question about upcoming CSE meeting I am also in New YOrk and I also have this problem.  Call the District back.  Tell them what you've told us.  Yes, there is NO WAY you can participate as a FULL MEMBER of the CSE unless you have all the reports that are going to be presented there 5 business days before the meeting.  This is your right in NY.  Go search Procedural Safeguards on the NYS ed website.  It will take you to that section of the Part 200.  Also search CSE and you should turn up lots of information about parent participation. In fact, search parent participation.  The first step toward knowing your rights is reading about them.  Tell the district that you want ALL the written material that will be presented plus the draft IEP so that you can fully participate as a CSE member.  If they can't get the paperwork to you 5 business days ahead of time now, postpone the CSE until such time as they can.  If you don't want to postpone, go to the meeting and when you get something in writing you haven't seen before, read it out loud to the group. If at any time you think you cannot make a decision about something without having thought about it more, table the meeting and tell them that they'll have to reconvene the CSE at some later date when you HAVE had time to mull this all over. If you read EVERYTHING out loud at the meeting and make the meeting go from 20 minutes to two hours, they'll know better next time.Thanks Tzoya! I will stop by boces today as it's close to my house and request the material.  I appreciate your response and I admire your knowledge!!! nakama Also, if you've asked BOCES for the paperwork and they haven't given it to you it may be because they are REQUIRED to funnel that to you THROUGH the school district.  It's best to get into the habit of contacting your school district IN WRITING for everything.  No, you can't get into the on-line IEP program.  I work for BOCES and only get access to my 6 students.  My son is in another BOCES class and I do not have access to his file.  The school and program should be more than willing to share all the info with you though....you are part of the process.  As for the quality of the BOCES program it really depends....you need to research it.  For example in my part of NY our BOCES (for those who don't know it goes by county) will provide both services in district classes (what we call district based programs-that is what John is in) and center-based programming where I work.  For John he is in our school district but the classroom is run by BOCES....so he gets to be in a less restrictive environment, but with the supports he needs.  I work in a program in which all the classes in our building are special ed classes.  Now, the BOCES in the next county only has classes in district, they don't offer a program like I am in.  So you can cross-contract with other BOCES to get the best program....districts don't like to talk about that option....but I have students who are on the bus 1 hour each way just to be in our program because it was what was best for them.  The county next to us used to have a very strong autism program and provided much of the autism training in the area.  Over the last few years they have gotten away from the autism focus and now my BOCES does more with autism.  You really have to push and ask lots of questions.Hi all :). I hope you are all well.  I have my son's annual review/CSE meeting on Monday. He is currently in kindergarten in an ABA all inclusive class.  I know that the superintendent of special ed was in 3 weeks ago to observe him. Anyway, I still haven't received his reports to review from speech, OT, ABA. I thought that I would have received them by now, since I received them at least 2 weeks before his CPSE meetings while he was still in preschool. I called today (school district) to ask why I haven't received them.  The secretary told me that since my son is in a BOCES class, that they don't provide the reports until the meeting. I was surprised at that.  How can I review, digest, and reconsider any goals in front of the entire CSE board in 30 minutes?  Have any of you ever experienced this?  I know BOCES is well known in NY, but I'm not sure about other states. Boces is another system that provides services in special ed and vocational training.  The class that my son is currently in is more intensive than the one autistic class that my own district provides. thanks in advance for any input. nakama I wish I could help you with this but I have no idea what to tell you.  Adam is still in preschool and the time that they evaluated him last they gave me the reports also before hand.  We are in a different school district and state now so I have no idea how they are going to do it here.  I certainly understand how hard it would be to agree to anything without being able to digest any of the results first.  I also have never heard of Boces before.  Hope someone can come along and help you.  Take care and good luck, karrie Your SCHOOL DISTRICT is in charge of the CSE process.  You should also ask them for any paperwork they might be bringing.  BOCES is a service provider.  The school district is legally responsible for the IEP.BOCES is providing the service............I work for BOCES here..........and the school district is required to get the materials to you.  In my program we use in internet based IEP program so we and district work on them at the same time.  Then our program secertary in my BOCEs program prints the final "draft" and it goes to the parents AT LEAST 3 weeks before CSE.Thanks everyone!! I actually pulled up the info off line through NYSDEPT of education.  I read that I was entitled to the reports before an upcoming meeting (thanks Tzoya). I went to Boces, and asked for his reports, and they gave them to me right away. It was interesting that my district told me Boces was responsible, and Boces told me that my district was responsible.  Then they blamed it on new staff.  I guess it doesn't matter in the end. I got the reports.  I have my meeting tomorrow.  I'm a little nervous, because I know the superintendent of special ed came to evaluate my son 2 weeks ago.  I hope all goes smoothly!! Thanks for all your replies.  It's really appreciated!! nakama I'm very glad you got the reports but it's VERY important that you KNOW that the ultimate LEGAL responsibility for an IEP is with the District.  BOCES is a service provider. The District contracts with BOCES so that it can get your child's IEP met, but if BOCES can't meet the criteria in the IEP for some reason, the DISTRICT is still responsible.  A common problem with some BOCES programs is that they come up short on therapists, often speech therapists. So they'll give only part of the number of therapies a particular student has on his IEP.  The DISTRICT is then responsible for giving the extras thru a service or by some other means.  The problem is that you may not FIND OUT.  Make SURE all your child's therapists are doing all their sessions with your child. If not, contact the District, in writing, and get "compensatory services."  This is a BIG problems across the state.  Let us know how the CSE goes. Hi, I am very new to this board, so please excuse me if I don't know the proper formats.  I have a question about the people that know the BOCES system.  My son was just put in there and I don't know that much about it - whether or not it is considered a good program or not.  He was kicked out of public school and BOCES was the only place that took him immediately...Any information would be greatly appreciated. Also, one other question, are we able to get the passwords from the distric to log into the online Goals programs that the districts use to create the IEP? Thanks for any help any of you can be to me.... It all depends on the program and why your son was "kicked out" of the District.  The whole point is that you want your son in a placement where he can make progress.  If the local school district is incapable of helping your son, even if they SHOULD be able to help your son, BOCES may be the perfect alternative. However, it might not be.  My son is also in a BOCES placement but was in the local District through 7th grade. He's now in 10th grade.  He is NOT in the Regents track but in alternate assessment.  Can you post more details about your current situation? I live in Suffolk CO. Long Island.  The county is SO populated that we have two separate BOCES districts --  Western Suffolk and Eastern Suffolk.  Their classes are only k through 21.  There are no BOCES preschools here.  Preschool is handled completely by state-approved private schools.  When my son started K, back in 1996, there were virtually no BOCES classes inside District buildings out here.  They were ALL in centers.  That has changed and now we have both types.  BOCES programs, even those inside local schools, are NOT run by the local district and the teachers in those programs officially report to BOCES administrators, not District administrators. BOCES is a separate school district, in and of itself, but it is NO ONE's "district of residence."  Every child's "district of residence" is his local school district.  If the BOCES district to which your own district sends its kids does not have an appropriate program, that BOCES district MAY sign a release for that child to receive services in a neighboring BOCES.  However, the release states that this BOCES "has no appropriate programs," so that means EVERY PROGRAM has to have been eliminated.  Once that happens, you may look at programs in the neighboring BOCES district.  This is not the same as "cross-districting" from your local school district.  In that case, you local school district contracts with another local school district to send your child to one of their programs.  This does not involve BOCES.  My son was in our local district through 7th grade. What I've discovered since he entered BOCES a couple of years ago is that I have a harder time really knowing what's going on in school.  The school is much further from my home and there are fewer natural occasions for me to visit.  I was shocked this year to find out in January that my son's class, which last year was made up of 7 higher functioning kids of various disabilities, is currently made up of 13 kids -- 8 of whom are nonverbal, non-communicative, medically fragile and some non-ambulatory.  I only discovered this because Jamie came home imitating the odd sounds and wild gestures that these kids are making.  Clearly what happened is that there was not enough enrollment for BOCES to form 2 classes so they got a variance to put 13 in a 12-1-1 and just dumped the lower-functioning kids (there's no other word for it, their placement is SO inappropriate) into my son's class.  NYS requires that self-contained classes have a reading/math range of no more than 3 years.  Since there is one girl in my son's class who is so high functioning I mistook her for an aide (these kids are high school age) and one girl who is blind, deaf, non-mobile, in diapers and unable to communicate on any level, we have a range of ability from infancy to near age-level.  I could file a state complaint, but that will have to wait until after my annual review for our son because I DON'T want to jeopardize his program. Once next year is set, I WILL lodge a state complaint.  This sort of dumping helps no one.  This COULD happen in a district class, but I think some parent would find out sooner.  Another draw-back I've noticed for BOCES students is that Districts are often reluctant to accept them back into District classes when the children are ready.  This may not be true elsewhere, but it's true here.  I don't want to dis BOCES, though.  The staff there often have far better skills for addressing disabilities that District staffs do.  So, again, it all depends. Thank you all for your help and information.  My son is in Nassau BOCES Jerusalem Avenue...  I am trying to learn and gain as much infomation as possible.  This site is very imformative.. THANKS!!!!!
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