Navigating Uncertainty: A Washington Update for Special Education Leaders

Hello everyone and welcome. I think we're seeing a lot of participants join, so we can go ahead and get started in the interest of time. I want to maximize the time, uh, today with Dr. Bateman. And so just to kick things off quickly, I am Diana Helpbond, CEO and founder here at Parallel. We are very excited for today's conversation. Thank you to everyone who is joining. I am personally so thrilled to be able to kick things off, to be able to host this forum, to help navigate all of the uncertainty that is plaguing, frankly, all of us here in special education world. Today's conversation will very nicely combine Parallel's mission to improve access and quality in special education services with Dr. Bateman, who needs no introductions, expertise in law and compliance. You know, our goal with today's session is to be able to provide very actionable tools and clarity during this time of uncertainty with everything going on. With the federal level and Department of Education news that is continually dropping. We are here to ultimately support special education administrators, all of you on this call who work in this realm. I think we might have some providers, teachers joining as well, potentially even some parents. And so I know there's growing pressure across the board, and we want to be able to arm you all with some really practical, ready-to-use resources. I want to say an extra special thank you to Parallel's partners who are on the webinar. There's been so much amplification of today's session. And above all, I want to thank Dr. Bateman for his willingness to partner with us and for the amazing presentation that he is going to take us all through. So with— Without further ado, let me just give some quick background here. We're going to have Dr. Bateman take us through the presentation that he has prepared, but we are also trying to leave a session for Q&A. So if you have questions that come up, you can drop them throughout the session in the bar at the bottom in the chat. We will be then reserving time at the end for Q&A. And for those of you who do not know Dr. Bateman, We are so excited to have him for today. I think we have a slide with all of his accomplishments, and I think he might be controlling the slides. Perfect. I'll give him the shout out so he doesn't have to do it himself. But I'm sure many of you are already familiar with Dr. Bateman's work and/or seen him live at conferences without fail. At almost every case conference I or our team has ever attended, Dr. Bateman's sessions are the ones That are always the busiest. We find ourselves certainly gravitating towards— gravitating towards. He ultimately has overseen decades' worth of hands-on experience in the realm of special ed. He has really walked in your shoes here and understands the daily pressures, competing demands, and all of the real-world complexities. that come with serving students with disabilities while staying legally compliant, which is a lot easier said than done. And so with that and his amazing track record, I'm gonna shut up and pass the stage to him. So thank you again to everyone for joining and excited. Did y'all have a—

Thank you, Diana. I just appreciate Parlels organizing this and arranging this so that we could talk about this one. When you were— if you were logging in, you probably heard Miles Davis playing It Never Entered. It never entered my mind a few weeks ago that we would have to have a conversation on this. So it was fortuitous that we were playing that song from Miles, which I want to address as we talk about this one. I wish we did not have needed to be having this conversation. I just let you know that everything we're going to be providing for you today is going to be updated as of right now. Things are changing. Things are changing on such a dynamic rate that we need to do our best to stay informed about where we are with this one. So let me just give you some heads up of what we're going to be doing. I'm going to be talking about what has happened in Washington just in the past week and a half, talking about the rifts at OSEP. I'm going to explain what OSEP does, where, why, why we have OSEP, what's going on there, things like this. And then at the end, we have some, we have some letters that we're going to get to you. That will help you in understanding how to explain this to your teachers, to your parents, to school board members, and a possible press release that you can then tailor to get out to explain what your district is doing to help address the needs of kids eligible for special education related services. Because you're getting, probably getting questions in ways that you have not historically, and we want to do our best to explain what's going on as a part of this one. And so those— so my goal is to— they've issued me a challenge. Challenge to see if I can talk fast. I'm going to raise to that level and see what we can do as a part of this because we've got a lot to cover. Just to remind you that this is a— if you have questions about something that you are going to make educational decisions on, and you have, you should consult with your legal counsel at all times. We're going to give you— we are going to do our absolute best. And I mean this with all sincerity. Those of you who've seen me do presentations before know I do not like to use the word best. It is not part of my Lexicon, because most of the presentations I talk about are appropriate on our obligations. This, but we are going to do our best to provide you information that will assist you in moving forward as a part of this one. So here is the title. We're recording this, and we're going to get information to you. All right. So lock in, folks. Here we go. All right. So the scope of the federal cuts. Right now, right now, there is not a budget in Washington. And there— and so the department— many, many of the departments that are run by the U.S. Department, the federal government, are shut down. But recently, the U.S. Department of Education implemented a series— a massive reduction in force where there were 466 federal employees laid off. And what is important about this one is this is what we're going to be talking about and the implications it has for you. Okay, is it legal? I'm not going to tell you whether it's legal or not. That's where the courts are going to adjudicate this at some point about where we are with this one. So there are some staff, and there were also parallel cuts to the CDC. And so some of the individuals at the CDC have been brought back, especially those who relate to measles and those who relate to Ebola. And so that's happened. We don't do a lot relating to measles and Ebola in the Department of Education, so those individuals have not brought back as a part of this one. Basically what we're seeing is the Office of Special Education Rehabilitative Services, OSERS, the officer responsible for IDEA oversight, has been functionally dismantled. Just keep this in mind. Not only can you not get questions answered from Department of Education staff, it's done. There's no one working there as a part of this. Keep this in mind as we address this one. The massive rift at the Department of Education, major cuts to OSERS, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Office of Special Education Programs, and Rehabilitative Services Administration. What this is going to do is it's going to slow guidance, it's going to slow monitoring, and slow enforcement. So what we're going to be addressing is the immediate and long-term impacts on students and educators and what you can take back to your teams. And stay, stay tuned because we're gonna have letters for you at the end that you can use to get this out there. All right, but step back, step back. Many of you are like, why do we even need OSEP? Okay? Make sure you understand. I've highlighted some words here just for your own S&G as a part of this. But OSEP was founded because Congress recognized that guaranteeing educational rights required federal leadership. It required funding, and it required enforcement. I'm going to make this personal. I'm going to make this personal because my brother-in-law is labeled as having autism and profound intellectual disabilities. For the first 17 years of his life, He was legally prevented from attending schools, and many states had laws on the books that would prevent individuals from participating with prevent individuals with disabilities from participating in education. The law, and we're celebrating the law. The 50th anniversary of the law is coming now. The signing of the law is next month. 50th anniversary on this one. Pay attention to the piece I have coming in the Journal of Special Education Leadership on this one. But it's interesting about this. We'll we'll. Reach out to me, we'll get it to you. But the core purpose is to make sure that the federal government was stepping in to ensure that states could not prevent kids with disabilities from participating in schools and to protect their rights. We have, and we as a parallel part of this, is that they were also, their Office of Civil Rights was established to make sure that kids were getting meaningful educational opportunities. There were civil rights divisions of Social Security, there were civil rights divisions of the Department of Veterans, there were others out there because we wanted ensure that the federal government could ensure what was happening as a part of this one because states were doing wildly different things. That's what we need to pay attention to this. I want to make sure that you understand this is brought in part because of issues where students were prevented from attending school. The big picture, OSEP has been nearly eliminated. IDEA's oversight background on this one, and I'm going to talk about this one anymore. The Office of Civil Rights capacity has been reduced. It was an opportunity for parents to Find ways of adjudicating or getting disputes registered and heard without having to pay for attorneys. You're going to hear me talk about this in a few minutes. Attorneys are coming to you as a result of this, so keep this in mind. If you've spent any time on the parent Facebook pages, you absolutely are going to see this. Keep this in mind as I talk about this one. But the information on this one is that we needed oversight as a backbone to ensure what was happening and ensure we could help and provide this for this.

Okay.

IDEA. If you learn nothing else, this is— I mean, not that I want you to go away, but learn this one. The regulations that we have for IDEA and Section 504 remain in law. Just keep— that's it. Tell your teachers this. We have letters for you on this one, but the operational support is gone. So to keep this in mind, what does this matter? Are we talking about a small segment of the population? 7.5 million students with disabilities depend on IDEA. This is a huge chunk of kids out there, and these are kids who have disabilities at no fault of their own, and we just need to do our level best to support them. It is $15 billion in federal funding is affected. Every single school district and in Freedom Virginia Division gets funding based on this. Every single school district gets this one, and so it's dependent on your numbers and what you have as a part of this one. But what is the result of this one is teachers are going to carry increased compliance matters on this one. So keep this in mind as we address this one. All right. So what are some likelihoods that we're going to see as a result of the direct implications of this one? Well, the Office of Special Education Programs issues what are called Dear Colleague letters. These are letters when there's someone out in the field that has information that they are questioning about. What does this really mean for my district and how should we do this? They provide guidance on this one and they provide information that helps the field understand how to do this. They also often Write what are called frequently asked questions. After the Endrew Supreme Court case in 2017, the Department of Education put some really good FAQs out there about how to implement that and what we mean by appropriate education. So just think that there's no one working there. So if a district has a concern about what's going on, think about this. Longer response times. I'm not sure if you can get responses. Slower grant approvals and corrective action program reviews, things like this one. But we're going to see dramatic reduced civil rights investigations, and that's what we're going to be seeing. All right, so let's talk about that. That's the federal impact is what's going on. All right, what is the impact on your states and districts? Well, we're going to rely on states doing this more, and what you're going to see is you're going to potentially see at the state level more complaints because parents are well aware of this. And if you see, again, if you spend any time on the parent Facebook pages, you're seeing very specifically is that parents are talking about that go to offices of civil rights. You can't do that anymore. There's going to be greater variability between states. Prior to 2017, prior to the Endrew Supreme Court case, one of the reasons that the Supreme Court took that case was one of the rationale for it is it shouldn't depend on where you live, the education that you get based on a federal law. But at the time I was living in Pennsylvania, which is in the Third Circuit, which had a higher standard. And we— I was living at a place where the U.S. Army War College was in Carlisle, and we would get parents who would come there from other states that had a lower standard. And it was really dramatic how variable the education that their child was receiving based on where that child lived. We have since clarified that a little bit as a result of the Endrew case, but you can expect this to change.

Okay.

So districts are also going to assume greater responsibility as a result of this one. So you're going to have to pay closer attention to what's going on, but less uniformity in student experience. And many of you are aware of this, that many of those kids, many of the kids eligible for special education are highly transient kids. And these kids are transient at— again, they don't— they're not transient based on anything they do. Others are making decisions that causing them to move. It's not like the kid, a 6th grader with a pretty significant learning disability, is like, you know, I think I'd like to move to a different state. That's not how this happens. So we have to think about the expectations for this and talk about the fact that IEPs need to be viewed as communication documents to help these kids move as much as possible when they move from place to place as we address this one. So the impact on states is there's going to be states we're going to expect increased guidance on this one. Wait, there's more classroom-level guidance on this one. Okay, so what we're going to— you're going to see is this part of this. Teachers are going to become de facto compliance officers on this one. Teachers— we're going to rely on teachers to pay attention to this one. Teachers are going to need to have appropriate training, appropriate guidance, and appropriate supports to understand what's going I don't know about this one. They're going to be being asked questions and they're going to be at the front lines of this. I value teachers. I come from a family of educators. I trust teachers and I appreciate what's going on, but we need to make sure we're providing increased information to teachers so they understand what their roles and responsibilities are in this one. What I'm recommending is that teachers increase their documentation of what's going on as a part of this. We have an acronym in special ed. I don't remember what it stands for, but it's called CYA. We need to think about this is to make sure that we're documenting where we stand with this and understand what we're doing as part of this. But as a result of this, instructional time potentially is going to decrease because of the documentation demands as a result of this. So we need to do a better job of making sure that we provide supports for teachers to help them do what's going on. We already have a shortage of teachers. Feel free to write that down if that's news to you. We already have a shortage of teachers, but what we have to do is a better job of supporting the teachers which we have and making sure they understand what's going on. But This is also as a result of what's going on in Washington, and the sheer volume of families that have reached out to me as a result of this is confusion and anxiety for families. Families are trying to figure out what's going on and what, what do we do as a result of this? How is this affecting them? What is going to change as a result of this? So that's— we'll give you a letter that will help you with this part of the swim. But we're also, as a result of this, going to see slower corrective actions. These students, I mean, one of the things we have been— even if anyone would've been involved in a due process hearing, we have very specific timelines. Why do we have timelines? Because we want to make sure that we understand that these kids are changing on a rapid rate, and we want to provide them information as quickly as possible so that we can provide appropriate services in a timely fashion, because kids change rather rapidly. If we delay this process, things are going to happen for these kids, and we potentially will be providing inappropriate services for these kids. So delayed findings will prolong student harm and they'll prolong and make things worse. The corrective action plans and monitoring reports will absolutely be delayed. There's no one there to do this. So keep this in mind. So keep this in mind as we address this one and keep this in mind as we're paying attention to this. So we need to do a better job of providing supports to help address where we are with this one. Okay, more. We have some great technical assistance centers, right? The IRIS Center. If you have not spent any time at the IRIS Center, Google IRIS Vanderbilt right now and you'll see all sorts of training modules. Go to the IEP ones. I wrote the— co-wrote those with Mitch Yell. And we— so think about this. The LEAD IDEA Center, the one that's helping train principals, great center. Cedar, PBIS, all their funding centers will potentially be disrupted. And the information that they're providing to provide good information to help people do their jobs is going to be severely impacted. We need to do a better job of making sure we realize these technical assistance centers provide wonderful resources for where we are. This one. Okay, so professional development materials may be delayed or defunded as a part of this one. So you have to think about where are you going to get your professional development information about this one. But if you're looking for really good professional development, go to the IRIS Center. They got good stuff. So keep that in mind as we address this one. Wait, there's more. Okay, instructional confusion. Right there, that we— and we had disparate impacts about what we mean by LRE. And those of you who are principals may have seen the piece that I wrote for the National Association of Elementary School Principals that just came out about 2 weeks ago, and they're in the— in their September-October newsletter or journal, whatever. But we have disparate information on what is meant by LRE depending on where you live. The issue relating to discipline, the issue relating to shortened school days. And so keep this in mind. We make sure we need to provide appropriate guidance about what's talking about. What do we mean by a shortened day? Because there are some districts that are taking kids at night. A kid comes to school at 8:30 and then a kid is basically leaving school at 9 and not getting any additional instruction the rest of the day. And what is that providing appropriate services? We can talk about that one, but it's kids based on discipline, not based on medical needs, but based on discipline. Directives from administrators about what do we mean by this one? And so keep this in mind as we talk about the administrators are going to be the ones on the front burner on this one, trying to understand what we can do to provide appropriate supports. Okay, so what we're expecting, and those who've maybe seen me do presentations on this in the past understand that as a part of our definition of FAPE, we have the procedural definition, we have the substantive definition, and we have the implementation part of the definition. We're going to potentially see more risks of procedural mistakes, more risk of this where we understand what do we really mean by this one and what do we mean to address this one. So keep this in mind as we pay attention to this one. Right? We're going to see compliance burden on teachers. I already talked about this one. I mean, many of you have seen me do presentations, and I've got a presentation coming up in a few weeks, which I'll show in a few minutes. Don't worry. But it's a free one. Don't worry. But it's increased progress reports and service tracking, what we can do to provide appropriate progress reports to help understand what we do as a part of this one. We need to do a better job of this one. But you're going to see, I would recommend more audits, internal audits, to understand what's going on. But I don't want to make sure— I want to make sure that teachers can provide services to kids, not just spend time tracking what's going on and filling out paperwork. The actual service to the kids is what's vital, and we need to do a better job of making sure we're providing this as a part of what we're adjusting and make sure.

Okay.

All right. Delayed evaluations.

Okay.

We're going to see expired IEPs implemented beyond timelines. We're going to see reevaluations, new eligibility delayed as a part of this one, Because we're going to be burdened about how— what do we need to do as a part of this and how we need to track this. And I can see districts upping the amount of requirements they have for reevaluations and understanding where we are with this one. And so keep this in mind, right? So what also— hey, painting a picture for you, not altogether positive— erosion of behavior supports.

Right.

The centers, the PBIS coaching's paused, behavior incidents will potentially increase, less para support is a part of this one. We rely on the Department of Education to provide us Guidance. We rely on them to help us understand what we need to be doing. We rely on them to make sure that what we're doing is appropriate. We rely on them to help us, and taking away this is going to cause significant problems for us.

More.

Okay, okay. Twice exceptional students lose nuanced guidance on this one. Some of these dual identified kids, we have some serious needs that we need to pay attention to. How are we articulating the needs for them and how are we addressing this one? So keep that in mind.

Thank you.

Okay, so wait, more gifted IEP conflicts unresolved. Some of the states have separate gifted programs. Some have incorporated this. Some have gifted IEPs, and some of them incorporated that into the IDEA-eligible IEPs. So there are differences out there as a part of this. Some states don't have gifted, but it's something we need to pay attention to as a part of this one. What I'm concerned about though, and this is what you need to be concerned about, Is you need to be concerned about funding bottlenecks, and I this this is this is this is gonna this is gonna potentially where it's gonna really hit. Is IDA Part B and 619 delayed? Now, I I can't tell you what's going to happen as a part of the budget. They're not sitting down and talking about budget negotiations right now, but all projections, all projections are that the budget proposal is for the 2026 years is will be the same amount of money that we provided for Part B this past year. So that's all projections. Now, I don't know, it could change. It could change in the next hour, but we have to think about what we are providing as a part of this one. Okay. So as a result of this, I mean, many of you encountered budget problems this past summer. How I know this is some of you canceled presentations that you were doing with me. That's gonna be the PD money that many of you spent your July trying to figure out how, how are we gonna deal with the money that has been withheld. We're not— we don't have people advocating for making sure that this money is being provided appropriately for kids with disabilities. I'm truly concerned about what's going to happen as a result So keep this in mind as we move forward on this one. All right, wait, there's more. Transition services are going to be collapsed about this one. RSA staff reductions will halt VR partnerships. Work-based learning is going to be limited as addressed to this. So it's something we need to move forward as a part of this, right? SPP APR delays are part of this one. State data submissions unreliable. We're going to have some serious data gaps. We're going to have some serious data gaps as a part of this. And this is something that we need to pay attention to and address this one. More digital accessibility. I've been doing a lot of trainings relating to ADA Title II enforcement and what's coming on because there's a deadline coming up on this in May. In fact, I'm speaking at the CASE conference in Oklahoma City on this one and at the PDE special ed conference in February on this one and other places. But it's interesting about this one, you're going to potentially have students also facing assistive technology delays accessing content. Not just parents, not just kids, but also parents. Their ability to participate in their child's education is going to be limited if we don't enforce ADA Title II. And that's something that is very serious. I'm doing a podcast on that next week. But it's interesting about this one, we need to address this and talk about this one. So what— so am I painting a nasty picture? Wait, let's make it worse, right? Parents can no longer file basically for the Office of Civil Rights. To ensure that their children are getting appropriate services, so there potentially are going to be more due process filings. Again, if you spend any time at the parent Facebook pages, I absolutely guarantee you're going to see issues relating to this one. We're going to see teachers named in hearings, and I and I'm having done witness preparation in many due process hearings. I was a hearing officer for many years. I now work. I work in several states as a second tier hearing officer and a mediator in some states. But we're seeing documentation fatigue increases a part of this one because to prep appropriately for due process hearing. It's difficult. I'm going to put it out there. So I'm encouraging good friends of mine to go to law school so that they can get into the field and advocate and provide appropriate information as a part of this one. So as a result of this increased workload, what are we going to expect to see? Potentially caseload growth. We have a special education teacher shortage. And we do. This is no dispute on this one. So we're going to— and as a result of the increased paperwork, because one of the things we often see when— why do teachers leave the profession is they leave the profession in part because of the paperwork requirements. So we have to think about this and move forward. I'm going to start flowing through this a little bit because I would like to get to some questions. Decline in inclusion. I'm worried about more restrictive placements rise because we're not providing appropriate supports for these kids. So we have to do a better job of making sure that kids are provided appropriate services. More reduced collaboration. More isolation for teachers. And pay attention. So keep this in mind as we address this and what we can do to do this. More Parent frustration. Hey, so this is— we, we got a few minutes. I'm getting there. Just, I'll get there real fast. We have a letter that you can send to parents that will clearly articulate what's going on relating to the RIFs, that you can then explain what's going on. We'll get it to you, put it copy paste, whatever, modify it, put it on your letterhead so that you can get information out to the parents to help them understand where we are with this one. We want to make sure that you're providing information about this one and help with this and explain where we are with this. But you're also going to see potentially student regression, and I don't like this. Some of these students, we've been working really hard to improve their services, improve what we're doing for them, help make sure that they're not missing too many services, then help with what's going on. But we're potentially going to see escalated behavior, and then as a result of this, reduced access to the curriculum. So it's something that we need to pay attention to as a part of this one. Okay, more equity gaps will widen. We're already seeing this. We are already seeing this, okay? Disproportionate impact on students of color, disproportionate impact on students who cannot afford due process hearings. I'm hearing about law firms that are asking for parents to put a $20,000 retainer down before they will even review the files, and parents taking out second mortgages on their homes so that they will then get an opportunity to participate in what's going on, just as a way to ensure that their children are getting appropriate services.

More.

Teacher survival. So what are some basic things about this one? Document the snot out of everything. And I mean that, that's the formal term, but keep detailed logs and periodically meet with your peers. And I say this, meet with your peers and meet with your peers and make sure that you're compliance checking each other as a part of this one. So what can you do to address this? But make sure that you're providing Provide and archive key resources, but document this one and pre-plan family communications. Families can handle about anything as long as it's not a surprise, and that's why we have a letter for you as a part of this. We want to make sure that they can— they understand precisely what you are doing and how you're moving forward as a part of this one. More advocacy steps, right? Hey, share evidence logs. Let's just share evidence logs, share it of the documentation, okay? Ask for interim guidance, all right? And tell your classroom stories publicly. People don't understand what we do in special education. The common thing is I've been going to a lot of weddings and funerals of late, not for the same people, but it's interesting about this is they all, when I hear them in special ed, they all often say, you must be so patient. They don't realize that it takes instruction. It takes time. It takes energy to convince kids to do things that they did not want to do or are on the other side of the room. They're over there on the other side of the room having a great time. I'm trying to convince them to spend time Over here on something they don't want to do called reading or spelling or math. And so we have to understand what we're doing and how these kids are changing. People don't understand special ed, and they don't understand the roles and responsibilities of what's going on, or the mental energy that exists in this. When I was a teacher, I ran ultramarathons, regular-sized marathons. They're for others. I would run ultramarathons, but I would come home on Fridays mentally exhausted. From all the time that I was spending trying to convince kids to do things that they did not want to do. Teaching is hard, and we need a better job of explaining this to the public and explaining where we are with those. Okay, so what we need to do is make sure we're protecting our students who are local. We need to strengthen MTSS. We need to revisit and ensure that all of our FBAs and our BIPs are being implemented appropriately. Now, if the kid is not making progress, then we need to do something about this and change what's going You'll hear me say this at the next workshop, but communicate transparently with the families. Again, people can handle things as long as it's not a surprise. Okay, so what are some leadership priorities I'm going to recommend for you? Make sure that you have formed— you form internal monitoring teams, that you do internal compliance on what's going on. It's better for you to find out what's going on than someone from the outside. Make sure you're conducting monthly IEP audits, that you're regularly revisiting, are the IEPs being implemented as written? And are the kids making progress? Those two things. I mean, if anyone who's been a participant in a manifestation determination or hearing, you know that those are the questions we're addressing. So we get ahead of this and start doing it now and communicate clearly to staff this is something we're addressing more. Okay, hold the line. Okay, hold the line. Federal cuts do not erase the obligations. What a teacher is doing with in his or her classroom with a child has not changed. That has not changed. There's a lot of things going on in the ether in Michigan to Washington right now, but what they are— you are the guardians of faith, and we need to make sure that what we're providing for these kids are the appropriate services to help them move forward. We need to do a better job of ensuring this one. Okay, so we've got some steps here, very specific steps. All right. And so we've got a dangling period under the one. I'll fix that. But insert Okay, start an evidence log. Document all delayed guidance and monitoring responses. Just documents. Map federal dependencies. Identify who at the Education Department and OSEP you rely on. Find state-level backups. Many of these states have really good people who are very good. Make sure you understand who they are and what you can do as a part of this one. I already mentioned this a minute ago, but audit the timelines. Audit the timelines as a part of this one. Verify all IEPs, evaluations, and reevaluations meet statutory guidelines. Things like this one. Stabilize the services, review caseloads, ensure related service minutes are being delivered as written, not just thought about, but just as written. Reinforce documentation protocols as a part of this one. Require staff to log everything. It doesn't have to be fancy, but they log what's going on. Wait, there's more. Okay, 6 through 10. Update family communication templates. Prepare letters for service changes or delays based on decisions that are appropriate to the child, not on administrative convenience. I can go on a rant for that one for a while. Make sure the building leaders clarify that all FAP timelines still apply despite federal disruption. So we got a letter for you on this one. Check local procedures for manifestation determination reviews and shorten days. Ensure administrators understand requirements before removals occur. Keep this in mind. Coordinate with finance and then mobilize advocacy channels to understand where we are with this one. These are some top real specific steps you can do today. These are also really good steps if nothing had changed in Washington. But things have changed, so it's it's it's impinging on us to make some changes as a part of this one. Okay, so more closing reflection: when federal scaffolding thins, it's the teachers who hold the system together. Keep that in mind. We need good teachers. We need teachers who are doing these things. We need teachers to pay attention to this. We need to pay attention to what's going on. Okay, finally, all right, it's about the students. The services we provide for kids eligible for special education related services. Need our assistance. They need our assistance. All right? It's— I'm not talking about this as a legal thing. I'm talking about this as a moral thing. They need our assistance to make it through the day. The vast majority of kids eligible for special ed spend the most of their day in the general education classroom, and we need to do a better job of providing assistance for them as a part of this. They're our neighbors. They're our neighbors. They're our community members, and they live in our towns. We need to do about— we need to do a better job of ensuring what we're doing to support them. We need to do a better job of ensuring what we're doing is making sure that they're getting their needs addressed. We need a better job in ensuring that they're making progress. Again, as I said this a few minutes ago, these are kids who have disabilities at no fault of their own. They're just trying to make it through the day. We need to be the professionals, and it's about providing them opportunity as a part of this one. Okay, so last thing we have for you. Here are the letters. Got a template, a letter to school, to board members about what you have here. Okay, we'll make sure you get a copy of a letter to the school board members about what they can understand because they're going to get questions about this one. Special education is in the news. It is in the news whether you like it or not. A letter to educators so you can send it out to your teachers about what's going on, what the law says very specifically. This will help them help you articulate precisely what we need to be doing so that they can answer the questions. And they can explain what's going on, but what they need to know about this one. Wait, there's more! A letter to parents to update on federal requirements, what they mean for your child's education. You need to make sure that you are taking a proactive step on this process to ensure you are articulating clearly what's going on and you're explaining where we are at this one. You can do a better job of making sure that there are no surprises and you are the communication with what's going on. One more, okay? Press release. So that your local newspapers or TV— in the old— I'm sorry, the old days we had newspapers— where your local media outlets can understand what's going on. Explain what your commitment is to students with disabilities and their families. This is a way for you to articulate what's going on and addressing where you are with this one. It is a great resource and something that we can be of assistance for you as a part of this one. Okay. I've alluded to this also. There is another workshop I'm doing on October 30th. Gotta work on that one. But just trying to keep people afraid on understanding where we are at this one and understand how you can participate in this. It's gonna— and on the one on November 20th, Julie Weatherly from Alabama is gonna also participate in there for a few minutes to help us address some questions about where we are with this one. We're just trying to get you current information so that you can answer the questions so you can lead your teams effectively. This is free. Free. We can't do much better than this. We truly can't do much better than this. One, but this is great. Wait, there's another thing, and I'm sure we'll mention this soon. If you're going to be going to the case conference in Oklahoma City, there is nothing on the there's nothing on the case schedule on November fifth from five thirty to seven thirty. Now's your chance. Now's your chance to go to a country cocktail party. Those who know me will be kind of surprised, but I'll be there. So I'll be there. So it's good. It's interesting is about this. All right, so last is where we're coming up. We're gonna be talking about monitoring and problem solving. But what we wanna move to right now is we wanna address any questions. Any questions were popped in the chat. And so I'm gonna stop sharing my screen and just do what I can to address any questions that came up. I can't monitor the questions at the same time. I don't have that kind of capability.

I will come back on to do that for you.

Yeah, thank you. I'm not that smart. I can't do this. So, okay.

Well, first off, Thank you. This is incredible. And just to echo the sentiment, if anyone wants to spend more time with Dr. Bateman, join either the upcoming webinar or join us down at CASE or both. And for those of you also interested, Parallel can help in things like auditing timelines and stabilizing services. So that same QR code also will allow you to speak with members of our team to better understand That part. With that, we have a few chat questions in the chat. There is a Q&A button as well, so please drop your questions there. I'm just looking at those questions. Some of these are logistics. We will put the link for the November 20th event. First question for you, Dr. Bateman: What are the common legal missteps that you are seeing district? Accidentally make when responding quickly to all of these federal changes?

The common legal missteps I'm seeing, the first one, all right, is, okay, let's see, not providing prior written notice whenever a change in identification, evaluation, placement, or provision of FAPE is proposed. I would recommend doing this one. Okay, that second one, real quickly: implementing policy without training, rolling out new IEP templates, eligibility criteria without making sure that you've trained case managers, without training administrators, without making sure that service providers understand what's going on, missing required IEP components, incorrect things like this one. But the biggest thing, and this is an October thing, is I'm seeing districts Basically ignoring child find obligations during change. And it's good things when we, when we adopt MTSS frameworks or revise eligibility guidelines, we sometimes delay or deny evaluations under the guise of data collection. We need to make sure that we're evaluating these kids earlier and as part of this one. But what can you do right now?

Okay.

Is make sure that all the stakeholders are informed. Not— and you understand what's going on— not informing or involving parents, advocates, or staff before implementing major changes leads to mistrust. That's why we have these letters for you, which can escalate into OCR complaints or state complaints. There's not going to be a lot of OCR complaints over this, what's going on. I understand why. Okay, and last one, neglecting documentation during transition. I'm seeing that as a big thing because Every major IEP should include a record of staff training, memos, implementation dates as a part of this. It's impossible to defend against compliance reviews or in a due process hearing. And so what is the common phrase I do when I do witness preparation? If it's not written down, it didn't happen. So keep that in mind. All right, that was quick, dirty, but let's go on to another one.

I love it. Rapid fire. A really nice follow-up to this. We got an anonymous question here, but I am sure it is top of mind for many folks on this call. There is a lot here that we just covered and a lot of steps to take, which is awesome but also overwhelming. What are the top 3 things, if you had to distill it down, that we as special ed leaders should be taking right now? If you can only choose 3.

The top 3. Let's see if I can narrow it down. The top 3 things that I would do right now, all right, okay, is first audit your legal and procedural compliance, especially child finding implementation. With federal monitoring capacity shrinking, the burden has shifted squarely to states and districts. Now, so keep this in mind. So what do you do? Pull 10 to 15 random IEPs and check for goals, appropriate goals, data and documentation is about this one, but make sure that's the That's the first thing. I would audit those and understand what's going on. Second, I'm only getting to number 2. Strengthen implementation accountability. The greatest legal risk right now isn't identification, it's implementation. Most recent due process hearings that I've been involved in focus on IEPs that are not delivered or progress not monitored. Also do a better job of making sure gen ed teachers understand what their roles and responsibilities are as a part of this one. Many of these kids can be included effectively if we allow them the opportunity and train this about this one. But keep this in mind. And then last, I only get 3, communicate and train before the crisis. Miscommunication is basically the biggest root cause of all the problems I'm seeing and surprises. Families appropriately are hypervigilant. That's why we have a letter for you as a part of this one. Transparency and preemptive communication will prevent escalation. Do what you can to understand what's going on about this one. So brief all parent building leaders about what they're— what this letter— that's why we have that letter for you. But send the parent— look at the district parent letter explaining any major changes as part of this, what's going on. But make sure that you keep the families engaged. And you provide trainings on how to keep the families engaged as a part of this one. I was only limited to 3. Okay. So, okay.

All right.

What I think we'll do one more.

You ended actually right on time. And in the interest of time, we're going to let folks part here. But Dr. Bateman, thank you for the incredible conversation. I know it has been both of our dreams to create a forum during this time of chaos. And bring folks together. So thank you for putting all of this great material. For those of you who are able to join us, thank you for being here. We are really excited to be able to share all of this information and these resources with you. And with that, hear feedback as well. We will have multiple more opportunities, as Dr. Bateman pointed out, to reconvene. Join our next webinar in the series. And we hope to cross paths at a case conference soon. So thank you all and good luck. I know it's a crazy time out there that we're all navigating, but hopefully today's session provided you some actionable next steps. So wish everyone the best of luck.