forward movement maybe?

I have just come from a meeting with my son's school
with the vice principle and the chairperson of the BOT -I wrote a letter
explaining my frustration and annoyance - My second letter to the BOT it invoked a fast response.

The outcome of the meeting is that The RTLB will write up a draft IEP
and be in contact with me the week of the 12Th February.

This wont affect my sons internal assessments as according to the vice principle No internal assessments happen pre March.

Talk about leaving a fine line!

Since course confirmation is not till 1 February and the first day of school isn't until the 7 February its hard to argue that we should have this set up earlier, so again I am waiting.

I am concerned that the high school's view of the IEP process and the MOE view seem to be quite different.

The school believes that by having a meeting with myself, the dean and the RTLB is an acceptable IEP meeting. other teachers are kept in the loop by means of a round robin process and if they want to contribute they can. (raises the questionS OF
what if they just don't see the same context of the information or if they dont keep in the loop? how do you know?)

the ministry of education recommendation of an IEP process is:

An individual education programme is developed in a meeting between you, your teenager’s teacher (or teachers), your teenager (if they wish to attend), and specialists as appropriate. The aim is to set short and long-term goals together for
your teenager that will show their learning progress overtime. It is also to identify:

* teaching practices that will help your teenager to learn
* changes that need to be made to the way the curriculum is taught, and to resources and materials
* any additional or specialised equipment your teenager may need
* the best way to provide personal care, where required
* how you can support the learning programme at home
* time frames, responsibilities and ways to monitor and evaluate your teenager's progress towards reaching goals.

The IEP
should be reviewed at least twice a year in a meeting with you, and the
same support team that developed the plan. You will be given a copy of
the revised programme after each meeting.
from http://www.teamup.co.nz/secondary/about/education/Steps+to+meeting+your+teenagers+needs.htm

The vice principle explained that high schools don't always have the
resources to implement the MOE policy but they do there best "It maybe
impractical to have all teachers at one meeting but perhaps we could do
it in 2-3 meetings?"

I explained I am happy to go in and meet with all 6 subject teachers if that's what it takes but isn't it a waste of my time doing that when one meeting would be far more effective?

Seems that I will have to put aside a lot of time for this IEP for my eldest!

The Vice principal commented "we have good [internal] communication with our teachers" did make me laugh. They have so far displayed poor communication with
our family and yet they want me to believe they have good communication
between teachers? Enough that I would trust a round robin process for
my sons IEP!

New to the high school experience (as a parent- yes) - willing to gamble with my sons academic future - NO.

I keep being told that its a bad time of year and that the RTLB has achieved
many things in a short time frame (since the end of October) But it
still leaves a sour note - Yes some things have happened.

Maybe I should be grateful of that?

I spoke with my son about the meeting and he is very immature in that he dosent see what the fuss is about, he dosent want to be treated differently, he just wants to get on with it.

A sentiment I share -I just want it sorted - I have a vision of my son being supported correctly, with achivable goals in place.

bye for now