LEAs Must Allow for Participation of Persons Brought by Parents to the IEP Meeting

Julie Weatherly featured an article in a journal titled In Case, Volume 48, Numbers 4-6; and in Volume 49, Numbers 1-2. The title of the article is Avoiding Legal Disputes in Special Education: 21 Training Points for Administrators. According to Weatherly,

"Parents are entitled to bring to an IEP meeting 'other individuals who have knowledge or special expertise regarding the child.' Generally, unless confidentiality would be violated, school staff should allow such persons to attend under the IDEA. However, it should be remembered that the IEP process is not a 'voting' process and that 'stacking the deck' by having the most people there will not lead to 'winning the IEP.' Rather, it is a process by which the members of the IEP Team, including the parent, attempt to reach consensus as to the components of a student's IEP and program. Because regulatory guidance indicates that the parents will decide whether their invitees have 'knowledge or expertise regarding the student,' it is generally settled that parents may bring people such as attorneys, next door neighbors, grandparents and other relatives, Sunday school teachers, and private practitioners. School personnel should be trained to adequately afford such persons the opportunity to appropriately participate in the IEP meeting. Of course, the school agency should attempt to ascertain whether the parent intends to bring anyone to the meeting so that appropriate arrangements can be made for the meeting. Though parents are not required to provide this information to the school agency, there is nothing that would prevent a school agemcy from adjourning the meeting if necessary, especially if the parent brings an attorney without prior notice to the school agency."