Local Area Screening within 10 business days?

[Anonymous]

What happens when a school doesn’t give you your meeting within 10 business days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happens when a school doesn’t give you your meeting within 10 business days?

I'm assuming you are talking about a local screening for an IEP? Not sure what school district you are in -- 10 business days seems pretty short and I'm unaware of a jurisdiction that has that short a requirement. In MCPS an initial screening must be scheduled to occur within 30 days. It can be delayed if the parent is absent. The school really shouldn't delay it without the parent's consent for any reason.

Under the law, no school should be refusing the initial screening meeting. After the initial screening meeting, the team could decide that there is no "reasonable suspicion of disability" and not continue the process.

Can you give more details on what happened? The specific facts matter.

Generally, if the school didn't give a meeting within the required timeline, you could file a state complaint, file a complaint within the school district, you could simply complain to special ed superiors outside the school or you could hire an attorney and sue or threaten to sue. Personally, I have gotten good mileage out of writing a letter to special ed supervisors focusing on the factual situation and alleging that the school team is "out of compliance" with the law and asking for a reasonable remedy (i.e. the one I want and think I'm legally entitled to).

[Anonymous]

Local screening for accommodations which I never even asked for. They have been trying to prevent me from asking about any accommodations all year.

And as I start to get close to asking, the principal said I asked two weeks ago and the rule is within 10 business days in fairfax county so we have to meet in early February which is outside of that 10 days.

I’m so confused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Local screening for accommodations which I never even asked for. They have been trying to prevent me from asking about any accommodations all year.

And as I start to get close to asking, the principal said I asked two weeks ago and the rule is within 10 business days in fairfax county so we have to meet in early February which is outside of that 10 days.

I’m so confused.

I am confused - do you want accommodations or not? If you want them are you asking for a 504 plan or an IEP? The former provides accommodations only. The latter provides accommodations and special instruction?

What is your DC's disability (or what are the school's concerns that they want to provide accommodations?)

How are they preventing you from asking about accommodations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Local screening for accommodations which I never even asked for. They have been trying to prevent me from asking about any accommodations all year.

And as I start to get close to asking, the principal said I asked two weeks ago and the rule is within 10 business days in fairfax county so we have to meet in early February which is outside of that 10 days.

I’m so confused.

This post is very confusing, OP. Can you please clarify by answering the following question:

Does your child currently have an IEP? Yes or no

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Local screening for accommodations which I never even asked for. They have been trying to prevent me from asking about any accommodations all year.

And as I start to get close to asking, the principal said I asked two weeks ago and the rule is within 10 business days in fairfax county so we have to meet in early February which is outside of that 10 days.

I’m so confused.

This post is very confusing, OP. Can you please clarify by answering the following question:

Does your child currently have an IEP? Yes or no

no iep. We are trying to gather information for one. Waiting on the school to submit paperwork to pediatrician is as far as I’ve gotten in the process. Hopefully I can atleast get a diagnosis from the pediatrician before the meeting

And dam right we need a 504 and probably an IEP. I am just in the blind as far as what the school is trying to do

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Local screening for accommodations which I never even asked for. They have been trying to prevent me from asking about any accommodations all year.

And as I start to get close to asking, the principal said I asked two weeks ago and the rule is within 10 business days in fairfax county so we have to meet in early February which is outside of that 10 days.

I’m so confused.

I am confused - do you want accommodations or not? If you want them are you asking for a 504 plan or an IEP? The former provides accommodations only. The latter provides accommodations and special instruction?

What is your DC's disability (or what are the school's concerns that they want to provide accommodations?)

How are they preventing you from asking about accommodations?

they haven’t prevented me from asking for anything. But they are resistant to providing anything that can be used as evidence to support my child’s need for accommodations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Local screening for accommodations which I never even asked for. They have been trying to prevent me from asking about any accommodations all year.

And as I start to get close to asking, the principal said I asked two weeks ago and the rule is within 10 business days in fairfax county so we have to meet in early February which is outside of that 10 days.

I’m so confused.

This post is very confusing, OP. Can you please clarify by answering the following question:

Does your child currently have an IEP? Yes or no

no iep. We are trying to gather information for one. Waiting on the school to submit paperwork to pediatrician is as far as I’ve gotten in the process. Hopefully I can atleast get a diagnosis from the pediatrician before the meeting

And dam right we need a 504 and probably an IEP. I am just in the blind as far as what the school is trying to do

Okay. Next question: Have you had a meeting with the school to discuss whether or not to pursue testing your child? If so, did you sign off for this testing to be done? When?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Local screening for accommodations which I never even asked for. They have been trying to prevent me from asking about any accommodations all year.

And as I start to get close to asking, the principal said I asked two weeks ago and the rule is within 10 business days in fairfax county so we have to meet in early February which is outside of that 10 days.

I’m so confused.

I am confused - do you want accommodations or not? If you want them are you asking for a 504 plan or an IEP? The former provides accommodations only. The latter provides accommodations and special instruction?

What is your DC's disability (or what are the school's concerns that they want to provide accommodations?)

How are they preventing you from asking about accommodations?

they haven’t prevented me from asking for anything. But they are resistant to providing anything that can be used as evidence to support my child’s need for accommodations

How old is your child?

What have you asked for and how has school resisted providing.

In general, you have a legal right under FERPA to see and copy all educational records pertaining to your child. That is basically anything with your Larlo’s name in it - tests, quizzes, classwork of any kind, state yearly assessments (not just score but entire test and answers), any diagnoayic assessments hiven by teacher as year progessed ( not sure what FCPs pdoes - DIBBELS, MAP, reading benchmarks, etc).

If you make a request in writing for educational records referencing FERPA, the school must provide access. For highly secure state-wide exams or unit exams, finals, etc., you may be asked to sign a non-disclosure form, but you cannot be denied access.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Local screening for accommodations which I never even asked for. They have been trying to prevent me from asking about any accommodations all year.

And as I start to get close to asking, the principal said I asked two weeks ago and the rule is within 10 business days in fairfax county so we have to meet in early February which is outside of that 10 days.

I’m so confused.

This post is very confusing, OP. Can you please clarify by answering the following question:

Does your child currently have an IEP? Yes or no

no iep. We are trying to gather information for one. Waiting on the school to submit paperwork to pediatrician is as far as I’ve gotten in the process. Hopefully I can atleast get a diagnosis from the pediatrician before the meeting

And dam right we need a 504 and probably an IEP. I am just in the blind as far as what the school is trying to do

Okay. Next question: Have you had a meeting with the school to discuss whether or not to pursue testing your child? If so, did you sign off for this testing to be done? When?

no. They won’t even tell me if the school has ever had anyone with ADHD. They want to jump right to the Local Screening Meeting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Local screening for accommodations which I never even asked for. They have been trying to prevent me from asking about any accommodations all year.

And as I start to get close to asking, the principal said I asked two weeks ago and the rule is within 10 business days in fairfax county so we have to meet in early February which is outside of that 10 days.

I’m so confused.

I am confused - do you want accommodations or not? If you want them are you asking for a 504 plan or an IEP? The former provides accommodations only. The latter provides accommodations and special instruction?

What is your DC's disability (or what are the school's concerns that they want to provide accommodations?)

How are they preventing you from asking about accommodations?

they haven’t prevented me from asking for anything. But they are resistant to providing anything that can be used as evidence to support my child’s need for accommodations

How old is your child?

What have you asked for and how has school resisted providing.

In general, you have a legal right under FERPA to see and copy all educational records pertaining to your child. That is basically anything with your Larlo’s name in it - tests, quizzes, classwork of any kind, state yearly assessments (not just score but entire test and answers), any diagnoayic assessments hiven by teacher as year progessed ( not sure what FCPs pdoes - DIBBELS, MAP, reading benchmarks, etc).

If you make a request in writing for educational records referencing FERPA, the school must provide access. For highly secure state-wide exams or unit exams, finals, etc., you may be asked to sign a non-disclosure form, but you cannot be denied access.

I’ve gotten some classwork examples but it took two months of complaining. They told me they wouldn’t release student records to any third parties I was requesting and I had to go to the superintendent before they were willing to do that.

They won’t wven allow any contact with the teacher without an administrator present. And this has been going on since we got the first progress report.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Local screening for accommodations which I never even asked for. They have been trying to prevent me from asking about any accommodations all year.

And as I start to get close to asking, the principal said I asked two weeks ago and the rule is within 10 business days in fairfax county so we have to meet in early February which is outside of that 10 days.

I’m so confused.

This post is very confusing, OP. Can you please clarify by answering the following question:

Does your child currently have an IEP? Yes or no

no iep. We are trying to gather information for one. Waiting on the school to submit paperwork to pediatrician is as far as I’ve gotten in the process. Hopefully I can atleast get a diagnosis from the pediatrician before the meeting

And dam right we need a 504 and probably an IEP. I am just in the blind as far as what the school is trying to do

Okay. Next question: Have you had a meeting with the school to discuss whether or not to pursue testing your child? If so, did you sign off for this testing to be done? When?

no. They won’t even tell me if the school has ever had anyone with ADHD. They want to jump right to the Local Screening Meeting

Okay. I think you might have a misunderstanding of what the process is. I work in FCPS and this is, more or less, how the process works:
-You or a teacher sees a concern. A request is made to have the child tested. That starts the 10 business day clock. By the end of the 10 days, the local screening committee (sped teacher, classroom teacher, psychologist, social worker, admin and you) meet.

-The purpose of this meeting is to determine whether there is enough evidence to warrant testing. It’s not enough for anyone to just say, “This kid needs to be tested.” There has to be evidence of difficulties and interventions tried.

-IF the committee decides that testing is warranted, then a 65 (regular) day clock begins. Within that time frame, all testing needs to be completed.

-When testing is completed, the school psychologist will meet with you to explain the results.

-Soon after, the local screening committee meets again with you in what’s called an eligibility meeting to determine if the testing results warrant a special education disability designation for your child.

-If yes, your child meets the criteria for a disability, then a smaller team (just the sped teacher, classroom teacher and you) have 30 days to meet and agree on an IEP that includes goals, accommodations and how & where services are delivered. When you sign off on that, it in effect immediately for the next year. You can call a meeting at any time if you think adjustments are needed.

If you’ve just mentioned a concern and desire for testing , then meeting in early February for local screening is fine. February begins next Friday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Local screening for accommodations which I never even asked for. They have been trying to prevent me from asking about any accommodations all year.

And as I start to get close to asking, the principal said I asked two weeks ago and the rule is within 10 business days in fairfax county so we have to meet in early February which is outside of that 10 days.

I’m so confused.

This post is very confusing, OP. Can you please clarify by answering the following question:

Does your child currently have an IEP? Yes or no

no iep. We are trying to gather information for one. Waiting on the school to submit paperwork to pediatrician is as far as I’ve gotten in the process. Hopefully I can atleast get a diagnosis from the pediatrician before the meeting

And dam right we need a 504 and probably an IEP. I am just in the blind as far as what the school is trying to do

Okay. Next question: Have you had a meeting with the school to discuss whether or not to pursue testing your child? If so, did you sign off for this testing to be done? When?

no. They won’t even tell me if the school has ever had anyone with ADHD. They want to jump right to the Local Screening Meeting [/quot

Whether or not the school has ever had a child with ADHD is nortbrelevant at all to your situation. Also, they probably can’t tell you this for privacy reasons. While I have great sympathy for your desire to help your child, you are hurting you case by asking for information that is not relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Local screening for accommodations which I never even asked for. They have been trying to prevent me from asking about any accommodations all year.

And as I start to get close to asking, the principal said I asked two weeks ago and the rule is within 10 business days in fairfax county so we have to meet in early February which is outside of that 10 days.

I’m so confused.

This post is very confusing, OP. Can you please clarify by answering the following question:

Does your child currently have an IEP? Yes or no

no iep. We are trying to gather information for one. Waiting on the school to submit paperwork to pediatrician is as far as I’ve gotten in the process. Hopefully I can atleast get a diagnosis from the pediatrician before the meeting

And dam right we need a 504 and probably an IEP. I am just in the blind as far as what the school is trying to do

Okay. Next question: Have you had a meeting with the school to discuss whether or not to pursue testing your child? If so, did you sign off for this testing to be done? When?

no. They won’t even tell me if the school has ever had anyone with ADHD. They want to jump right to the Local Screening Meeting

Okay. I think you might have a misunderstanding of what the process is. I work in FCPS and this is, more or less, how the process works:
-You or a teacher sees a concern. A request is made to have the child tested. That starts the 10 business day clock. By the end of the 10 days, the local screening committee (sped teacher, classroom teacher, psychologist, social worker, admin and you) meet.

-The purpose of this meeting is to determine whether there is enough evidence to warrant testing. It’s not enough for anyone to just say, “This kid needs to be tested.” There has to be evidence of difficulties and interventions tried.

-IF the committee decides that testing is warranted, then a 65 (regular) day clock begins. Within that time frame, all testing needs to be completed.

-When testing is completed, the school psychologist will meet with you to explain the results.

-Soon after, the local screening committee meets again with you in what’s called an eligibility meeting to determine if the testing results warrant a special education disability designation for your child.

-If yes, your child meets the criteria for a disability, then a smaller team (just the sped teacher, classroom teacher and you) have 30 days to meet and agree on an IEP that includes goals, accommodations and how & where services are delivered. When you sign off on that, it in effect immediately for the next year. You can call a meeting at any time if you think adjustments are needed.

If you’ve just mentioned a concern and desire for testing , then meeting in early February for local screening is fine. February begins next Friday.

That doesn't seem right. They can't deny you the full IEP eligibility determination just because they don't think you need testing. They also can't require that you try other interventions before doing the eligibility screening. It is probably best practices to start interventions before the whole IEP process is over (RTI) but there's no obligation to wait for RTI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Local screening for accommodations which I never even asked for. They have been trying to prevent me from asking about any accommodations all year.

And as I start to get close to asking, the principal said I asked two weeks ago and the rule is within 10 business days in fairfax county so we have to meet in early February which is outside of that 10 days.

I’m so confused.

This post is very confusing, OP. Can you please clarify by answering the following question:

Does your child currently have an IEP? Yes or no

no iep. We are trying to gather information for one. Waiting on the school to submit paperwork to pediatrician is as far as I’ve gotten in the process. Hopefully I can atleast get a diagnosis from the pediatrician before the meeting

And dam right we need a 504 and probably an IEP. I am just in the blind as far as what the school is trying to do

Okay. Next question: Have you had a meeting with the school to discuss whether or not to pursue testing your child? If so, did you sign off for this testing to be done? When?

no. They won’t even tell me if the school has ever had anyone with ADHD. They want to jump right to the Local Screening Meeting

Okay. I think you might have a misunderstanding of what the process is. I work in FCPS and this is, more or less, how the process works:
-You or a teacher sees a concern. A request is made to have the child tested. That starts the 10 business day clock. By the end of the 10 days, the local screening committee (sped teacher, classroom teacher, psychologist, social worker, admin and you) meet.

-The purpose of this meeting is to determine whether there is enough evidence to warrant testing. It’s not enough for anyone to just say, “This kid needs to be tested.” There has to be evidence of difficulties and interventions tried.

-IF the committee decides that testing is warranted, then a 65 (regular) day clock begins. Within that time frame, all testing needs to be completed.

-When testing is completed, the school psychologist will meet with you to explain the results.

-Soon after, the local screening committee meets again with you in what’s called an eligibility meeting to determine if the testing results warrant a special education disability designation for your child.

-If yes, your child meets the criteria for a disability, then a smaller team (just the sped teacher, classroom teacher and you) have 30 days to meet and agree on an IEP that includes goals, accommodations and how & where services are delivered. When you sign off on that, it in effect immediately for the next year. You can call a meeting at any time if you think adjustments are needed.

If you’ve just mentioned a concern and desire for testing , then meeting in early February for local screening is fine. February begins next Friday.

That doesn't seem right. They can't deny you the full IEP eligibility determination just because they don't think you need testing. They also can't require that you try other interventions before doing the eligibility screening. It is probably best practices to start interventions before the whole IEP process is over (RTI) but there's no obligation to wait for RTI.

What??? So you’re saying that any parent can just walk into their kid’s school and say, “Hey my kid missed an answer on the quiz. I think he has a learning issue. I want a full battery of psychological and educational testing done.” And according to you, the local screening committee should be obligated to agree to that.
Nope. The school isn’t and shouldn’t be obligated to do testing just because the parent wants it.