Session 1 | Building Better Outcomes | Strong Foundations for Special Education Teams

Hi everyone, I'm Summer Allison. I'm Parallel's Chief Revenue Officer. I've had the pleasure of working with special education teams across the country for the last 20 years, and first I just want to take a second to thank each and every one of you for the work that you do. I know it can sometimes feel thankless and just endless hours of Ongoing task after task, but we see you, and we see the impact that you're making on students' lives. First and foremost, thank you all very much. Also, I'd like to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us today. If nothing else, this session will be the most predictable part of your day, which in special education is truly saying something. Before we get started, I wanted us to take a minute to kick us off with a quick poll. And let's be honest, it's February. Everybody is running a little empty. I myself am fully powered by Diet Coke. So quick question, what is your team currently powered by? If you guys could fill out the poll real quick. I like the daily improv one. That would make for life to be a lot more entertaining. Alrighty. Thank you so much for doing that. And it looks like we're all here for the same reason. Great teams doing important work, but sometimes relying a little too much on energy and heroics to keep things running. Or in my case, Diet Coke. So today is really about strengthening team foundations so that consistency doesn't depend on how tired everyone is in February. Oops, there's the results. Coffee and calendar reminders. I'm just going to assume some of these coffee results could also be Diet Coke. But look at that. I wish I could say I was surprised, but we all live and die by the calendar and the caffeine. Alrighty. So that's what we want to do is talk to you guys about how to like keep that energy up, strengthen those team foundations, and keep the ball moving forward without, without burnout. And right, that all depends on clear systems and support. It's also why we care so much about what we do at Parallel. Our goal at Parallel isn't just to fill openings, but it's to help stabilize the services so leaders and staff aren't consistently operating in reaction mode. We don't want you guys feeling like you're in crisis mode 24/7. And one thing we've learned working with districts across the country is that the best partnerships don't start during a crisis, but they start with a simple conversation. So even if you don't need anything today, connecting early means that when the busy season arrives, And the crises start hitting, support is already in place and students don't have to wait. Talking to us early, learning about how we can be a support to your current infrastructure is a way to help make that crisis a little bit more manageable. So we encourage you all to scan the QR code at some point during the presentation. I believe you'll see it on almost every slide to schedule a quick 30-minute conversation just to learn more so we can learn about your goals as a district, your goals for your special education department, and And we can also share what preparation could look like partnering with Parallel. You can scan the QR code on your card or use the link in the chat. Okay, on to the session. If you have any questions throughout the session, please put them in the Q&A, which is at the bottom. If everybody looks at the bottom of their Zoom toolbar, it's down there. If you post your questions in there, we'll be able to get those answered either during the session or at the end during the Q&A time with Dr. Bateman. Also, this session will be recorded and it will be sent to you via email. It'll be sent to everybody who registered. So even if you have colleagues that registered today and couldn't attend, they will also be getting that and any of the supporting materials that is referenced during the session. All right. Now, now, now for the fun time. I get to introduce Dr. Bateman. And I'm really excited to introduce him because we've been working with Dr. Bateman for a while now. He's definitely a trusted voice in the field. And, uh, you know, there's a lot of great things that we've been doing with him. We had our Fall Leadership Series last fall and getting ready— got this one going on and ongoing work. And Dr. Bateman is just a phenomenal partner. But let me give you a little bit of his background because over the years, you know, we've attended a lot of CASE conferences and like without fail, Dr. Bateman's sessions are some of the ones that are the most highly attended, and people tend to talk about afterwards and have a lot of, like, buzz around them. So there's just something about his approach and the way that he combines deep legal expertise with genuine understanding of the reality of what you're dealing with in your districts that consistently resonates with us and sets him apart from other speakers. He's presided over more than 580 due process hearings, giving him an insider's perspective on how these legal challenges unfold. In the real world, and more importantly, how districts can successfully defend against them and navigate those alleys. So this isn't theoretical knowledge, but it's battle-tested insight from someone who's been in the trenches with you guys. But here's what we at Parallel value most. Dr. Bateman brings over 3 decades of hands-on experience in special education. He's walked in your shoes. He understands the daily pressures, the competing demands, and the real-world complexities of serving students with disabilities while staying legally compliant. Which is a lot. That's a lot for you guys to carry. So when he shares strategies for developing sound IEPs or navigating due process situations, you know it comes from someone who truly gets the challenges of every day. So his track record speaks for itself, and I'm not gonna speak for him any longer. I'm gonna go ahead and turn it over to Dr. Bateman so that he can get started for what you're really here for today.

All right, Summer, could you just stay on just for 1 minute? Because the reason is, is my, my Is my camera stopped working, and so I have to— I need to switch cameras. And so I have no idea what the heck's going on here. So I— so—

Yeah, no problem. And this is a prime example of what our attendees have to deal with all the time, right? Like, so best laid plans get thrown awry and you have to adjust on the fly.

So there, we should— it should be— it should be working now. And let me know if the screen changes. Ready? Okay, right.

All right, okay, you're good.

Thank you. So I just thank you very much, Summer, and I appreciate the introduction. I appreciate the kind words. We're going to go through some things. I know what I'm going to do is, um, and yes, I know I talk fast, but I want to make sure that there's a lot that we can share with you. And if you stay, there's a gift at the end that will be beneficial for you, something that I recently wrote so that it'll be beneficial to help you as a part of this one. But let's think of it, this is not legal advice. This is a legal disclaimer. We put this on everything we have. If you Have legal questions, talk to your attorney. Talk to your attorney and get advice from them on how to do this one. But make sure that you are aware of what we can do to be of assistance about this one. So our job, whether you like it or not, is setting the tone for a compliant and effective school year. That's what we're seeking for as a part of this one. Is the— come on, Sam. Okay, so I want to make sure you understand why, why are we talking about this one? Is that districts are not getting challenged because they held meetings. They are getting challenged because students did not make meaningful progress. Outcomes determine defensibility, but it's also better for the kids, and that's what we need to focus on as a part of what we're talking about today, is making sure what we're addressing is expanding and clarifying what we can do to be of assistance. So that's what we're doing, is talking about a compliant and effective school year. All right, wait, there's more. Okay, before we talk about— before we talk about this one, let's just talk about the opportunities for communication and about this one and talk about how we can address address this and pay attention to this one. Okay, so we're gonna be talking about structures. We're gonna be talking about how to do this and talk about it so that when we talk about instability or we're unclear with what's going on, we need to make sure that what we're doing is clarifying precisely what's going on. Today we will focus on structural engineering that will hopefully provide some inspiration for you as a part of this one. And later on, I'm gonna bring on a colleague and a great presenter who I actually presented with last week in Nashville to talk more about what she will see from her as a part of this one. So just stay seated. We've got a lot to cover, and make sure that you're aware. For those of you who are in attendance, we want to make sure the highlight for this for you is that this is being recorded, and the recording will probably be posted 24 or 48 hours from now so that you can use it. And I think they're also going to upload it to the YouTube. So keep that in mind as we address this one. Let's talk about what this session is not. This makes sure you understand what we're talking about here. This is not Okay, just make sure you understand compliance is necessary, but it's not sufficient. So this is not a compliance refresher. A procedurally perfect IEP that produces weak outcomes is vulnerable. So we're going to talk about this. We're not— I'm not going to talk about legal cases, though I can if you want me to. I'm not going to talk about MTSS theory, but I want to make sure that structure precedes compliance. And without that, everything fails. And what we need to do as a part of this is, is, is, is Document that and make sure that what we're talking about is that effectively. So that's where we're striving for. But I wanna make sure that you understand, if you're looking for a compliance refresher, go somewhere else. Okay? So keep that in mind. All right? So the core premise, just, just talk about this core premise here. All right? The core premise is what we're talking about. This one is clarity leads to stability, which leads to trust, which leads to outcomes. When roles are unclear, decisions are— our decisions stall. And services to WINDOR is a part of this one. So we have to think about this one and address this and make sure what we're paying attention to is a part of this and addressing this so that it makes sense to all. And that's what we're striving for as a part of this one, is making sure what we're building is something that is clear, something that is consistent, and something that makes sense to everyone as a part of this one, because that's what we're striving for. Okay? But this talk about the problems, let's talk about just some of the problems that some of you are having. Okay, you have a busy but very brittle system. And what I mean by this one, okay, some of you have full calendars. You have very full calendars and long meetings. I've been to some of these long meetings. I just attended a 37-hour-long IEP meeting. It was great fun. Just so you know, it wasn't. But it's interesting about this is, but these, what we have to think about this one is, and why this, why our systems are so brittle. Is what we have to think about this one is addressing this one is making sure we're paying attention because there's so much in many of these districts. There's a lot of turnover. 1 in 4 principals nationwide change on an annual basis. Many special ed directors change about 1 in a little less, about 1 in 5 nationwide change on an annual basis. Many of the teachers change. So we have to think about coming up with clear systems that can address this and talk about this one. Recurring problems. are rarely about bad teachers. They stem from unclear structures and inconsistent expectations. So keep that in mind as we address. All right, all right, all right. This is, this is the question. This is the question you need to be asking yourselves. All right, and this, this is very specific questions about this one. All right, so what I want to make sure that we're addressing this is, if a parent filed tomorrow, could you explain who owned each decision? Just ponder this one. Just ponder this one. If the answer is, it depends, that's instability. And what we're going to come up with is making sure that we have a very clear understanding of who actually is responsible for what we're doing as a part of this one. Because without that, then we're unclear and we're not sure what we're doing as we're addressing this. So we got to make sure that we're very clear about where we're going with this and addressing this one. But that's— this is the pressure test question, and that's the question we need to think about as a part of the SWOT. Okay, so keep this in mind. All right, some more symptoms of structural drift. Okay. I'm seeing directors troubleshooting building issues. I'm seeing principals deferring special education, right? And I'm seeing case managers filling system gaps. This drift increases anxiety. And so what— so I'm building a foundation for this, and then we'll get to this more specifics on this one. But I'm painting a picture that I hope is a very reality, very real situation that many of us are experiencing. We've been going to school. Some of you have been going to school since, since the end of— since August, and we've had months to get to where we are. Some of us are just trying to make it to the end of the year. I, I've seen that. I've seen the counts on the, on the, on the boards in the teachers' lounges. I'm well aware of that. But what we have to think about as a part of this is what can we do to move this forward? So that we have outcomes and understanding of what we're doing to address this one. All right, keep that in mind as we address this one. All right, so this— I want you to answer this question, and I want you to answer this question honestly. Okay? And I want you to pay attention to where we are with this. Okay? Rate honestly. Okay? And this is— we have a structural stability self-assessment as a part of this we want you to think about. Okay? Perception is not disability— is it not stability? Document— documentation is. So keep that in mind as we address this one.

Okay?

I want you to rate honestly what we have as a part of this one and pay attention to where we are with this one. Okay? And talk about this one. So I'll get to this in a second, but I want you to rate honestly. If you cannot cite written processes or evidence, you're gonna— I want you to score yourself lower. So we have it. We're gonna talk about this as a self-assessment to where we're going with this one. Do you have documentation? Many of— I do witness preparation for due process hearings. I was actually testifying in one earlier today. It's great fun, by the way. But I would say, when I share this with you as a part of this, is that if it's— many of you have great memories, but if it's not written down, it actually doesn't happen. So keep that in mind as we pay attention to this one. Okay? So what we want to think about is think about your lowest scoring area and come back. We'll come back to this one, but focus energy on the largest structural fault line. What can we do to actually clarify what we're doing so that we're addressing the needs of the kids in a timely fashion and addressing where we are with this one? All right, so that, that, that's a vital part of the sun. Okay, but also I want you to think about this. We'll get to more where we get into specifics, but what I want you to think about is role drift. Role drift is a gradual erosion of decision ownership. Who is the responsible party for what's going on? And I alluded to this before, that there's some special ed directors who are stepping in and building things, and then some building-level individuals are saying special ed is not my responsibility. It starts small. It really does. But over time accountability disappears. I'm working with a division. That's what we name them in Virginia. Working with a division where they don't— no one at the school makes the decisions. They defer everything. They defer everything to the special ed director. And that's not what we should be doing as a part of this one. We need to think about what we can do to address this one. All right. So let's talk about role drift and the cost. Slower decisions, mixed messaging, burnout. This— well, let's go back to mixed messaging. It's what we often see is we see individuals, they go to— they go get— they work to get the answer from whoever gives them the answer that they want. And what I want to emphasize this is I don't blame them. My kids used to do that when they were younger, but they go to whatever parent gets what. But also with role drift, we see a burnout. And this is one of the biggest things, one of the biggest problems we have in education right now is burnout. I'm putting this above legal vulnerability because we are churning through teachers and we're spending a lot of time, an amazing amount of time trying to seek and bring people in as a part of this. And what can we do to lay the foundation so we're not burning out our teachers? We're not running roughshod over what's going on with them. But also then we're addressing the legal vulnerability of what we're doing. Angie and I've talked about this extensively, and we've worked to address this. We presented together at the AASA conference last week in Nashville. I had a great number of people in our audience as a part of this. And why I'm addressing this is one of the things that we've talked about and written about together collectively is we've talked about the fact that the numbers of The amount of litigation has been rising dramatically in the past 5 years. Amount of state complaints, the amount of mediation requests have been rising. And so there is a legal vulnerability and parents are seeking answers and wanting to get clarity on this one. So keep that in mind as we address this one. Okay, so let's talk about this one. All right, let's go. All right, so who owns Tier 1? I'm not going to go into great detail about Tier 1. Okay, but let me start to understand about whether if Tier 1 fails, special ed absorbs it.

Okay.

I want to make sure that you understand ownership must be named, not just assumed. We got to talk about these kids when they're potentially being thought to have a disability. What is going on as a part of this one? What are we doing to address their needs? What are we doing to actually identify what's going on? Who is taking data on this one?

And when—

because I go to meetings all the time. It's the joy of my life. But I go to meetings all the time, and what I see is— I was at a meeting not too long ago, and they spent 23 minutes talking about a kid who was in a Tier 1 session, but they didn't talk about at all about what data they were taking and who was responsible for reporting on whether that data is going to help that child move forward or not as a part of this one. So that's going to be my clear recommendation about any kind of MTSS program we have. Who's responsible for what's going on and where are they? Okay, here's an— here, wait, let's move on to Tier 2. You think we're gonna stop at Tier 1? Stay seated. Tier 2. Okay, entry criteria. What is the criteria for going? All right, and this makes you understand, having worked in a lot of litigation revolving— relating to children with disabilities, I'm not seeking perfection. What I'm seeking is clarity. So people can clearly articulate what they're doing as a part of this one. Truly, I'm not looking for perfection. Are you? If you want perfection, go for it, but that's not what we're seeking. And I know the hearing officers are not looking for perfection. How do I know this? It's 2 weeks ago, the nationwide training for all the hearing officers. How do I know that that was part of their training? I was the speaker. I was the speaker and I told them, look for clear criteria, clear articulation as a part of this one so we understand where we are with this. Loose definitions create inconsistent referrals, and you need to be able to articulate why this kid gets this, when this kid gets this, and why, and be able to articulate that for an individual who is not in the room. Keep that in mind as we address this one. You're writing things for people who are not in the room. That's something weird. Okay, so who owns Tier 3? Eligibility decisions require defined thresholds. Who is getting this? When are they getting this? Tell me, if I were to come into your school tomorrow, and I'm going to a school tomorrow, but if I go to school tomorrow, can you tell me precisely who is responsible for the eligibility decisions about this one? Who is responsible and what, what are you looking for? And clearly define this. Okay? And I'm not looking for fancy terms. I'm not looking for, I'm not looking for a lot long phrases. I'm looking for 30 seconds. What is this? Just describe this. And you need to have a point person who has responsibility for this one. And we gotta emphasize this one. Okay, so what I want to make sure you understand is, to clarify this one, and this is this, and Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 are not special ed things, but they're part of the building leadership that leads to special education. And so we have to think about this as the role alignment matrix for every function. Okay, for every function that we have, who's taking the data, who's monitoring the data, who's reviewing the data, you must have an accountable owner. Not just the team will look at this. I see, I see so many reports that say the team will look at this and Identify what's going on. Shared ownership means no ownership, and I can't emphasize that enough. We need to emphasize that there's got to be a shared responsibility for what's going on, and there's a shared need for how we're going to address this. All right, clear? So, okay, so what I want you to think about this one, okay, is identify one ambiguous function. Ambiguous is the big word for today, but come up with an ambiguous function that you have. And talk about this and say who really is responsible for this one. Okay, so ambiguity consumes leadership time. We all talk about this one as leaders is we spend 80% of our time on the on on on on small things that often don't have big impact on what's going on, and we but it's the ambiguity. I can also talk to you about the black letter of the law we have in special education. I can, I can go into great detail. I can bore you on that one and have in the past, but we can bore you on this. But we need to think about what we can do to increase, what we can do to be clear about where we are with this one. That's what we've got to strive for. Okay, so I've got, I've got, I've got another quiz for you. Just stay seated. All right. Okay. What is currently your greatest structural pressure point? And I'm going to give you 10 seconds or so once once the poll is posted to to do this. All right, see how this magically happens? It's truly impressive.

Okay.

Hey, what is your currently your greatest structural pressure? Meaning governance decision clarity, evaluation backlog, related service staffing shortages, caseload caseload overload. These are very real things. All right. Hey, I'm not going to give you long. Don't worry, don't worry. You better jump, jump, jump. Come on, jump. Let's get to it. Let's get to it. All right. And talk about this one and address this one. All right. Okay. So, all right. You can see, you can see really quickly of the people who voted. The others didn't get a chance to vote yet. Caseload overload is the winner, right? And so we have to think about what we can do to articulate and help with this one. Okay. Now let's talk about decision discipline. When I do, as I said, I do a lot of witness preparation, and there's a lot of teachers and administrators who have anecdotal data. I love anecdotal data. I truly do. But I only love it when there's numbers. So data without thresholds is like discussion without actions. Okay? So you often see these individuals who have— that we have data on what's going on. We need to have discussion about what's happening. With predefined decision triggers. There's one thing that I would change as a part of writing IEPs. With all IEPs, I would make sure that there's a clear baseline for the child. As a part of that baseline, that at the end of each marking period, we have a decision point about what's going on with that child. Is that child making appropriate progress towards his or her goal? It's mostly him because guys win special ed. But is that child making progress towards his or her goal? If that child is not making appropriate progress, we are at a decision point. And at each marking period, you make that determination. And you need to make sure that you have predefined decision triggers that help as a part of this one. But if there's something I could recommend for all of you is to change that. Wait, there's more. Okay. What— and if you have a trigger point, you need to reconvene. And what you can do is you can increase minutes, maybe fade supports, placement adjustments. These are all things that require triggers. You need to think about for everything you're doing that you have data. And I want data. I want data, and I want data that I can understand, data that I can look at, data that I can eyeball. I'm a huge fan of what's called intraocular analysis, or what we refer to affectionately in the special ed world as eyeballing the little sucker. And we need to make sure that we have that and can pay attention to that one. So keep that in mind as we address this one. Okay, so look at this. This, this— let me walk you through it real fast. If X happens, we do Y within Z days, right? Just happen to choose those are not the real terms. Okay, but what you have to think about, if the student does something, whatever the student does, then what you are going to do is going to follow up with this. So let's play this out. Student's not making appropriate progress in reading, just not making progress for some reason or another, just not making progress. What are we going to do is we're going to change something for this one after a certain number of days. We're not going to just let that kid wallow in misery, wallow where they're not going to make success. We need to think about taking data on a more regular basis so that we can clearly articulate what's going on so that we can move this forward. And that's what we need to pay attention to and make a commitment about. Here are the trigger points for when we're going to do that, and that's what we need to focus on as a part of this one. The power of pre-commitment. Well, predictability reduces tension. When you have the meetings, you come to the meetings. Is the kid, yes or no, making the progress we're expecting? The kid is not making the progress, yes or no, then we need to change something. Do we change something? We know in 3 weeks if the kid hasn't done this, we're going to change something. That's one of the things I want to recommend is I see a lot of districts do great FBAs, develop behavior intervention plans, but then they don't do any analysis 3, 6, 9 weeks later whether those BIPs have actually altered altered the program or solved or mitigated the issue? The same thing when we place a one-on-one with a child. Does it solve or mitigate the problem for a child? What we have to think about is what we can do to clearly articulate what's going on, and these are decision points because I can guarantee that we will ask you a question as part of witness preparation. You did this for this child, all right? Did it solve or mitigate the issue? The vast majority of the time, we don't have any data on what's going on, so you make a commitment that you're going to take data on a regular basis to solve what's going on because there are some Paraprofessionals or one-on-ones who make things worse. There are some kids who need a different assistive technology device than the one we're providing. So we need to do a better job of clarifying where we're at this one. Okay? Meeting governance. Okay? I want to share what's going on. Governance requires decisions and accountability. When we talk about this, not making a decision is a decision. Okay? So what— and it's okay not to make a decision. But we'll talk about that in a second. But make sure that you have governance that addresses what we're doing. So do you clarify as a part of this one and addressing how we can do to address this and make sure we're moving forward? Wait, there's more. Okay, okay. Types of meetings. We have informational meetings. Give me the information. Give me the information. Talk about what's going on. Educators can often handle about anything as long as it's not a surprise. And we need to make sure what we're doing as a part of this is addressing this and paying attention to where we are. But as long as we— but is it a problem-solving, Mom? Well, is there a decision? Okay, clarify the meeting type at the start and clarify what we're doing as a part of this one, and clarifying it so that we have a sense of what we're supposed to be doing to pay attention to where we are with this one. But then also clarify, and it's okay if you're— it's a decision meeting and you don't reach a decision, at least articulate, we talked about this one and this is why we didn't make a decision. Things like this one, right? So if you have a decision meeting, define the decision. And write it. Make your decision. Make your decision, but write your summary so that someone else who is not in the room can understand what's going on. In most states, we refer to them as PWNs. Make sure that you understand this. And Pennsylvania has its own term, NORP. But it's interesting about this, but you review the relevant data, compare to your threshold, decide, and then assign a follow-up. Who is going to take the data on what's going on, and how are we going to make that data and use that data for informed decision-making? It's a vital part of the process, and we need to do a better job of articulating that so we understand what's going on. But you need to have a better job so the team understands how to do this.

All right?

So wait, there's more. Agenda.

Okay?

What is the— what is the decision? What is the decision at stake as part of this? What data we're gonna review? What is the threshold of the data? Who's the owner with a follow-up date? So I'm working with a district right now where the parents have requested all sorts of special services for this child, and we've talked to the team about, we're going to, we're going to, we're going to— it may be a good choice, but we're going to take some data for the next 3 weeks. Who's going to take this data? What data are we going to take, and what are we going to do to meet on this so we have clarity when we come back for the meeting in 3 weeks? Just so we understand, I'm not saying that we're going to say no to the parents. What I'm saying is we are going to take additional data, and that's what's vital as a part of this one. But with a follow-up date, with a clear understanding of who is addressing this one and who's paying attention to this one. But it's a good thing. Then escalation pathways. Okay, when buildings cannot resolve issues, what happens next? Make sure they do, because I'm working with the district right now where the The principal was saying all sorts of things relating to independent educational evaluation requests. The principal should not be the one who's saying that unless they have the authority as the school district special ed director to talk about individual IEEs. So we have to think about who— what things need to be brought in with others, who's a part of that process, and when should we bring them in to address these things. Okay, make sure that it's really clear. If there's any ambiguity on this one, that's when we— that's when there's the problems. So we need to clarify where we are with this one and address this. Okay? But then costs, the cost of assumption. You thought I was gonna talk about other costs. Nah, not today. Okay? Assuming the process, assumed process collapse under emotional strain. Make sure it's really clear. Make sure it's really clear. You're gonna provide guidelines. You're gonna provide assistance. You're gonna provide, you're gonna provide it so that people can understand what's going on. Written processes provide stability. And we're going to help you. We're going to have some handouts that will help with this. But with written processes provide stability. And what we want to do is clarify this one. For those of you who did not see our sessions that we had in the fall, there, there we can make sure that you get access at contact us. We'll make sure we get this to you. But we had some good sessions. We provided a lot of feedback because at the time there were, there were parents who were going through a lot of anxiety relating to issues relating to the U.S. Department of Education. So we have forms, we have documents and things that can help as a part of this one. And these are written down that you can modify and use for your For your district to help with what's going on. Okay, but what's it they're busting? Structural stability and trust. Families can tolerate disagreement. What they don't tolerate is inconsistency. Right? I I want parents to talk with each other. I absolutely want parents to talk with each other. The stability that they are provided when talking with each other is invaluable. But when they talk, they find out that one kid was treated one way for an issue, and another kid was treated a different way on the same exact issue. What that does—that causes. Lack of trust. And what we have to think about this is what can we do to facilitate the trust, to bring in this so that parents can participate in the process and feel like they're being heard and feel like they're being listened to. So we need to think about this one, right? Legal defensibility. This is what I spend a lot of time on, is making sure— but investigators reconstruct ownership timelines, okay? So what your job is— and I, I work as an appeals hearing officer in several states— and what I do is I read these things as a neutral person I sometimes have to construct my own, my own understanding of what's going on. And it's in the— I need, I need clarity on this one, but the meeting notes often don't clarify these things. So I need to do a better job of what to do. Clear documentation protects, protects the narrative. So write it, make sure it's understandable and it's clear as a part of this one.

Okay?

And the last, last 2 things, preventable escalations. Escalations often begin with unclear authority or delayed follow-up. If you say to the parents, then it's okay to say to the parents, we're going to make a decision on this. We just need to collect new data, which is— then we'll meet on this one. Then take new data and then meet with the parents. Don't just say that as a way to get the parent out of your face. Make sure that you actually are taking the data and that you are then using that data for informed decision-making, and you share that data with the parents as a part of this one. Parents play a vital role in this process, and we need to treat them with respect. We need to make sure that they're honored and we listen to them and Pay attention to this one, and the last thing I want to say is okay. So we're talking about fixing structures. Okay, I don't want to talk about stress testing what's going on, but structure is the foundation of what we're addressing here. And I and I mean this with all seriousness. We need to talk about the foundation so that we understand what we can do about this one and pay attention to this. But it's where so keep this in mind. All right. So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to pull up. A colleague of mine who I did had a wonderful presentation with her last week in Nashville, typically hails from the great state of Indiana, but now is awfully remote. But I would I'm just Angie, I appreciate your willingness to talk with us as bringing your background as a special ed director to kind of engage with us about this. Okay, but just let's talk about this one, and I'm just going to basically throw some questions at you whether you're ready or not. Here they come.

All right, all right, let's do it.

Where does role drift often start in a district, and why do leaders tolerate it?

Yeah, so I work with a lot of districts across the country, and I see role drift most often start in core instruction in the general education. And so instead of strengthening our core instruction as special education leaders, we oftentimes absorb the pressure. No formal decision, just a series of Yeah, I can help with that one. And we do it because as educators we're problem solvers and we want to support that student, reduce the tension, and step in in a way to make it work. And this is true not only for academic instruction but also for behavioral supports, even for kiddos who don't have an IEP. But every time that we step in without redefining ownership, we move accountability. And over time then that ownership disappears.

Mm-hmm.

And the role drift then doesn't start really like with negligence. It really starts with helplessness.

That's really good. I appreciate, I appreciate how you extend this. Okay, well, let's make— let me extend that. Let's build on that one because, um, and I appreciate the opportunity to drink while you're talking. That was really beneficial. What, what is one decision directors routinely make that they should not be making?

Hmm, that's a good question. Well, I think building-level logistics. I see a lot of directors who get kind of caught in Mm-hmm. You know, figuring out who covers every minute, where is this para assigned, how should the schedule work, and as directors, when we get stuck in daily deployment, then the principals defer to us, and when principals defer, the system weakens. So the role of a special ed director is systems, oversight, support, structural clarity, not daily staffing choreography. So if a director's solving building puzzles all day long, that's not the leadership that we need out of them. That's a symptom, though, of a structure that lacks clarity, which is why your suggestions have been amazing for us.

Okay, thank you. I'll, I'll share that with my parents, all right, who are hopefully listening today, by the way. All right, when tier— when tier 1 is weak, and I know we're not going to go into definition of tier 1, But this is for the general education staff out there because special education often doesn't take responsibility for Tier 1. But when Tier 1 is weak, what do you actually see or what really happens to special education?

Yeah, I see special ed really expands to compensate. I was meeting with a district last week and they were showing me some comparable side-by-side information between their district and a like-sized district, and the amount of kids with disabilities was actually double. And I said, wait a minute, your overall district enrollment is the same as this other district, right? And they're like, yes. Like, well, either that district is under-identifying kiddos with disabilities or you all are over-identifying. And as we unpacked that, we kind of got into there are some Tier 1 needs that could be compensated for. So yeah, that's kind of what I see for that.

But basically, that applies to me. Basically, for me is that we don't have a referral problem. We have a foundation problem, basically. And that poses a problem. Okay. And so—

And it's fixable, right? Because when we set up our systems and we start to put some of these trigger point decision criteria in place, that's how we can fix these things.

Yeah. Fix takes on a different term because I recently did that to my puppy. So let's move on. Okay. But it's interesting about this. And this is to share with this, with, with the, with the team as a part of this one. We've talked about Tier 1, we've talked about some other things. What are some of the most expensive decisions that you've seen districts make that are caused by lack of clear direction, decision points?

Yeah, expensive decisions because of lack of clear decision points. Well, the one that comes to mind right away would be reactive placement changes. So emotion can be the decision point, which isn't a really good decision point. You know, a team feels pressure, a parent's upset, the data is discussed, but it's not compared to our predefined criteria, and then a decision is made. And then, as you know, as a hearing officer in due process, one of the first questions is, why was this decision made? So if there wasn't clear criteria around that and it was improvised, then really the district loses that narrative control right away. So those clear decision points about placement changes then can prevent that expensive improvisation. Thinking about another one too is increasing services without defined criteria, right? The team feels pressure, they add more services, but they aren't really looking at the data and to decide where the student needs that, or even then on the other side of that, Failure to fade the support, right? We've added support in for kiddos, but we don't often take the time to look at fading out that support. And so as an example, in speech caseloads, we can see caseloads grow and grow and grow because we have to take time to reevaluate and determine when it's time to fade support. So those would be a couple of off-the-top questions regarding expensive decisions based on lack of criteria.

Yeah, I'm gonna build on that one. Having worked with a— basically another one is sending a student home without a formal process.

Absolutely.

I'm working with a number of districts right now who the principal informally calls the parent about 9:15 every morning and says, hey, it'd be better for your child if you come pick them up right now. And then there's no instruction after that 9:15. My, my, my, my, the phrase that I often use with districts who tell me that is, uh, when you find that a child is having reading problems, the first choice is not to reduce the amount of time we provide them instruction in reading, is to actually try to use, use these. And, and this, and this builds on what you very nicely articulated, is that use all these problems, whatever these problems are. Is it Uh, uh, support? Is it increasing services without criteria? A variety of things. Use these as red flags that are being waved in our face that we need some— that's something not blue, not green flags, but red flags that are being waved in our face that something needs to change. The pro— the program is not working. And that's what I want to emphasize.

All right.

Yeah.

I see it as the system too is not working.

Yeah.

Right. When we have these, you know, too many kiddos on a reduced day, right? Then we have to be asking ourselves, like, how did we get here? What are we doing? How can we get out of it? Because we know we don't want to reduce students' days, right? So we just have to take a step back and look at it from a systems perspective and put some of these decision criteria in place to help our teams with that.

Yeah, no, I appreciate how you're— that's wonderful. I appreciate how you said that. Okay, let's talk, let's change topics here just because I'm having fun. Okay.

All right. Me too.

How do you know when a meeting is governance versus group therapy?

Oh, that's a good one. Okay. Well, I think it's really important to know that it's a meeting and governance leadership, right? When we can clearly answer one question, and that's what decision are we making today, right? If we're in a leadership governance position, we've got a defined decision. We're looking at data. We've got the threshold or criteria, and then we can document our outcome and assign follow-up. That is a productive meeting. Without it, we just extend the anxiety of the team, or we've met and we've heard concerns. I see this a lot in kids' team meetings in buildings. Some people call them building-based teams, kids' teams, but when the teams get together and they talk about kiddos who are struggling and they all, yep, I've heard that. Or I know that situation. Everybody kind of chimes in, but then the meeting ends and there's not like the defined decision, the data, the, the what are we going to do next steps. That's when that's group therapy versus governance.

And, and, and there's sometimes that some of these can become contentious.

Oh, absolutely.

And, and that's what we have to think about this one is, and I appreciate how you articulated, is if, um, be able to answer this one question. This, I'm going to re— I'm— you said this before, but I feel better saying I will sleep better tonight as a result of this. What decision are we making today? And if you can't answer that in one sentence, it's not governance. Is we need to be able to clearly articulate what is that one decision we are addressing.

Yeah. It's probably not a good use of the team's time either if we're not clear on that.

Right. Absolutely. And that's something we need to focus on. Right?

Yeah.

Wait. Wait. I got more. Stay seated.

Okay? More. Let's have it.

What breaks trust faster with families, a tough decision or inconsistent processes?

Oh, absolutely inconsistent processes. That's an easy one to answer. Yeah, I feel like families can, can handle no. They just need to know why. They need our, you know, our decision criteria. What they can't handle is unpredictability, right? If one family in the same situation gets this outcome and another one gets this outcome, that's where trust really falls apart. I'd also say lack of follow-through. So often in meetings where we're problem-solving, we're brainstorming, and we say we, you know, might send home some resources or conduct an assistive technology evaluation, right? And then these things are said, and if we aren't very careful about following through and they don't get done, then our parents lose trust in us, right? So one of the things I did always in a mediation or a settlement agreement as a director is I made a very thorough implementation checklist, and I went through all of the meeting notes and the decisions and agreements, and I made sure that we had— this is exactly what we said we would do, this is who's going to do it, this is a timeline. And as the director monitoring it, I made sure that that got done. So yeah, definitely families need consistent processes.

Yeah, I could not. Yeah, I agree. I agree with how you articulated that because is that they can handle things as long as you're consistent.

Yeah. Hey, David, I've got a question for you.

Are you ready for one? No, I'll stand up. Go for it. Go for it.

So this actually came from our audience here. In my school, someone asked, I've been told that 504s don't need data or meeting notes like the IEPs and the prior written notices. Some parents have asked for them, and in this school, this team says, no, we don't need data or prior written notices. So what— how does this apply to 504s?

Uh, 2 things, actually. Under the federal guidelines, you do not need data. Okay, okay. But we have this acronym in special education, it's called CYA. I don't remember what it stands for, but what you have to be able to do is to clearly articulate why you made this decision. Because one of the advice, and we're going to give you a five. Oh, oh, wait! Stay seated, folks. We're going to give you a 504 document in a minute. So, and that Angie was not aware of this. This is not a bait and switch kind of thing. This is. I do a lot of bait and switch since my last name is Bateman. What's interesting about this is, as a result of two recent Supreme Court cases, the Perez case from out of Michigan and the HAT case out of Minnesota just this past June. Parents are increasingly aware that they can sue for monetary damages under Section 504, and the Office of Civil Rights is not giving additional guidance or supports relating to implementation of 504 issues because of what's happening in Washington. Actually, about a year ago, this— what happened there with the Office of Civil Rights in education. And so parent attorneys are trolling Facebook pages and saying, we can get you monetary damages relating to 504 lack of implementation. So you need to So what we look at as a 504, as a former 504 hearing officer, I think I may become another one with another state, but is 504s, we're seeing a dramatic rise in litigation relating to Section 504.

Mm-hmm.

And so you need to have clear documentation first, how you made the decision, why you made the decision, and what this decision impacts and what is going to be provided. And then have it so that others can understand when you write the 504 plan, who implements it, why, how, where, and when. So, okay.

So, oh, that's interesting. So I heard you say legally, by law, it's not required, but in practice, because of all of this rising litigation, that you would recommend that districts have the same kind of decision criteria and data for a 504 as well.

Yeah. And I'm working on— Mitch Yell and I are working on a textbook on Section 504 as we speak. Yes. And so for those of you in South Carolina, it's coming. We just got to get Mitch healthy. So it's interesting about this one to work on this, but it's something that's coming as a part of this. All right, um, let me ask you one more question before— then we'll get to some of the more of the group. Thank you, Angie. I can't see the chat, so thank you.

All right. You're welcome.

Um, where do directors most commonly lose control of the narrative, and how are we going to get it back?

Ooh, directors losing control of the narrative. You know, it really kind of, in my mind, comes down to ownership and timelines. That, to me, is where you get clarity. I'm a big fan of Brené Brown. She says, clear is kind.

Yeah.

So the more clear we can be with our staff, with our team, with our families, that's when we have control of the narrative, right? Because we can ensure things are being done as we intended to. So I'm a state complaint investigator. And from that perspective, I'll say that if the decision pathways aren't clear, I have to sometimes fill in the gaps and I determine how the story went because I don't have data to support it. So that's why we need to make sure that we are really clear with our data. We can get control back in those situations by naming an accountable person, having those predefined decision points. That's really important in my mind. That's a really good system strategy. Also documenting follow-up dates, clarifying meeting types, right? Those are the things that build that stability, that trust, and protects the outcomes so that as a director, I can keep control of the narrative for my team and with my team.

Wonderful. Thank you. I appreciate you adding that. All right.

Yeah.

Angie, could you do me a favor?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, of course.

Can you—

I, I, I have another slide I need to cover, but can you stay there and not, and not run away? And then maybe we'll see if we can answer just a few more questions that are in the chat. And for those questions that you're putting in the chat, if we don't cover them, what we will do is we will endeavor to give you a good solid response sometime in the next couple days that we'll send out to everyone as a part of this. Because we want to keep this discussion going as a part of this and make sure that you have an opportunity to engage and get good feedback.

Yeah.

Angie and I will be the first people to announce we don't know the answer to everything, but we know where we can get answers that will provide assistance for you on this one. So don't hesitate to think about this one.

Absolutely.

Angie, stay there. Don't go anywhere. I'm just going to talk about some things real fast. All right, so 504. All right, Angie did not know this was the next slide when she asked this question. This is this one. Okay, so about 8 years ago, I wrote a document on how to write a 504 plan. And what it did, it was for the 30 school districts I was working for at the time. And it went to talk about what is a 504 plan, Difference between accommodations and modifications, and then step by step, we task analyzed how to write a 504 plan. And then for the 30 most popular disabilities, we came up with 25 to 30 suggestions for each one of those— for each one of those different disabilities. Someone put it online without my permission and is now the official writing 504 document for a number of states and several territories. I get questions about it every single day. I guarantee it's— I'm gonna have a question, probably at least 2 today because of this one. What we've done is parallel. We've updated it, we've added, we've modified some of the language, we've clarified some things. The previous one did not have anything relating to COVID, post-COVID outcomes, did not have anything relating to food allergies. So we've added some things, modified, built up the section on anxiety because that's what's driving a lot of things relating to 504. And if you have one of those things called a cell phone, If you don't, you should get one. They're pretty cool. But if you have one of those things, you can scan to download it right now, and it'll be there for you. You're the first people who are getting it. No one else is. Oh wait, I sent it to someone yesterday. I'm lying. But it's interesting about this. But this is this is an opportunity for you to engage and get what's going on so that you get good information about this one. So here's your chance to get this. I highly recommend this one. All right. Is it perfect? No, but it's. It's much, much better than anything else out there, I'll tell you that much. And so it— but it's a great document that can provide assistance for your teams on how to write this. You need to download this and get this out. Don't go printing it off, it's like 75 pages long. Get this to your school counselors and your assistant principals who are the ones who are leading the 504 meetings, because I can guarantee that they're not getting training on how to do this. And if they understand the first part, then they can just turn to that section That section, like for Tourette syndrome, read the possible accommodations. And what's important about this is the accommodations for individuals with, with under 504 need to be individualized. It's not based on the disability. Because the most common accommodation I often see for kids with ADHD is extended time on tests. And the question I often ask principals is, who's the first person who finishes the test? It's often kids with ADHD. So it's got to be tailored to the individual needs of the child. And so don't just go check, check, check, check, check. I alert to what's going on, but download this right now and get it out for what's going on. The second thing I want to share with you is I'm well aware, and this is Angie, is that your best questions are going to come next week or the following week. The nature of adult processes, and you'll think of better questions later and not right now. And we're going to have a minute or two. We can address some of these questions, but please. Do not hesitate to reach out to us. We both check our emails many more times a day than our spouses like us to. And so it's— I'm speaking for you there. But it's interesting about this, but it's a way for you to be engaged with what's going on. And we will do our level best to get you timely answers too as a part of this one. This will be included in the slides you will get. But last, wait, there are services Parallel has to offer.

But this—

before we get to this, before we get to this, Angie, is there any other question that we can handle in the chat real fast? I don't— I can't see the chat.

Yeah, David, I don't see any questions in the chat currently, so I appreciate that you shared our email addresses here so that folks can ask them. I also want to say wow, thank you to you and Parallel both for sharing this 70-some pages of guidance on 504s. That is really important, and I just really appreciate you all doing that. So yeah, no questions in the chat right now, David.

Okay, so one final thing that I want to talk about Is that we have some additional sessions coming up. All the sessions that we're doing, and if you pose questions to us between now and the next session, that'll help us steer what we're doing as a part of this one. And we want to make sure that you're getting good information. We'll make sure that you understand precisely what's going on. We want to our job, and whether you like it or not, and just a little background: Angie and I wrote a major document that was released in November. And it was written for the American Association of School Administrators. It was updating their policy with their recommendations for reauthorization relating to IDEA, especially under due process hearings. We'll make sure if you reach out to us, we'll make sure you get a copy as a part of this one. The last one was written, I think it was in 2012, 2013, or something like that. And so we did a major, major complete overhaul and rewrite of that, and that's what we presented on that. And we'll be present— we'll be— we're going to be testifying To, or at least meeting with the Senate staffers on this in the next week, couple weeks, to talk about this one. Not that there's an open issue relating to reauthorization, but we're just trying to make sure that the senators are aware of where we are with this one. But we want to keep you fully informed about what we can do as a part of this so that your teams can be prepared, your teams can lead, and your teams can address what's going on.

Okay.

So I think that's all I've got for right now. But I'm going to turn it back over to Summer, who will bring us home. Okay.

Thank you, David and Angie. Very, very good information as always. Angie, it was such a pleasure to have you as a guest today. Really appreciate both of you taking time out to share your knowledge for all these wonderful folks. For our listeners out there, if today was helpful, we are glad. That's what we're here to do is to give you information and help support you in your day-to-day jobs. If it sparked additional questions about service coverage, specialized assessments, or scaling support mid-year, our team here at Parallel is available for a deeper conversation tailored specifically to your district. We would love to talk to you about any concerns that you might have on how you're finishing the year out or even prepping for next year, because we know there's always a lot of uncertainties, and we love to be that partner to help you through that time. There's no one-size-fits-all solution in special education, That we know, and we approach our partnerships in the same way. So again, if you want to have that brief conversation, please scan the QR code to get one scheduled. Please don't run on caffeine and Diet Coke alone, and calendar reminders moving forward. Definitely hope that the information that you got today will help you find a little bit more balance in all of the chaos. But thank you all again for your time. We do know that that is your most precious commodity. I want to wish you all a very good evening. And hopefully we'll see you at the following sessions. Take care.