Scheduling & Holding Meetings

Scheduling

Case managers are responsible for scheduling all required meetings for students on their caseloads. 

1. At least 10 days in advance of potential meeting dates, propose a date and time, or give 2-3 options, to the parent. Offer dates that are WELL IN ADVANCE of the due date (eligibility or IEP) to allow for rescheduling. You may offer the parent the option to participate remotely via Google Meet.

2. Once confirmed with parent, create a Meeting Invitation in EDPlan from the Documents page. Email or send home with the student.

3. Create a Google Calendar event. Add all required team members to the invitations (general education, administrator, OT, SLP, school psychologist). If the parent or any other team member will attend remotely, add a Google Meet link to the calendar event.

4. Confirm team member attendance.

5. If coverage is needed for a teacher's class to allow them to attend, work with paraprofessionals and administrator to find coverage.

Excusals

All team members must attend the entire meeting. If there are extenuating circumstances and a team member can attend only part of the meeting, the parent can be asked to excuse that team member and sign an Excusal form to document this. The special education teacher and administrator must attend the entire meeting. The Excusal form is on the Documents page in EDPlan and it's called Parent/Adult Student and District Agreement.

When a Parent Doesn't Show Up to a Meeting

There will be times when the meeting is scheduled but the parent does not arrive.  In that case follow these steps:

1. Call the parent to confirm they were planning on attending.  Let them know the meeting is being held that was scheduled-- unless the parent asks for the meeting to be rescheduled. If this is the case, the meeting must be postponed in order to allow the parent to meaningfully participate. Be mindful of due dates if you need to reschedule.

2. If the parent does not answer or is unable to make that time, HOLD the meeting with the team in attendance.  A second meeting can be scheduled with the parent to review/amend; however, the original scheduled meeting is the date we hold the meeting.  By holding meetings when scheduled, we meet our deadlines and do not create last minute meetings.

During and After the Meeting

If the meeting is held as expected, obtain signatures for all who physically attended and write “virtual” or “phone” for those who participated other than in person. 

If parents did not attend in person, but participated telephonically or virtually, the case manager will notate the parent’s participation (indicated above) and send home a copy of the document with the student. Be sure to document this in the contact log.

At times staff may have to leave early to attend another meeting or forget to sign before leaving the meeting.  In that situation, it is up to the case manager to track down that staff member for a signature.

All original signature pages must be filed in the student's green file (Middleton - therapy room filing cabinet; Boise - Basecamp file room).

Meeting Notes are to be signed or alternative participation indicated (virtual/phone) by all attendees.  Parents who do not attend should still receive a copy of the meeting notes. Document in contact log in EDPlan.  Do not sign meeting notes if you did not attend.

IEPs must be finalized within 5 days of the meeting. Scan and upload any signed pages to the student's EDPlan record using the green Upload External Attachments button at the VERY BOTTOM of the Documents page. Select the document for the page to be attached to. For example, if the signed page is the IEP cover page, it should be uploaded as an attachment to the finalized IEP. That way the signature page is directly linked to the IEP it belongs to.

Items to Maintain in Student Files

• Any item with an original signature. All signature pages must be scanned and uploaded to the student's EDPlan record, and the originals filed in the green file.

• Any Medicaid item. All signed pages must be scanned and uploaded to the student's EDPlan record. Originals of Medicaid documents (signed Consent to Bill Medicaid, physician referrals, SDRs, etc.) are kept in a separate filing cabinet from all other special education records for audit purposes.

• Treatment plans, medical diagnosis, etc., or information from an outside agency must be scanned and uploaded to the student's EDPlan record, and the originals filed in the green file.

• Testing protocols with personally identifiable information (PII) such as name, date of birth, student ID on them must be maintained in the student's testing file, which is kept separate from their green special education file and their Medicaid file.