I read of someone on another board in Florida who was given the brush off about her child getting evaluated, she put her request in writing, had a meeting with the teacher and vice principal who presented her with an sst and a plan for intervention in math and reading. When she asked about an iep, the vp got a bit ‘huffy’ (her words). She was told that she wouldn’t want her child ‘labeled’ sp.ed and that testing would take to the end of the year and was a big hassle. blah blah blah, Yeah, I know.
I told her that she could agree with the sst and interventions but that they wouldn’t preclude doing the testing and that she should talk to the district sp.ed office about the meeting. I remember there being a lot more people at my first big meeting, sp.ed teacher, reg. teacher, principal, school nurse.
I guess what I wonder is did the meeting with just the teacher and vice principal constitute the permission to test meeting (where you talk about the child’s difficulties and decide to test and where you sign all those permisson slips) and follow the law or are they still under the timeline of the real meeting with all the other staff?
Any ideas about what to tell this mom?
Thanks. By the way I usually try to steer folks like this to this board as I am not as well versed in all this as many of you are.
Amy
Re: socks, a question (or anyone else)
Thanks socks. I just found out I mixed up the lady from Fl who replied with the original poster who was from GA. OOPS! My add at work. I asked her to look here anyway.
I have another question but it concerns me and my family. I am considering moving to Pensacola for a year starting this summer ‘03. I emailed the ESE chair for the high school my son would go to and her reply sounded encouraging as far as services.
We are doing the triennial right now in DODDS Germany, so…if my son comes into high school in FL with an active IEP which I know they have to put in place…but they decide to retest… but put it off because of no timeline. Do you suppose I wouldn’t have to worry about the retest for the whole year or am I being overly optimistic? For now all she said I have to fill out is a transfer student form and a permission to send for records form. She didn’t mention any retests. The reason I ask about retests is that when we got to DODDS with an active IEP, they retested him here. He had just qualified spring of ‘99 and this was fall of 2000.
We would be moving again during summer ‘04 unless I go ahead and move to VA which is where we want to end up. Right now our plans are still up in the air til we know where my husband is going to be. I am just trying to get some info so I can make a good decision.
The pro’s about FL is that my family is there, I was thinking my dad and my brother could take up the male slack while my husband is doing his army thing.
Oh decisions, decisions!
Thanks for plowing through my message!
Re: socks, a question (or anyone else)
okay first off, BAD rep. has Pensacola schools.
triennual eval do not have to be done. If the team determines no new evaluation is needed,then it doesn’t get done. YOU are an equal member of that team.
Okay Amy first up, As hard as this is to believe there is no timeline for completing the evaluation. Not in Florida.They must follow Federal law which states they must complete it in a timely manner. We all know how this might be defined,especially if you got some goofy admin. not wanting the eval to be completed.Once the eval is done then a timeline of 30 days is initiated after completion of eval to staffing. NO IEP discussion until kid meets criteria.
I must say the attitude she encountered is a typical tactic. Scare the parent away and her kids place in line isn’t of priority. Now with this being said,the ONLY way to ensure her kid’s place in line is to SIGN the consent to be evaluated. This is another really typical tactic. Until parent signs consent for testing,the parent isn’t asking,isn’t really asking for them to evaluate. This parent need to make very sure she has done this. It isn’t about anything else,anything they have said,or any other form or document. A signed consent for evaluation.THIS is the first step.
If your parent happens to live in Hillsborough county this would be a little different story. I can probably find an advocate in her particular county,email me privately.