Private observation in public schools?

Question

My daughters school district has passed a policy banning outsiders other than parents from observing children in the classroom. Not sure now how we are to get an unbiased independent information pertaining to her program. Has any body else run in to this and how did you handle it? Has it been litigated?

Answer 1

If you request and independent educational evaluation and it is granted you then have the right for the person to observe your child in their school setting and in all the places that the school's assessor observed your child. The school district can or will occasionally make exceptions to the rule.

Our school district has a similar policy but there is a loop hole that states parents or something to the effect of other approved visitors.

Otherwise I don't believe that you can just insist that any outside provider, advocate or evaluator can come in to just look around.

here is a link for more information about IEEs

http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/test.iee....

I would look to see if wrightslaw has more information. They keep a library of legal proceedings etc. and if you don't find an answer ask them. They know what they are talking about.

Answer 2

Yes, I have experienced this in a school setting and it was in fact a school board policy that was supported by the building level administrator and implemented as such. The reason cited was privacy rights of the other students in the classroom. It was further explained as a safety precaution, which made sense at the time. It seems reasonable to me to disallow private agencies from coming into the school setting. The schools in my district run a screening and background check on every individual employed permanently or in a temporary setting, for instance a substitute teacher. Schools are not privy to such info from a private agency and hold liability issues with regards to every student in the building.

Also, if you are hiring a person to come in and observe a program just how unbiased is that opinion? You are in fact paying for a service which is a negating factor for an unbiased opinion.

The pharmaceutical industry is being highly criticized for just such tactics with regards to the research bought and paid for and then lobbied to put their drug on the market. I see a strong analogy here.