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Can you imagine IEP meetings without the child's teachers? Or, your students' IEPs being changed without your knowledge or input?
TO: Dr Rebecca Cort,
Deputy Commissioner, VESID
FROM: A Concerned Educator
SUBJECT: We Need to Protect our Neediest Students
The NYS Education Department is again proposing legislation that would allow the commissioner to lower standards for IEP's and triennial evaluations. I believe that this is a bad proposal because it would remove the people who are closest to the student from the process of developing educational plans for our neediest children.
If this law is passed, the Commissioner could allow IEP meetings to be conducted without the child's regular and special education teachers, without the child's related services provider, without the school psychologist or the school social worker!
A child's IEP could be changed without convening a team meeting or involving the child's teachers, related service providers or the school psychologist.
In addition, the child's triennial reevaluation could be waived before the child's teachers and providers and the school psychologist even begin to consider whether they have adequate information to plan for the child's future.
This is simply bad educational policy that will not serve the needs of our children and their parents. To allow the Commissioner to lower our standards for IEPs and triennial evaluations to conform to a federally defined minimum is just not good enough for New York State children.
If you want to read more about this proposal please read the information here at http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/idea/publichear506.htm
The Commissioner wants the State legislature to allow him to adopt regulations permitting parents and school districts to exclude Committee on Special Education (CSE) members from CSE meetings; to change students' individualized education programs (IEPs) after the annual review without holding a CSE meeting; and to waive triennial reevaluations.
Since federal education officials have informed New York State that it does not have to make conforming changes in State law until June 2007 and final IDEA regulations have not been issued, there is no legal requirement for New York State to act at this time. When the time comes, we will examine every proposed change in State law to ensure that it does not represent a diminution of the high standards we have set for students with disabilities and their families in New York State.
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