Should schools have the right to dismiss a child from special education without parent permission? Some states are discussing this and there is a lot of debate within the schools.... What are your opinions?

I don't think any parent and or child really wants to be involved in special education. So when a child is truley ready to be dismissed from special education then I think parents will agree to it and be happy for it. I can see possibly a lot of children being dismissed before they should be and this will become just one more thing parents will have to fight for. Parents will then be forced to fight to keep their child in just like they may have had to fight to get their child in in the first place and just as they may have to fight to get services once the child is in special education.
Just one more thing to worry about, disagree about and argue about.

My child has just entered into special education and I am looking forward to the day when he no longer needs to be in special education but when he is dismissed I want it to be at the right time for him not because they need to tighten the budget or any other reason.

I think without parent permission is the key here.....

I don't think a school should ever do anything that involves a major change for the child without involving the parent(s) as well...it should be discussed with school administration, teachers, counselors, parents, and student if he or she is old enough to understand and give their input and express their opinions and needs/wants pertaining to their educational goals and desires.....

I see both sides here. I'm not refuting anything either of you say. I'll just throw out a real example. A student was identified as a student with a Developmental Delay at an early age. However, with early intervention, the student made significant progress. Within the federal definition of Developmental Delay, it is only for young students through age 6. The parent didn't want to let go of the IEP, even though he did not meet criteria in any category. He was too old for DD and he didn't qualify for it anyway. Parents refused to sign, so the school had to continue paying for services for this student, even though they were not warrented. This kid went on to middle school with a DD label (intented for preschoolers or Kindergarten) and an IEP that was completely inappropriate for him at the cost of the school.

Just something to think about

well that sheds different light on the topic for sure!!

I wonder if in that case, would it be possible for some sort of mediator or advocate for the child at school to step in and over rule the parents choice based on the significant progress that the child had made and therefore did not need that label or specific accommodations within the IEP any longer?
In that case, I would think it would hold the child back and hinder his progress rather than allow him to move forward to his full potential.....and in that case, the parent is NOT doing the child justice....

In the case sited, I would think that student would have been re-evaled, then exited. If the parent/s denied the exit of sped, then a mediator should have been brought in, and then, if that didn't resolve the issue, the district could have filed a case and proceeded in court. Yes, the district would have had to spend the money on this, but wonder what would have been cheaper for that district, years of giving a child sped services he didn't need, or paying for the attorney and court process fees, and other expnses incurred?

In the example given wouldn't it have been better for the school to simple change the IEP classification for the child? Therefore the child would have still kept some of the services it seemed were nessicarry -- but would have been covered under a much more apporiate classification, possibly even OHI.

I have also been a parent who was in my early and more uneducated in the ways of IEP's and workings of school a victim of the school talking me into pulling my dd's IEP at the end of 2nd grade. This left her with only and 504, which they "assured me" would be plenty for her as "she was doing fine". They did no testing, only observation and classroom assessments at the time. I then ended up in 4th grade haveing to restart the entire prosses again to get her reclassisifed. She was farther behind then in more areas, and then began behaviror problems in school.

I don't trust schools to make these decisions without informed parental input. Unfortunately, the schools are trying (now even more) to save money and cutting costs, by dropping children that have made strides with accomodations is one way to do it. But not having the power of the law of IEP behind us makes it nearlly impossible to inforce those accomodations when they are dropped to a 504 many times.

I think it is a very bad idea to let the fox (school) run the hen house (IEP).

I can't help but think there is something missing in this story. I wonder, why did the parent not want to let go of the iep And why did the school not fight to get rid of the iep?
What services were being provided to the child that the parent did not want to let go of? Just having an iep does not mean much, so something was being provided that the parent felt was working for their child. And the school did not care to prove the parent wrong even though it was not appropriate?

good question....I have come back and read this thread over and over and over again.....wondering similar questions.....

But I can also see the NOT wanting to let go just in case it was needed again down the road...so maybe REVISED to suit the needs for that year...with LESS individual instruction, etc....but still hang onto the foundation of the IEP and WHY it was created to begin with...in case in later years, it is needed again...and since it will already be in place, the hassles of getting one again will be avoided?

I, too, think that maybe the parents did not want to let go of the IEP completely, as a safety net. Once the IEP is "gone", it is very difficult to get back if needed. Schools do not want to let students "back on" an IEP and provide services, heck, way too many schools do not provide services already documented as what they should be doing.

I know for me, I would never want my dd completely exited from an IEP (no, she never will, she will always need extra support) but that thought would always nag me....what if, in the future, classes become overwhelming and she has nothing to help her if no IEP existed, she drowns enough having one.

Not many parents want their child to HAVE TO HAVE an IEP, but, I am sure there are some. But, then, if that child did not need services but wanted to keep an IEP, services should have been weaned down to next to nothing to prove that child could go through school independently. I do find too, that something is missing....if the school really thought that child no longer needed sped services, they would have fought in court, if needed, to prove this so they no longer had to "pay to provide" services.

It would be interesting to know more about this case.