Coronavirus FAQs: Can IEP Meetings Be Postponed Until Schools Re-Open? Online IEP Meetings: Tips for Success “Are school districts required to hold annual IEPs, triennials, and initial IEPs meetings with schools closed? Can IEP meetings be postponed until schools re-open?” Should schools postpone IEP meetings until after schools re-open? Let's think about this question. How would postponing IEP meetings actually work? Who would benefit from a decision to postpone IEP meetings? Who would be harmed? In March 2020, COVID-19 forced schools to close. Most schools are unlikely to re-open for five or six months. School administrators began to consider how they would deal with the legal requirements for IEPs and timelines for IEP meetings. The idea of postponing IEP meetings was floated. When children with disabilities don’t receive the special education and related services they need, they experience huge losses of skills. Their present levels of academic achievement An IEP team that meets several months after a school closure will not have accurate information about the child’s present levels of academic achievement and functional performance. This information is needed to develop the child’s IEP. So the school may have to reevaluate these children to determine their present levels in academic and functional skills, leading to more delays. On March 21, 2020, the U.S. Department of Education published a Supplemental Fact Sheet Addressing the Risk of COVID-19 While Serving Children with Disabilities. This Fact Sheet includes IDEA Timelines, including timelines for IEPs IDEA Timelines for IEPs The USDOE says, “We encourage school teams and parents to work collaboratively and creatively to meet IEP timeline requirements.” Initial IEPs: “If a child has been found eligible for services, the IEP Team must meet and develop an initial IEP within 30 days of the determination that the child needs special education and related services. Annual IEPs: “IEPs also must be reviewed annually. However, parents and the IEP Team may agree to conduct IEP meetings through alternate means, including videoconferencing or conference telephone calls. 34 C.F.R. §300.328. Revising the IEP to Reflect Changes Due to COVID-19 Pandemic: “… the parent of a child with a disability and the public agency may agree to not convene an IEP Team meeting for the purposes of making changes, and instead develop a written document to amend or modify the child’s current IEP. 34 C.F.R. §300.324(a)(4)(i) * revising the current year’s IEPs to reflect how the school can and will deliver special education for the rest of this academic year , and * making determinations about compensatory educational services for the services the child missed and may need when the school reopens Coronavirus FAQs: Online IEP Meetings — Tips for Success IEP teams will need to start scheduling IEP meeting soon . Since teams cannot meet face-to-face, they will need to use “alternative ways” to meet via video conferencing or video calling services like Zoom, Google Duo, FaceTime, or Skype. (Note: We use Zoom and are pleased with it so far.) We are living in difficult times. People are experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety. Expect team members to be confused about how to deal with the new reality. This response is normal and predictable. IEP team members - parents and school staff - need to be patient and helpful. Your goal is to work together creatively to develop the child’s IEP. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provides guidance about alternative ways to hold IEP meetings: “School meetings do not have to be face-to-face. IEP and placement meetings, mediation meetings, and due process (IEP) resolution sessions may be convened by conference calls or video conferences.” {NOTE 2] [NOTE 3] Bottom line: You should assume you will attend online IEP meetings. To help you prepare, we are gathering tips from people who have attended online IEP meetings and additional tips from experts in the video-conferencing field. NOTE: Supplemental Fact Sheet Addressing the Risk of COVID-19 in Preschool, Elementary and Secondary Schools While Serving Children with Disabilities https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/frontpage/faq/rr/policyguidance/Supple%20Fact%20Sheet%203.21.20%20FINAL.pdf NOTE A: 34 C.F.R. § 300.323(c)(1). [Note 1]. “At the beginning of each school year, each public agency (school district) *must* have in effect, for each child with a disability, an IEP . (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 34 CFR §300.323(a); see Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd edition, page 248.) NOTE 2 “School meetings do not have to be face-to-face. IEP and placement meetings, mediation meetings, and due process (IEP) resolution sessions may be convened by conference calls or video conferences.” 20 USC § 1414(e). (see page 107 in Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Edition) Note 3: IDEA 2004 describes using “conference calls or video conferences” for IEP and other meetings. The IDEA was enacted in 2004, when options for online meetings were limited. In the recent article The March xxx 2020 Guidance publication, the U.S. Department of Education “encourages parents, educators, and administrators to collaborate creatively to continue to meet the needs of students with disabilities.” PETEbbt4 23 Tips for Making Zoom, Skype, and Other Video Conference Calls Better https://gizmodo.com/23-tips-for-making-zoom-skype-and-other-video-confere-1842516076 7 Tips for Productive Online Meetings https://www.business.com/articles/7-powerful-tips-for-highly-productive-online-meetings/ An attorney, an advocate and a parent share their experiences with online meetings. Attorney “I had two IEP meetings remotely - one over conference call and one over Zoom. The conference call did not work well. It took over 15 minutes for everyone to get on because the system got overloaded. It was hard to hear and hard to follow who was talking. My client and I had a great experience with Zoom. It was easier than some in-person meetings. Be sure you can text your client during the meeting if you want to have a side bar. We practiced the software together before the meeting. I recommend that people stay muted unless they need to speak or have a question. Overall, it went better than expected. Advocate After four meetings, I prefer Zoom. Our district uses Hangouts. I had a problem when I had to call in to switch. Aside from that, it’s going well. One meeting actually went better than previous in-person meetings and I felt we accomplished much more. Parent I've had better experience with telephone audio than computer audio. I find there's a delay with computer audio. Whatever videoconferencing software they are going to use, test it out in advance so you're comfortable with it before you get to the meeting. Tech support for the videoconferencing company will help you download and test out the software. (I've seen 20 minutes of a meeting get eaten up with set-up when participants aren't experienced with the software.) If you have a close working relationship with the parent, and the parent is not going to be in the same room with you, then it can be helpful to set up a separate, private chat with the parent, so she can make comments and share information about what's being said (e.g. "She's lying, ask about the behavior log"). You could do this with a cell phone or a secondary computer (sound turned off on the chat device). **************