something like ADD, HDD, anxiety, anchraphobia, you name it.

[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.

Thank you PP! I had a sense this was rampant in our MCPS elementary. Left and went to another public school district and man what a difference in attitudes! Such a rotten corporate culture in MoCo. (BTW: this was in vaunted W cluster).

Thanks to the other PP ago noted IDEA is the only federal law enforced by parents! Preposterous- and really proves the whole system is a farce.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are special trainings run by the school attorney associations and school administrators groups where they teach those staff strategies to manage parents so that they avoid enforceable commitments to educating children with disabilities. They learn things like responding to emails with a phone call, suspending kids with disabilities repeatedly as a harassment tactic and also to tell staff it is illegal to say things like dyslexia since they aren’t qualified to diagnose.

IDEA is the only federal law enforced entirely by private citizens aka parents.

If only we spent equivalent energy on universal design for instruction, structured literacy for all, appropriate standards for early childhood to include more fine motor development and social emotional learning. But our curricula are now defined by what can be easily measured on standardized tests, our teachers aren’t prepared to use effective reading instruction and after COVID everyone is burned out.

Cool story. Proof?

This year they were in Sarasota FL and they are worried about the universal dyslexia screening legislation, so you will see lots of inaccurate language describing reading interventions in IEPs designed to minimize risk of due process litigation. Most parents don't know enough to question textbook publishers' descriptions of their products as based on the Science of Reading. Quick Tip- nothing from Lucy Calkins or Fountas & Pinnell is appropriate.

Is this quick tip based on the latest product offerings since many are now incorporating the Science of Reading??

[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.

Thank you PP! I had a sense this was rampant in our MCPS elementary. Left and went to another public school district and man what a difference in attitudes! Such a rotten corporate culture in MoCo. (BTW: this was in vaunted W cluster).

Thanks to the other PP ago noted IDEA is the only federal law enforced by parents! Preposterous- and really proves the whole system is a farce.

I have a cousin who teaches at a Title I school. This has totally been happening with her this year. They are so short staff that she is being used for non-special ed duties. It’s like the boy trying to plug the holes in the dam with his fingers and toes. She constantly is being used as a substitute so special needs students and students are being short changed for services. I don’t think she personally fudges duty logs though. She is thinking of retiring though because she is burnt out after this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are special trainings run by the school attorney associations and school administrators groups where they teach those staff strategies to manage parents so that they avoid enforceable commitments to educating children with disabilities. They learn things like responding to emails with a phone call, suspending kids with disabilities repeatedly as a harassment tactic and also to tell staff it is illegal to say things like dyslexia since they aren’t qualified to diagnose.

IDEA is the only federal law enforced entirely by private citizens aka parents.

If only we spent equivalent energy on universal design for instruction, structured literacy for all, appropriate standards for early childhood to include more fine motor development and social emotional learning. But our curricula are now defined by what can be easily measured on standardized tests, our teachers aren’t prepared to use effective reading instruction and after COVID everyone is burned out.

Cool story. Proof?

This year they were in Sarasota FL and they are worried about the universal dyslexia screening legislation, so you will see lots of inaccurate language describing reading interventions in IEPs designed to minimize risk of due process litigation. Most parents don't know enough to question textbook publishers' descriptions of their products as based on the Science of Reading. Quick Tip- nothing from Lucy Calkins or Fountas & Pinnell is appropriate.

Is this quick tip based on the latest product offerings since many are now incorporating the Science of Reading??

Yes, it is a money grab by publishers. You have to actually understand the brain science and how to evaluate Scarborough’s reading rope and an appropriate scope and sequence to figure it out. The phonics “patches” are ridiculous. Teacher education is the key. Try joining The Science of Reading- What I Should Have Learned in College to see how teachers are trying to lead this change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s very school/principal/teacher specific. I’ve had 3 kids with IEPs. #1 and #2 were a struggle. My impression was the school had major special ed staffing issues. It was always a struggle. #3 began services through infants and toddlers and transitioned to an IEP in preschool so I didn’t have to fight for him to qualify in K. The school got a new principal soon after and she was much more supportive. Later there was also a new case manager who was simply amazing. #3 still has an IEP in middle school where the 6th grade case manager was stellar and went above and beyond but the document hasn’t been worth the paper it’s written on for 7th and 8th. So I really think it’s staff dependent.

Thanks, OP here. that could be another explanation. Not enough special Ed teachers. But thats where i am confused. Wouldnt more IEPs bring more budget at same time?

More money doesn’t mean more staff. There are just not enough professionals to fill all of these positions. The same problem is happening in private schools.

There are enough people to fill these jobs but they are choosing not to. Nobody cares why.