Hello,

My elementary age child recently qualified for an IEP; however, I lack confidence in the ability of the SPED teacher to deliver the SDI.

The recently hired SPED resource room teacher received emergency certification, so they neither have a teaching certificate nor special education designation. This person's former position was as an IA - a position requiring minimal qualifications.

Our school does not have a counselor and the psychologist's time is shared with other schools thus limited to evaluations. Overall, not a supportive situation for anyone - children, staff, parents.

I don't anticipate this situation changing as the district is financially strapped and resources are focused on racial equity not disability.

The school is a full-time, self-contained gifted site.

IMHO, SPED teachers need more training, not less, to handle the complex needs of children with disabilities much less those who also have very high intelligence.

While our plan is to move to a better resourced and more supportive district next year, what do we do in the interim?

Would you reject the portion of the SDI that the school proposes to be delivered by the SPED teacher? Private pay?

I read the state law, and they allow these emergency certifications as long as the district proves it was a last recourse, and they exhausted all other options. I don't appear to have a legal basis, so I'd rather use our discretionary funds for disability treatment and remediation than litigation.

I'm awaiting a reply from our state sped ombudsman, but I'd like to hear boots-on-the-ground stories and suggestions from parents that faced this situation.

I've purposely omitted under what area of SDI my child qualified, because I'd prefer the focus of the conversation remain on the school resource situation rather than specifics of the disability.

Thanks,
ndf

You may wish to fine-tune your focus to emphasize meeting your child's identified needs, regardless of circumstances.

Welcome!

I'm approaching this from experience on the school side of the special education process, not the parent side. I would be very cautious about rejecting a portion of an IEP based on your discomfort with the qualifications of the service provider. Service providers can be changed. Rejecting the service won't force the district to get your DC a more skilled provider, it'll just remove the mandate to provide the service in any form; changing the IEP, once rejected, will be more complex. Once the school proposes a service, and you reject it, their responsibility with regard to that service is done, and you reduce your leverage for getting the service reinstated. Especially on an initial IEP, where there is no stay-put.

It's a different question, of course, if you believe that engaging with the service using this provider will be injurious, rather than simply not effective, but I would imagine you would have mentioned it if this were the more extreme case.

Depending on the service in question, the likelihood of negative outcomes to your child from waiting for service, and your access to qualified private providers, as well as how you wish to allocate resources, it would probably make the most sense simply to find an outside provider in the short-term, and try to work with the district on finding a qualified in-district provider in the mid-/long-term. If you wanted to also pursue legal recourse, in the event you won (which, as you note, is not guaranteed), the district would likely have to pay for the compensatory services that you sought outside. So you could, if you wished, take a chance that you would win, in which case you would end up paying for only the litigation. But that's not a slam dunk, of course.

Thank you, aeh, for your help .

I just returned from the evaluation results meeting, and their position is take-it-or-leave-it on the SPED Resource teacher as the provider of SDI. I asked what would happen if I choose to private pay for SDI, and they said I would have to sign a document that said I denied my child FAPE and they wouldn't supply services in the other identified area of SDI. All or nothing.

I didn't sign the evaluation, because I felt the above information was a new, concerning development. I've contacted a lawyer, not because I intend to sue, but to further understand my rights and the consequences of the choices in front of me.

I believe private pay is the best choice, but I'm concerned about the ramifications of this decision.

As to whether or not this provider is injurious, I guess it depends on your perspective. I don't believe removing my child from a classroom with a highly qualified teacher to SDI from a teacher with neither a masters in education nor special education certified is beneficial. I feel its harmful if this person doesn't know what they're doing.

nbt

You know you don't have to tell them that you're private paying for outside SDI. But it's true that they would need a signature from you declining services, if you choose not to have the in-school SDI. So if you wanted it to stay on the IEP, you would pretty much have to let her attend the in-school SDI, and then tutor outside of school hours.

All-or-nothing is not actually legal. You are allowed to decline or accept each service or accommodation individually, as long as the accepted plan still has SDI on it (if there's no SDI left, then it's not an IEP). The district is required only to propose services that can defensibly be said to address all of the identified disability needs. As I said, if you decline services, they are off the hook. The hangup is that if you don't have an active IEP to begin with, you may have fewer rights in some states to negotiate partial rejection of the IEP. I think it's wise to consult legal advice with current knowledge of your specific state and district.

This is what I was thinking, too... I'm aware of families doing this to meet their child's needs.

For basic info on special ed, see wrightslaw (but is seems that you may already be aware of this resource).

aeh, I appreciate your insights.

The discussion of private pay was in the context of a larger discussion with the school, which I omitted from my post for brevity. I'm aware disclosure is not a requirement.

Thanks again!

nbt