Should you take your IEP issues to the school board?
I was recently approached by a school board member. The school board wanted advice on how to improve the special education climate in their school.
“We’re really in the dark as far as special ed,” they told me. “We see the director when he brings certain things to us for approval, but for the most part, special ed is invisible to us.”
Wow. I didn’t know what to say. A school board member who cares! First, let me tell you, my previous opinions have not been unfounded, they have substance behind them.
Can schools share IEP information with school boards?
The short answer is that it depends. If this is a concern for you, I would visit your school district website. Look for a privacy policy. It may be in the school board bylaws. If you believe your child’s privacy has been violated, I would contact an attorney and read up on FERPA.
Do School Boards handle IEP issues?
The day to day stuff–no. But they have to sign off on contracts with related service providers and other things like that.
In two school districts near me, I was very involved with the special ed departments and the school board. I had many clients in both districts, attended school board meetings, and attended other meetings (Manifestation Hearings) with school board members in attendance. It was a very negative experience that went on for years. It was clear that those school board members were only interested in a punitive rather than supportive approach to disabilities and behavior.
The few superintendents that I know have also made comments alluding to this same mentality. That they (their school boards) know about special ed struggles but just don’t care. Or they lack solutions, so they keep their heads in the sand.
“We need to hear these things,” a school board member told me over lunch. “Otherwise we really don’t know what’s going on.”
Hmph. Ok.
A while back I did a post called “Worst pieces of IEP advice for parents” and in it, I list going to your school board as a bad piece of advice.
I’m not going to change that post (except to link it to this post) nor am I going to rescind that IEP advice. Under many circumstances, going to your school board about IEP issues can be terrible advice. But under some circumstances, it might help.
Tips for Contacting your School Board about IEPs
Here are some things to consider before contacting your school board about your IEP issues.
- Have you exhausted all other methods of dispute resolution? Short of going to Due Process, have you done everything you can to work this out? Do you have your records trail and data, have you called multiple meetings, are you really at a standstill as far as getting any further? Contacting your school board should certainly not be your first go-to item in resolving IEP disputes.
- What is your main concern? Have you taken a good honest look at your issue? Not all IEP issues are created equal. Constant bullying that is destroying your child is a serious issue. And one that will likely get your school board’s attention. Arguing over a half hour of speech therapy? Eh, not the hill I’m gonna die on, as I say. Going to your school board can be one of those “be careful what you wish for” types of situations. So just make sure it is worth it, if you get undue publicity and attention from it.
- Do you know your school board members? Here in PA, they are not permitted to work for the district, nor their immediate families. Doesn’t mean that nepotism doesn’t necessarily rear its ugly head in other ways. Make sure you are aware of who is who and your political landscape. Ask around, read their bios online, read meeting minutes to see how they’ve voted on things, google them to see if they have been interviewed in local papers. You never know, you might find an ally in one who has a close relative with a disability.
- If you ask to meet– I personally would ask for a private meeting with my school board member. My district has zones, so technically not every school board member represents me. Others do it differently, but you want to make sure you are contacting the correct person. They may ask you to bring your concerns to a school board meeting instead. That is up to you. In my area, many school board meetings are video-recorded on local access TV or the minutes published publicly. You may want to consider protecting the privacy of your child and avoiding a public meeting.
- Consider meeting with them even if you don’t have an issue right now. Why not? For this, you could come to a school board meeting and just offer up a compliment when it’s time for public comments. Or you can come with ideas to improve special ed in your district, but are not necessarily pressing issues for you right now. You don’t have to seek them out only when there are problems and you’re feeling desperate.
- Keep it about your child. This holds true for any part of the IEP process. But don’t make it personal against any teacher or personnel. This isn’t about what a teacher is or isn’t doing. It is about what your child is or isn’t getting, that they need to access and benefit from their education.
- Have positive things to say. So many jobs and volunteer positions are such that the people so often only hear from people if it’s a complaint. Have some compliments ready too. Surely not everything your district does is terrible.
- Ask them for their opinion. I would make it clear that you don’t necessarily expect them to resolve your dispute, you just want their opinion. If they choose to try to help solve matters behind the scenes, so be it. But for the most part, the purpose of a school board is not to resolve IEP disputes. You can use phrases like, “My concern is not only for my child but for others like him in our district, who also may not be receiving an appropriate education.”
- Be solution oriented. And I mean beyond your individual dispute too. Offer to round up other parents for a focus group meeting. Offer to try to help organize workshops that will benefit others or a parent-teacher group for special education. Have ideas beyond thinking “If they would just say YES to what I am asking for!”
- Follow up. Find their email address online and thank them for meeting with you, regardless of the outcome.
In the end, I certainly wouldn’t hang all my hopes of having my dispute resolved here. However, as I was told, “We just don’t know what’s going on.” Maybe it’s not such a bad idea to tell them what’s going on. If we are going to change the climate of special ed in our districts, we have to be a part of the positive change too.
