Is Virtual School working for my child?

Hello y’all. It’s been a month of virtual school here in the Nelson household so I figured I would share my thoughts, observations, recommendations, and musings with everyone. Let’s start with our schedule.

First off, we are a little different than most as we have opted to reduce our son’s course load, choosing instead some intensive reading remediation. Our thought is that by focusing on his literacy this year in lieu of a couple classes we will create better overall education in future years. He is doing 4 classes instead of 8, which is okay with us because its much less complex.

Also, Raymond loves virtual learning. He is calmer, more focused, and less aroused from a sensory perspective. This lets him access his education more effectively, which makes his learning easier and more likely to stick. We won’t know that for sure until later in the year, but as of now he is retaining concepts and applying them well.

The downside is that he requires direct support from me or his mother during his school time. Yes, he has a one to one para, but she is also remote and cannot handle things in the environment. I’m talking about things like switching from app to app, managing a bunch of passwords, making sure the rights supplies are handy, and figuring out where to begin his work. It would make life easier were she able to be present, but that support also comes with a risk. At the moment, neither we nor the school division are comfortable with taking that risk.

Is Virtual Learning working for my child?
How will I know?

So here are the problems I see so far. First, there are way too many sites to manage this stuff. Each teacher uses slightly different tools, or sites, which means more logins and passwords. Not that I want to discourage teachers from being creative about teaching and using whatever tool is necessary. However, each tool adds another burden to the student, many of whom are struggling already. Less is more.

I’m a professional and I have a list of websites I use for both of my businesses that are absolutely essential. However, I think the list of sites my son needs for school might outnumber them! Bear in mind that I am a 50-year-old man with a long history of working professionally. My son is an autistic teenager with no work experience and difficulty with executive functioning. How exactly could he be expected to manage this on his own? Why is a typical 16-year-old expected to manage this level of complexity? Its excessive and a waste of time. So, fewer sites is my first note.

My second note is this: SLOW THE HELL DOWN! Some of these teachers talk at light speed. In fact, I decided to help my son by copying down the work he needed to do. By the time I finished copying it down, the teacher had already started presenting her solutions! No way a typical kid had a chance to do that work before she started going through it. My son didn’t come close even with me acting as his scribe, and I write fast.

The real solution, though, is to have that work available before class for kids to print or copy in advance of the lesson. I’m a huge fan of teacher notes being given to kids in advance. Not just for kids who can’t write fast enough, but for all kids. Highlighting can work as well as selective note-taking if the skill is taught.

I could go on about this stuff for a while, but I’m limiting myself to three issues because otherwise this post would devolve into a complaint festival. My final issue is this weird authoritarian interaction I see in some classes. Like “turn on your monitor so I can see you’re here” or “everyone has to speak up at some point in the class or you won’t get participation credit.” Not every teacher does this, but enough of them do it that it deserves a mention.

Not everyone is proud of how their house looks. Some children do not have a secluded location to take their classes. Other kids might have parents sleeping because they work nights. The point is that educators don’t know what these kids are going through just to attend school. Just because my son can handle this doesn’t mean every other child out there can handle it. And my son can only handle it because my wife and I are privileged enough to buy a big enough house for him to work in, and can schedule our days to make sure we can spend time with him for school. Not every parent has that ability, and that is not judgement on my part. That is fact. So, find different ways to engage.

Some teachers have students use the “thumbs up” button for participation. Some have kids type in the chat for participation. Those are much better ways to engage everyone, as it’s a level playing field.

Despite the issues I’ve noted, I do feel like our teachers are doing the absolute best that they can. If this virtual education experiment doesn’t work, it is far more likely that lack of support on the ground level will be why. So be kind to your teachers, thank them for their efforts, and give them constructive feedback instead of complaints. I promise you that it will be easier to solve your problems that way.

If you want to talk about your kid specifically, sign up for one of my free 20-minute consultations. Happy learning!

General

DO NOT SIGN YOUR CHILD’S IEP!

I’m going to say this again loudly just to make sure everyone hears me.

DO NOT SIGN YOUR CHILD’S IEP!

I constantly receive information from my clients about what local school systems are doing. While some are doing the right thing, many are not. Some of the stories below will demonstrate why you don’t want to sign your child’s IEP right now, and may never want to sign one again.

One local school system has advised their case managers to push parents to sign IEP amendments without having an IEP meeting. This means the school will propose the new plan and expect the parents to agree without discussion, explanation, or the right to refuse the changes. Does that sound reasonable or fair?

Imagine you were buying a home. Because of the pandemic you were unable to view it in person, but you did see a few pictures and read a short description about the home. The seller asks you to send a $5,000 check in order to hold the house. Would you send them the money?

My guess is no. I certainly wouldn’t, and I have helped people buy and sell homes for 15 years. If your school district sends you an IEP amendment to sign without first having an IEP meeting, don’t sign it. Your child still has an IEP. The IEP in force right now would enter stay put status and the school would be responsible for delivering those services, either right now or in the future. That’s the way the law is written, and the school knows that.

Another local school district is putting information for 3 different settings into their IEPs. This is to make things “easier” as school status changes from virtual to hybrid to in-person. It does make things easier…for the school district. It does nothing for the parent, and in fact may violate the parents right to object to placement changes.

For example, imagine the school suddenly changed its status to full time in person school despite rising COVID-19 rates in the local area. If you signed this IEP, you would have to start taking your child to school EVEN IF YOU DISAGREED WITH THE SCHOOL BOARD’S DECISION. Even if it was unsafe, you could not keep your child out of school. At that point, if you didn’t send your kid to school he or she would be marked as absent. That opens the door for truancy actions and other unpleasantness.

My main question here is “what is stay-put placement with three different settings?” Followed closely by “can you legally agree to 3 different settings? I don’t know, because I’m not a judge or a lawyer. That said, I like simplicity. I advise folks to agree to one placement, not two or three. So again, DO NOT SIGN YOUR CHILD’S IEP.

SO WHAT CAN I DO IF I DON’T SIGN THE IEP?

You can write a partial acceptance letter. Write down what you agree with and what you don’t, and use that to put services in place. It is legal, and VDOE has guidance for the schools advising them that it is a valid form of IEP acceptance.

If you need help drafting a partial acceptance letter, I just added that to my services in my IEP Coach Shop. Click on this link if you want me to assist you in drafting a good letter. That will take you to my shop, where I’ll be adding products like this periodically. I opted to release this one first because I see this as a high demand item right now.

Good luck, and I’m here if you need me! Email me at Ray@NelsonAdvocacy.com if you want a free 20 minute consultation!

General

Major Announcements August 2020 Edition!

Major announcements today!

Hello all. I am overjoyed to announce these changes to my business model. I am always looking for new ways to serve my clients, and these changes will allow me to do an even better job for you.

The first announcement is that I am raising my rates. Effective immediately, advocacy services are $85 per hour. I held my rates down to $50 per hour as long as I could, but it is time for them to go up. If you are a current client and we have an ongoing action, there will be a grace period where we figure out how to make things work. Those decisions will be made case by case. For new clients, or returning clients I have not worked with in more than a year, the rate is $85 an hour. That means the initial 10 hour fee for a new case is $850 and the 4 hour per meeting fee is now $340. On the advocacy side, everything will work the same as it has in the past.

I do this so I have time to roll out my IEP coaching business. I recently completed the Master IEP Coach course, and I feel that this is a more effective way for me to pass on what I have learned to folks. I have developed many tools in my years as an advocate, and the coaching will allow me to share those tools and help parents take control of their IEP teams. IEP coaching is also more affordable, as it is $250 for 3 hours. That 3 hours is all person-to-person time. On the coaching side I will not charge for document review time. This is a pretty big win, as about half my time in the advocacy cases is spent reviewing documents or researching them.

There will be more announcements coming soon, but this is the first big one. Stay tuned for details on how to sign up for coaching. If you want a sample of what I’m working on for my folks or want to stay in the loop, click the link below and sign up with your email address. Happy advocating!

Virtual or In-Person Checklist Signup!

General

BACK TO SCHOOL OPTIONS: VIRTUAL OR IN-PERSON?

I know every parent out there, whether their child has an IEP or not, is asking this question right now. I will provide my framework for making this decision and hopefully you can use these steps to make your own decision for your kids.

The first thing my wife and I considered was the benefit of in-person schooling. Our son loves going to school. He has friends and enjoys seeing them. He never has anything other than a "great" school day, so this is a real point in the favor of going back to school. Especially given the fact that he is autistic and his social skills have exploded in the last year.

That said, we do not believe that his interactions will be anywhere near the level they were prior to COVID-19. He will see fewer kids, and the current in-person options in our county only offer 2 days a week. So we asked ourselves "is the risk of exposure to the coronavirus worth 2 days of limited social interaction?"

Our answer was no. That's one strike for in-person school.

The next thing we considered was the risk. As we all know, news on the virus, what it does, how fast it spreads, and what we can expect afterward changes daily. In fact, we are one of many families experiencing "virus news fatigue" to the extent that we limit what we read on COVID-19. However, our son has a compromised immune system. His pediatric neurologist was concerned prior to attending school last year before anyone thought COVID could be a thing. We know for certain he is against him going back now.

So that's another no, because we listen to our doctors. In-person school gets a second strike.

The third thing to consider is whether or not he can adapt to virtual school. We have been fortunate enough for our son to attend a reading program virtually for the last couple months. He has made great strides and the instruction was 100% virtual. So our question was does he need in-person instruction to learn?

No again. Three strikes and you're out, in-person school.

I'm not sharing everything here, obviously. Other families have other challenges. My wife and I are both fortunate enough to work primarily from home. Not every family has that option. My job is flexible enough that I can schedule my work around my son's education and my wife's work schedule. Not everyone has that privilege. You need to make your own decision for your own child. Our hope is that by electing for virtual school we leave more spots open for kids who absolutely need in-person instruction.

Best of luck making this decision. Call me if you want to discuss it!

General

Black Lives Matter at Nelson Advocacy

Black Lives Matter at Nelson Advocacy

Every socially aware company in the world has released some feel good supportive statement about BLM and ending racism. Many of these statements are simple pablum designed to sell something or promote some mythical value these companies claim to have had despite all evidence to the contrary.

This is not that statement.

I will detail what we have done, what we are doing now, and what we plan for the future to end systemic racism and ensure that Black Lives Matter.

The past

As an education advocate, I have witnessed systemic discrimination first hand. Not only have I seen rampant disability discrimination against children of every race, I have seen specific and targeted racial decisions made against individual black students. I have documented and reported incidents where entire groups of black students were targeted en masse. I have seen video of my African-American clients assaulted by SROs (School Resource Officers) in our schools for doing nothing more than raising their voices. I have watched and fought against unequal punishments at multiple schools in multiple school districts where black students were punished for the same actions for which their white peers received no punishment at all.

It broke my heart.

And after that, it made me angry.

So here is what I will do with my anger.

The Present

While I am an educated person, I do not and cannot know everything. As a white male, I have benefitted from privilege my entire life, even though at times I did not see it.

I know this.

I have always known it, even at times when it was uncomfortable to admit.

So now I am reading more to learn. At the moment I am reading "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates and "Disrupting the School-To-Prison Pipeline" by Bahena, Cooc, and Currie-Rubin. Although I have worked for years to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline for my kids, I now realize that more targeted systemic action is required.

I am also reviewing my case files to see if there are instances where follow up actions are possible. My focus is always on the child first, and since I charge by the hour parents cannot always afford to deal with all the problems that exist. So to that end I plan to use the hours in my Advocacy Fund to help parents file additional complaints or write letters to address systemic race and disability based discrimination.

I say "race and disability based discrimination" for a reason. As an example, a non-disabled black student is 2 times more likely to be suspended than a non-disabled white student. A disabled white student is 3 times more likely to be suspended than his non-disabled white peers. However, a black student with a disability is 5 times more likely to be suspended than a non-disabled white peer. These kids are hit hardest by the exclusionary discipline system we currently promote in schools.

The Future

This is where we are not sure what to do. This is our company, and Kelly and I make the decisions. That said, we are not people of color. We need feedback and guidance. We will soon send out a survey to our mailing list asking for feedback on our proposed future actions. We will also post it here when it is done.

It is important to us that we include the voices of those we represent in our actions. As the autistic adults as A.S.A.N. proudly state "nothing about us without us." We are willing to be guided by the voices of those who experience racism every day. If we don't listen to the folks who are affected then we will never solve the problem.

Right now we see a few major issues that need to be addressed.

Remove SROs from schools.
Extend the reporting time for Office of Civil Rights discrimination complaints from 6 months to 2 years.
End exclusionary discipline practices in schools.
End restraint and seclusion in schools.

These are the first 4 that come to mind. We will expound on them in future blog posts so folks can understand why they are important. However, we are open to other ideas.

Help us be the advocates our community needs, because if black lives don't matter then no lives matter.

Black

Lives

Matter.

General, M.A.S.C. Project

The care and feeding of your M.A.S.C.

Howdy! You’re reading this because you probably received one of our masks and have some questions. The video above will answer most of your questions, but read on for anything it might not answer.

1. Your mask can be washed in the washing machine.

We prewash the fabric we get so it should not run or bleed once you get it. That said, if you want to wash it on its own first that probably isn’t a bad idea as I purchase the fabric. I don’t make it.

2. Your mask will fit a filter.

There is a 3″ gap at the top of your mask that you can use to insert a filter. Filter materials vary, but many folks use either coffee filters or shop towels. I’ll make a video showing how to insert a filter later, but for now just know that you can insert a filter if you like.

3. Your nose piece is replaceable if it wears out or falls out.

Just turn your mask inside out and look on the back side of the masks. There is a seam sewn in the middle of the mask. Lift up the flap and insert the nose piece through the middle section above the seam. I use pipe cleaners for the nose pieces, but a small piece of low gauge wire works too.

4. If your mask is too big:

You can tie off the elastic bands to make them smaller.

5. If your mask is too small:

You can make some extra elastic lengths and tie them in to the existing elastic. Hair bands make great extenders.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned here as I’m sure this will get updated frequently.

Community Information

The M.A.S.C. Project

When the pandemic quarantine started, having everyone at home was a bit of a shock to both my wife and me. Add to that the fact that we were both still working while our son was out of school and you have all the components necessary for disaster. So one of my first thoughts in mid-March was “what am I going to do to keep my son engaged and interested?” That was followed quickly by “how do I keep my somewhat germaphobic son from being afraid and anxious all the time about the coronavirus?

Then I read about crafters sewing masks to help first responders, and I had an idea. Rushing to our basement, I discovered several yards of Thomas the Tank Engine fabric we bought years ago for a long forgotten project. Thinking out loud to my wife, I said “maybe if we make masks out of this material, our son will wear them and feel safe.” She enthusiastically agreed, so she got our sewing machine back from her parents and we started sewing. This was around the end of the first week of April.

So y’all have some history on why I thought of this, I learned to sew as a child. My dad taught me, and his mom had taught him. My dad grew up on a farm so learning skills was how you survived. My grandfather on my mom’s side also taught me a bit after my dad got frustrated. This frustration would normally happen after I bird-nested the bobbin thread because I sewed too fast. Apparently I didn’t follow directions well and rushed through things as a kid. Nobody who knows me now would ever guess that, am I right? So I have this small family tradition of sewing, and I felt I could teach my son to sew and carry it on another generation. Plus Kelly’s mom sews as well, and apparently that is a learned skill in her family too. So even better as we get to combine family traditions into our shared heritage.

That said, the devil is in the details. I have not used a sewing machine since I was in my 20s, and I turn 50 this year. It took a few days of reading the manual and attempting to sew masks before I really got back in the swing of things. However, I did learn how to do some things that had eluded me before, like how to raise the bobbin thread and backstitch quickly without screwing everything up.

Also, the mask types were confusing. I wanted a mask that I could insert a filter into if I chose, but many of them doubled up the fabric so much I broke my needles. Kelly and I researched and tried several patterns before we found one that I could repeat quickly with the needles intact. That took about a week and a half as we cycled through pattern after pattern and broke needles left and right. However, we finally got it right and were able to produce our first masks to give away on April 19th.

The pattern we settled on is by Leah Day and her page is hyperlinked. We like it because it has few cuts and is simple. It also makes good use of fabric and has a child sized pattern. There are a bunch more out there. In fact, Jo-Ann Fabrics has a whole project page dedicated to masks. However, this one is our favorite by far. So we made our first masks and my son went nuts.

Along the way we talked about why we make masks, why they are important, how they keep people safe, and why we were giving them away. We have always taught to Raymond about volunteering and giving back to our community, as that is a family value. It’s also how Kelly and I met, so we both believed in it prior to getting together. This project was another opportunity for us to live our values and help other people. At first our community was family and friends, but as we make more masks we are expanding our circle of giving.

The most amazing thing is how focused and motivated about mask making Raymond has become. Every day he asks me when we are making masks, and I never get an argument when I call him to start working. He has learned to iron, cut materials, and sew, although he is as impatient as I apparently was as a teen. But the best thing is that it gives him joy to make and give these away. So by expanding our giving circle we are also expanding our joy.

Kelly is still learning to sew, but her core competency is managing operations, so she searches out new fabrics, finds discounts, and helps keep the process moving quickly. She also manages to find discount codes like a ninja, which helps us as we are doing this on a shoestring budget.

We came up with the name today. M.A.S.C means “Making A Safer Community” because we are helping folks not spread germs, which helps everyone around us. As of this afternoon we have made and given away 47 masks, and we will probably make 5-7 more tonight. We have spent a fair amount of money on fabric and supplies, but its worth it for what we are able to give away.

So there are two things we need. First, we need to know folks who need masks so we can get them covered. If you know of anyone local that needs masks, let me know. We will go into detail in our next post, “The Care and Feeding of your M.A.S.C.” but we use clean cloth and wash our hands. We don’t have the wherewithal to mail masks out yet. We can donate some to local nonprofits, but we produce 5-7 masks a day max so we can’t outfit an army overnight.

The second thing we need is supplies. We have bought some fabric and geared up with needles and thread, but we can always use more. If you want to make a cash donation of some sort so we can buy more material, email us and we will give you our Venmo, PayPal, or Apple Pay info. We are not a nonprofit though, so it won’t be tax deductible. If you want to donate fabric or other supplies and are local, message us and we will figure out how to link up.

In closing, we are overjoyed at how this project has brought our family together. We all sit around our kitchen table in the evenings making masks. We take turns picking songs to play so the soundtrack always changes, but it is family time that is different than anything else we have done. If you want to do this yourself and need some guidance, hit us up. We are happy to share what we did in hopes it will work for you. In the meantime, we will keep making masks so y’all let us know if you need them. Stay safe and wash your hands!

General

2019 Announcements!

The text below is a transcription of what I announced on Facebook Live. It may not be exact, but the vast majority of the content is the same. Enjoy!

Your fearless advocate in his home office.

Hello everyone. Welcome to my first live announcement of 2019 for Nelson Advocacy. This is a big one for me, because one of my major goals in starting this business was helping folks who cannot afford me. Today I can do that, at least for one lucky family.

Starting last February, I raised my rates. In doing so, I dedicated $5 of every hour I worked to place in reserve. I did this in order to prepay for services that I could then give to families that could not afford me.

The reason this is important to me is that I have been in that family. For years we spent all of our time and money focused on our son, learning about his disability and advocating for his needs. We drained our savings, cashed out retirements, and ran up credit cards getting the things we felt he needed. I know how expensive this process can be from experience, and I wanted to be in a place to help someone else avoid some of those costs.

Today I’m happy to announce that I can do that. I am offering the community at large 14 hours of my time! That covers my initial 10 hour bundle as well as one additional meeting! I would typically charge $700 for this service, but since my community has supported me I am now able to offer this to you.

The rules are up on my website, NelsonAdvocacy.com, but here is the short version. To qualify you must need advocacy services for a child with a disability in public school under the age of 22, your family cannot earn more than $100,000 per year, and you must be in the Fredericksburg area. Specifically you must be in Fredericksburg City, Spotsylvania, or Stafford.

Another component of this program that I chose to include was the ability to give back to my current clients. In this business as in my real estate business, I believe that loyalty is a two way street and that if you invest in people, they also invest in you. I’m not interested in customers, I’m interested in community. To that end I have two 4 hour scholarships to give to my current and past clients. In order to apply for this, the only rule is that you have to be a current or past client of mine and you have to use my services within the 2019 calendar year. Email, call or text me if you want to be considered for this and I will add you to the list. This will be a random drawing, probably also done on Facebook live so folks can bear witness. I have a few more hours to give away, but I’m going to save them until this spring.

There is a bit of less good news for my clients. I find that I have to raise my meeting rate from 3 hours to 4 hours. Unfortunately, school systems have been taking more time to meet this past year than in my first year, and while I have not been charging retroactively for that time I now find I need to compensate my fees for it. However, the same rule applies as before in that the meeting fee includes our interim communication so I don’t have to track time for every email or short phone call.

Finally, please like my Facebook page and sign up for my newsletter. I’m committing to quarterly newsletters this year, so I’ll have a January, April, July and October edition for your edification. Sign up on my website with the newsletter sign up button. My facebook page is facebook.com/nelsonadvocacy. And if you or someone you know needs my help, call or inbox me. I still do a free half hour consultation for folks, and I promise that you will get something helpful even if you don’t hire me. This post is public so feel free to share it. I look forward to your responses, and have a great day!

Links to sign up are below.

Free 14 Hour Advocacy Sign Up

https://mailchi.mp/b590b7edc6bd/freeadvocacy

Current Client Free 4 Hour Advocacy Sign Up

https://mailchi.mp/51a9239da3c3/nelsonadvocacycurrentclientdrawing

General

2018 Announcements

WELCOME TO 2018!

I sent this out to my current clients a few weeks ago, but it has valuable information for anyone thinking of hiring us to help advocate. Enjoy!

First off, let us wish you a Happy New Year. 2018 promises to be a productive year for Nelson Advocacy and we want to start the year by announcing some changes. If growth is anything like 2017, it will be a roller coaster that will wildly benefit my clients, their families, and their education.

The primary announcement is that we are raising our rates effective February 1st, 2018. Our current $25 per hour fee is not sufficient to cover all the costs incurred running this business. We are sad to raise our rates, but also happy that it will enable us to offer our clients a higher level of service. There is also an added benefit to it detailed below.

In raising rates, we will also institute an hourly billing system. We previously tracked hours on a spreadsheet, which was not very effective. Now we have set up hourly tracking software and will be able to easily generate reports. The benefit to my clients is greater transparency and more accurate billing.

Another benefit is professional education. We spent most of our profits last year on continuing education to make Ray a better advocate. That paid off quickly for several of our clients. We will do more of that this year, which will directly benefit how well we can advocate for you going forward.

The third benefit is that starting February 1st, 2018, $5 for every hour we work will go into an advocacy scholarship fund. One of the things we noticed was that many people who need our services the most cannot afford them, and we cannot abide that. So now when we work we will also be setting aside money to help folks who do not have the means to hire us. Our clients are part of that, so you know hiring us is also helping another family who desperately needs help and can’t afford it. We will announce how it works once we get a minimum balance of $500 in the account, but it will have income qualification standards among other things.

Looking ahead, we may look at partnering with a non-profit this year to create a tax-deductible scholarship fund. We are also looking at ways to consult and advise local educators to help create better inclusion opportunities. Finally, we will be attending more vendor fairs this year and developing an “Education Advocacy 101” curriculum to help teach clients how to better advocate for themselves. If you have questions or suggestions feel free to email or call us. We are looking forward to a fabulous 2018!

Community Information

Is the IEP a contract? No. The IEP is not a contract.

I often get asked about the IEP being a contract, and until recently I thought it was a binding contract between the parent and the school. Unfortunately I have some bad news. I really hate to break this to everyone, but its the truth. The IEP is not a contract.

I know, I know. This contradicts what we have all been told as parents and by some well meaning blog posts on the internet, but after lengthy research and discussion with over a dozen seasoned special education attorneys, I can safely say that the IEP is not a contract.

I will explain some of the reasons why, although I am not an attorney so I will not dive too deeply into what I cannot professionally comment upon. However, I am also a REALTOR so I do have some basic contract law knowledge from that profession, and even I can see it fails to meet some simple contract tests.

This Wikipedia page on contracts covers contract basics, although it can get much more complicated. However, even using the simplest version on that page means a contract requires offer, acceptance, consideration and mutual intent. I’m not going to speak to mutual intent, and offer and acceptance exist in the IEP process. However, the real problem is in consideration.

The school is offering you something of value, but you as the parent are not. Additionally, the school is not voluntarily offering you something of value, but instead offering you something of value that it is legally required to offer. These two factors negate the “consideration” part of the contract process, which somewhat disqualifies it from contract status.

The simplest explanation I have heard, though, is that the IEP is not a contract because Congress consistently chooses not to make it one. Additionally, the terms and conditions are by statute, not agreement, which is significantly different from a contract to purchase a home or a car. Normally you agree to things that happen if someone defaults or fails to do something, but in the IEP world that is all handled by statutes and regulations.

I think the best explanation is from this article from the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy entitled “Bargaining and Distribution in Special Education.” I’ve quoted the simplest and most relevant section below, but its worth taking the time to read in its entirety.

“Contradicting these guidelines, the federal IDEA does not contain any reference to contracts. The Massachusetts Department of Education’s lexical choice, as it turns out, is technically inaccurate. An IEP is not a contract in a formal sense. It is simply a statement produced by an educational agency at the end of a formalized collaborative process, defining the appropriate set of special education services for a given child. Services are technically not a matter of contractual rights, but are educational entitlements conferred by law to each eligible child on the basis of stated criteria and with due process guarantees. The IDEA contains elements of a pseudo-contractual nature, such as parents’ participation in the IEP drafting process and parental consent as a condition precedent to the implementation of any IEP provisions. But such features are increasingly common in the relationship between citizens and administrative agencies and are signs of collaborative governance rather than traits of contractual dealings in a technical sense.”

Finally, I did read a snippet someone posted about IDEA 1997 specifically stating the IEP did not create a contractual relationship, but I was unable to confirm that in a quick scan of the bill. So instead I went to the full text of IDEA 2004 and read through section 614(d) which governs the IEP document itself. The IEP is consistently referred to as a “statement” or, more accurately, a series of statements about the child and the child’s education, services and progress. Nowhere that I could find is the IEP referred to as a “contract” in the law. The contract language in the act that I found was specific to the LEA being able to contract services or meet needs with outside vendors.

I hope that clears things up. Just because the IEP is not a contract does not mean it cannot be enforced. It is still a legal document with parental and student rights spelled out. Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss it further.

Blog

WELCOME TO 2018!