Below is an email I wrote Leonora, an education specialist at Plaza Vista. Her responses are in bold.
Hi Leonora,
Thank you for your message. I have a few questions and concerns detailed below:
Can you explain the purpose of this meeting and what will be discussed? I see that it is marked a “Plan Review” meeting, but I’m not sure what that entails.
-A student with an IEP has at least one plan review during the school year. The purpose of the plan review meeting is to update the parents on the student’s current levels of performance on his IEP goals and overall functioning in academics, communication, social/behavioral, motor, vocational and physical areas. We discuss strengths and challenges, and propose new goals and services from data and observations collected by the team.
One of my concerns is that his Tri2 Progress Report was completed in early March, yet this meeting won’t take place until two months later in early May. So any data we discuss will be outdated, and therefore Lance and I will come to the meeting unprepared and not knowing if or how Lucas has progressed in those two months. This will make it difficult for us to contribute to a productive discussion.
-Please don’t worry. We continuously collect data and present to you the most updated information at the plan review meeting. We ask for your input (your observations of growth and areas of concerns most importantly) through the parent survey that I sent you so that we can take them into consideration when we propose a new set of goals, accommodations and services. We send you the final progress report, the draft present levels and the draft goals ideally at least a few days or a couple of days before the meeting so that you may review them before the meeting and ask questions, clarifications or express concerns about the proposed IEP. You are a part of the IEP team, and we highly value your involvement and participation.
Will Lucas’ Tri3 Progress Report have been completed and shared with us before this meeting? If not, when can we anticipate it being sent to us? And if not, what is the rationale for having this meeting in early May instead of sooner (to discuss Tri2 Progress Report) or later (to discuss Tri3 Progress Report)?
-Yes, please see my answer above. Lucas’s IEP was initiated on 5/18/2023; we normally schedule the annual plan review meeting close to the IEP date. We give students enough time to meet their annual goals. After our meeting on May 7th, 2024, the next plan review will be around one or two weeks before May 7, 2025. Please note that we can meet anytime of the year per your request.
Another concern of mine is that Lucas was invited to attend IUSD’s Learning Recovery Academy (Summer School). This was a surprise to me, and worries me about his future in First Grade. I’m not sure what the metric is to elicit an invitation, but I assume it has to do with his most recent report card that shows he has only “beginning” and “developing” skills across all disciplines. This is concerning to me — making me think he needs even more help and possibly new goals added to his IEP. This ties back into my initial question of asking what the purpose of this May meeting will be and if it is to just review the current goals or to add new ones or something otherwise.
-The Learning Recovery Academy (Summer School) invites students whose scores in the Literacy Performance Assessments (Alphabet Recognition, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics Inventory) fall in the 25th percentile. Yes, Lucas is demonstrating beginning and developing skills in the areas indicated in the report card, and the summer school is a great opportunity for him to strengthen those beginning and developing skills to prepare him for first grade. In the Learning Recovery Academy, students receive intervention on the essential grade level standards. It will be beneficial for Lucas as he transitions to first grade. Lucas will not work on his IEP goals if he attends the LRA Summer School. You have the option to accept or decline the invitation.
I appreciate any clarity you can offer.
Lastly, no matter the date of the meeting, we’d like to request it be at 2:30 pm or later as to give us time to pick up our 2nd grader after school and take all of the kids to a babysitter.
-I will inform the team of the adjusted time.
Thank you and I look forward to your response.
I hope that I was able to answer all your questions. Please feel free to reach out for other questions or concerns. Thank you very much and have a good evening!
Sincerely,
Leonora