It's always okay to ask to observe a SDC! You should always talk to the Principal, visit the school (by appointment: Don't just drop in), and observe any classes that are of interest before you make a decision on placement for your child. If the school says no, then I suggest finding a different school!before we have our IEP? My DD turns 3 in March and her IEP will be shortly after the holidays. Is it ok for me to ask the school district if I can observe their SDC class? Our "loose" plan is to put DD in a typical preschool 2x/week and SDC 3x/week or visa versa.
Thanks!
Twinzrock
I would suggest you tell the SD that you want to be a fully informed participant in the IEP process so you have to see the wonderful SDC that you have heard sooo many wonderful things about. Of course, the SD may have other ideas about the placement than yours, and so they might not be thinking SDC at all.
At this point it gets interesting since the SD is not supposed to have decided the placement until after the IEP goals are agreed upon, and so they are not supposed to decide the placement until the IEP meeting. So you might want to wait until the IEP meeting to see what the suggested placement is and then ask to go look at it.
As to what to look for, that has come up in this discussion group before
Just a FYI, we have sometimes hit resistance to touring placements after they were were suggested by the SD. Usually the staffers cite student privacy issues. Wrights Law has an article about it.
Incidentally, if you are new to the IEP process, you might check out Wright's Law IEP FAQs
There is NO presumption of privacy just because a child is placed in a particular class. This is an issue decided by the Supreme Court in a case called Owasso. In that case, a college student sued the college because the teacher wanted the students to exchange papers and correct each others' (some of the readers here might remember that being done when they were in school to save the teacher correcting time). The Court decided that that was NOT an invasion of privacy because the papers were NOT maintained by the school (as in "records") and that no student has a PRESUMPTION of privacy just by showing up in a class. You can go to www.wrightslaw.com and search Owasso and I'm sure there's detailed info on it there. The point is that we parents do NOT invade the privacy of other students by going to observe a class. We also cannot bar others from viewing OUR kids. There is one legitimate reason schools don't want parents to tour classes at their whim -- touring a class disturbs the class. Of course, tours are necessary (see the post by Dad, above) but the interruptions need to be limited.
The best option is to be able to tour the class (and any other possible placements) BEFORE the meeting. However, if that is not feasible, a decision can be temporarily made during the meeting and parents can agree to the placement PENDING the tour. That means you tell the Team that you will NOT agree to the new IEP until you visit the class and are convinced it really is the right placement. Certainly, say this in the meeting. But follow it up with a letter stating that you do not agree with the proposed IEP until you see the class. Ideally, you should view at least 2 options, if there are any 2 that make sense. Parents are supposed to be able to CHOOSE and there is not such thing as a choice of one. Of course, sometimes the placement option is pretty obvious, so there is no reason to not OK it without seeing it or with only seeing one placement. The point is that YOU, the parent, need to have the same information that the other members of the IEP Team have. And, presumably, there are members of the IEP Team who HAVE seen the placement. If not, that's a pretty incompetent Team.