• Invitation Procedures

    Procedures to Follow

    1. Invitation(s) must be sent out at least 3 weeks prior to the IEP meeting. Schedule the IEP meeting 4-5 days before the duration date expires allowing a few extra days if the parent doesn’t show up/reschedules.
    2. Two days with no response, call the parent. If no one answers the phone or calls back, call the parent again the next day.
    3. (2nd call) If you get no answer or a call back again, send the paper invitation home for the second time (check 2ndnotice).
    4. If you still do not receive a call or the invitation back in a timely manner, you may conduct the IEP meeting with the rest of the IEP team and finalize on the given date.
    5. All of these attempts must be documented and must be made in a timely manner. You cannot have one documentation for all 3 attempts.

     

    Parent call log for 

    Date

    Reason for Contact

    Result of Contact

    Incorrect Entry- 1/29/18

     

    The parent was called three times about the IEP meeting date.

     

     

    No one answered the phone and the meeting was held.

     

    Correct Entry- 1/31/18

     

     

    The parent was called to ensure the delivery of the IEP invitation since it was not returned and was sent home on 1/29/2018.  

     

     

    No answer/no voicemail.

    2/1/18

     

    The parent was called for the second time to ensure the delivery of the IEP invitation and/or set up a meeting time that would work for the parent(s).

     

    No answer/no voicemail.

     

    2/2/18

     

    2nd IEP invitation was sent home since I was unable to reach the parent(s) via telephone on 1/31 & 2/1 .

     

     

    2nd invitation was not returned. The IEP team conducted the meeting on ____after 3 attempts were made to the parent(s).

     

     

    What IDEA says...

    Scheduling the IEP Meeting and Notifying Parents

    IDEA’s provisions regarding parent participation states:

    Each public agency must take steps to ensure one or both of the parents of a child with a disability are present at each IEP Team meeting or are afforded the opportunity to participate…

    This includes:

    1. Notifying parents of the meeting early enough to ensure that they will have the opportunity to attend; and
    2. Scheduling the meeting at a mutually agreed on time and place.

    What if Parents Cannot Attend?

    If parents cannot attend the IEP meeting, then the public agency is required to use “other methods to ensure parent participation, including individual or conference calls”. IDEA permits such alternatives if parents and the public agency agree to use alternative methods of meeting participation. This must be documented in the parent call log.

    IDEA includes provisions that permit the public agency to hold an IEP meeting without the parents in attendance (either in person or via alternative methods), but this may only occur if the public agency has been unable to convince the parents to attend and has documented all such attempts to do so.

    What Type of Documentation is Needed?

    Very detailed documentation! If the public agency has not been able to convince the parents to attend, then the agency must keep a record of its attempts to arrange a mutually agreed-on time and place, such as-

    • Copies of correspondence sent to the parents and any responses received (Invitation sent home with a responsible student or sent via mail).
    • Detailed records of telephone calls made or attempted and the results of those calls

    In other words, the public agency may conduct an IEP meeting without a parent in attendance if it makes attempts to secure participation in a timely and documents the attempts it has made to convince the parent to attend the meeting.

     
     
     
    CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW FOR STEP BY STEP DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO COMPLETE AN EXCUSAL FORM