Missed Some Tips? Click HERE to access the full list of past Tips.
Rochelle’s Special Education Tips
The 5-Day Rule Applies in the Summer, Too, Even if Your Staff is Under the Boardwalk
This is such a difficult time of year to hold IEP team meetings. School is out and staff leave town. But IEP team meetings continue throughout the summer. So do all of the rules applicable to the IEP process, including the 5-day document rule. This rule requires the school-based members of the team to forward to the parents those assessments, reports, data charts, draft IEPs or other documents that they plan to discuss at the meeting, at least 5 business days before the scheduled meeting. The rule is not a “suggestion.” It is a requirement of the Education Article. Since your 10-month employees are gone, it is up to an administrator at the school or a central office special education employee to make sure the 5-day rule is followed. You do not want to discover noncompliance when you sit down at the IEP team table for the meeting. It makes for a bad start to the meeting and you could end up with a postponement of the meeting, even though you have gone to great lengths to gather the essential team members from the boardwalk for the meeting.