Rochelle’s Special Education Tips
The UniServ Representative is Not a Member of the IEP Team
IEP meetings are meant to be collaborative sessions between educators and parents. But sometimes things do not go well. When an educator feels bullied, overworked, or unfairly blamed, a natural instinct may be to get the UniServ representative involved. That can cause all sorts of unwanted and unnecessary problems. One such problem occurs when the educator discloses personally identifiable information about the student to the UniServ representative. That is a violation of FERPA and the employee must be reprimanded. Such a disclosure occurs when details about the IEP are disclosed along with the student’s name. Or, if the details disclosed are specific enough to allow identification of the student even without the student’s name, there is a likely violation of FERPA. The educator may have a legitimate reason to complain, but never to violate FERPA.
504 Statewide Consortium
Tips has learned that a 504 Statewide Consortium has been formed. The Consortium welcomes any District Level 504 Leader/Coordinator to contact Dr. Sally Dorman, Howard County Public School System, at sally_dorman@hcpss.org to discuss joining. The Consortium has begun meeting and intends to meet at least four times per year.
