Reply to Are IEP meetings still being held virtually?

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Reply to "Are IEP meetings still being held virtually?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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.[/quote]

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[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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. [/quote]

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