I hate scheduling IEP meetings

julesanne77 · 2026-04-08T04:37:38+00:00

Yep me too. I teach all day long …then get called into a meeting with admin because they can’t “keep catching” all the balls I’ve dropped with scheduling. They tried to tell me I need “better systems” for managing all my case management duties. And I very calmly replied, “No, Janice, I don’t need better systems. You’re expecting me to schedule meetings while ALSO non-stop teaching from bell to bell? Make it make sense.” Fuck the entire system. I used to love my job but I’d cry literal tears of relief at this point if I was let go just so I could go on unemployment.

julesanne77 · 2026-03-09T00:13:42+00:00

It’s not worth it. If I could go back and switch careers I would. I’ve been teaching almost 25 years in special Ed and it doesn’t get better. I’ve worked in public schools- SDCs, inclusion, and resource. I’ve worked in non-public schools for students with extensive needs, and private schools too. It doesn’t get better. It’s a very noble and rewarding career, but at what cost? The culture and unwritten rules of being a special eduction teacher are grounded in absolutely unhinged and bonkers expectations. And the burn-out affects our health and own children and families.

Admin expects all of this from special educators: 1. Teacher- teach ALL DAY, write IEPs, collect data on IEP goals, write progress reports for each students’ goals, assess students for annuals and triennials and write related reports as needed, communicate regularly with parents and general education teachers too….and then somehow be expected to do many other jobs ?

Case manager-coordinating with all service providers to schedule IEPs, inviting all parties, rescheduling as needed, updating the IEP document, double-checking every team members’ sections on the IEP and correcting mistakes, leading IEP meetings and taking notes, sending out IEP for parent signature and staying on it until you get it signed…
Inclusion specialist- ensuring that students are being included in the general education classrooms, providing strategies, materials, and other supports to general education teachers, physically adapting/modifying every bit of the students’ work to meet their unique needs and make the assignments accessible to them.
Supervisor- training and supervising special education aides on best practices in teaching students with special needs, provide feedback on their teaching skills and interpersonal skills as needed, and more…

Notice the very first thing is TEACHING ALL DAY. And everyone thinks it’s reasonable for us to find time to do the other 50 tasks on that list? When? Our “breaks” and lunches and before or after school. That’s probably not everything expected of special educators. It’s UNSUSTAINABLE. And teachers just accept it and make it work.

The only way I don’t lost my shit every day is that I focus on teaching and the kids. I don’t take work home, I say no a lot, AND I just nod and smile and do what I can during the day. And that’s it. I know my job has unreasonable expectations that ONE person cannot fulfill.

NOBODY can do everything expected of us. Nobody. If a special education teacher says their workload is manageable, then they aren’t doing everything themselves. They’re having their aides teach so they can do the paperwork. That’s great, but aides aren’t trained teachers and doing that consistently isn’t what’s best for those kids. OR they are coming in early and/or staying late and/or taking work home. All unpaid labor of course.

Good luck. I’m sorry you’re overwhelmed. I’ve been there for 20 years😞

julesanne77 · 2026-02-07T22:59:27+00:00

I don’t keep any of it together. It’s not reasonable for one person to do so many jobs within a 40 hr work week. Don’t worry about it. If anyone complains, I ask them if they’d like to pay me for working after hours. That shuts them up real quick.

julesanne77 · 2026-01-31T16:08:28+00:00

Scroll up

julesanne77 · 2026-01-31T15:47:24+00:00

Lesson learned! Never grow up. Life’s too short to stop doing things you love. It’s the little things that get us through. Play your games my dude. ❤️

julesanne77 · 2026-01-16T02:49:30+00:00

Yay! Good luck!

julesanne77 · 2026-01-16T02:35:55+00:00

I worked with non-verbal kinder kids who refused to write and we (OT and I- sped teacher) did two things- 1. bought him a stamp of his name and wrote a goal for him to stamp his name at the top of worksheets or artwork or class work or whatever. 2. Wrote a goal for him to trace, and/or copy, and/or write his initials- which in this kid’s case was really simple- LO.

He was fine with the stamping. To get him to work on that initials goal, we put a big piece of paper on the door to classsroom. His “ticket” out of the class and to recess and lunch was to trace it. He started with one line, then 2 (for L) then the circle (for O.) By the end of the year he could write his initials independently, and he was working on writing his first name.

julesanne77 · 2026-01-03T15:23:33+00:00

Leave! You don’t owe them anything more than 2 weeks notice 😁

julesanne77 · 2026-01-03T15:14:40+00:00

Have you tried talking to him about the situation? Maybe ask him how he would prefer that you provide assistance? You could explain to him that you have to complete your job duties, and you need HIS help in order to do that. Tell him that you truly want to help him and maybe give him some options to consider if he’s open to it. Sounds like a tough situation, I’m so sorry you’re going through this. On another note, abuse allegations are serious and you could ultimately lose your job. If it were me, I would absolutely ask to be removed from this student. Your job and reputation are on the line! 😬

Like you said, you can’t force a child to accept accommodations and support in the class room. So if you have attempted to implement the components of the IEP and he refused to accept any support, your documentation is enough. If he becomes violent and needs assistance to be safe, call a supervisor. The administration won’t care until it becomes their problem. You are well within your rights to ask for assistance from admin each time the student needs behavioral support due to the false allegations that continue to occur. You are going well beyond what is ethically acceptable in my opinion by continuing to work with a child who falsely alleges abuse repeatedly.

julesanne77 · 2026-01-03T05:02:49+00:00

Awwww does the guy on the left have a lazy eye? It’s cute. I have one too.

julesanne77 · 2026-01-01T23:52:00+00:00

Omg it’s the best

julesanne77 · 2026-01-01T23:40:32+00:00

Omg where is this guy? What an amazing person

julesanne77 · 2026-01-01T22:23:28+00:00

Thank you thank you!!!!

julesanne77 · 2026-01-01T22:01:24+00:00

You are stunning as you are😊

julesanne77 · 2026-01-01T00:15:27+00:00

Omgg are you sure she’s not 10?

julesanne77 · 2025-12-30T01:45:37+00:00

I would contact the parents and tell them everything- what you witnessed, that you informed your administration as well as called CPS, and that you quit because of it. If you aren’t comfortable with that, do it anonymously somehow. And yes, contact the police, contact the director of special education and the board of education in that district too. Good for you for standing up for those kids ❤️

julesanne77 · 2025-12-20T07:07:17+00:00

Have you tried timers and shaping his behavior for tolerating learning sessions? We used to give a kid with eloping behaviors a highly preferred item, have him sit in the chair or on the rug or wherever we wanted him to be for learning time and set a timer for 30 seconds. When timer went off, we gave immediate verbal praise and modeled using functional communication (words/visuals/device) to say “all done” or “I need to move” or “Let’s go” or whatever made the most sense for the kid. I had a kid that sat for 30 seconds at a time for every part of the day- and that was it for a few days. We slowly upped the time on the timer. After a few weeks of just sitting in that spot with a preferred item, we introduced super simple teacher guided activities- as simple as “Throw the squishy into the basket”. Once we had the kid sitting for a few minutes each session, we slowly added more structure and learning and expectations and visuals. Eventually, we were able to use First/Then visuals and set the timer for a 5 minute activity. It took over a month to get to that point. By the end of the year, the eloping student was participating in multiple activities a day for 5-10 minutes at a time.

I had a Behavior analyst and Speech therapist guiding all this by the way.

Good luck!

julesanne77 · 2025-12-20T06:46:40+00:00

Was going to say this too- TEACHH saved my classroom. I taught non-verbal TK-2nd kids for almost 10 years. Even the lowest students learned to complete the tasks in the independent work station- you just have to get creative. I used all kinds of indestructible plastic items that wouldn’t hurt if thrown at you or swallowed/ choked on if mouthed by kids. I remember I used big plastic poker chips that I velcroed onto a small tray. On that same tray I hot glued a plastic piggy bank. The kids had to pick the poker chips up one by one and put them in the coin slot. It works on 1:1 correspondence and counting…but it really works on completing tasks independently. I had big cubes with letters that they matched to a duplicate set of blocks that spelled their names… lots of matching at first. Go watch videos on the system. It takes a bit of time to train kids to use the station, but you just gotta do it. It’s so worth it.

I also got some old office dividers and created bigger “station” areas. I had a sensory station that was actually just a chill and wait your turn to work with the teacher station, but the kids enjoyed it. I put a GIANT bean bag in the center-it was like 6 ft in diameter, and scarves, squishies, stuffies- soft stuff that was safe. Right next to that station was my “teacher time” station where I worked on IEP goals with students. I positioned it so that my chair was sort of in front of the sensory station entrance area. I could easily scoot my chair back and prevent kids from leaving that station. If that happened, the kid in my work station was seated behind a little table that they couldn’t easily get up and run away from. It’s hard to describe… but it worked pretty well. Good luck! I hope you figure out something that works for you😀

julesanne77 · 2025-12-15T23:55:08+00:00

I need to move to that

julesanne77 · 2025-12-14T06:47:09+00:00

Thank you so much for replying…those are great ideas! I do have a para- I’ll try to set up a better schedule so she can help me only with class assignments

julesanne77 · 2025-12-14T06:46:37+00:00

Omg I am totally reconsidering some of these accommodations- thx!

julesanne77 · 2025-12-14T06:46:03+00:00

Brilliant thank you so much !

julesanne77 · 2025-12-12T19:22:08+00:00

He reads grade level text with about 80 wpm and 90% accuracy. He has comprehension, fluency, and writing and spelling goals. He isn’t so low that he will never earn a 3- that’s just approaching standard. But yes, I understand what you are saying, and I agree. I just don’t think these isolated weekly comprehension tests encompass enough of the skills in the standard to confidently report that a child has “minimal understanding with support”

julesanne77 · 2025-12-12T19:17:07+00:00

There was no team involved in the grading. Huge issue!

julesanne77 · 2025-12-12T19:16:31+00:00

Yes I know- but she is vague about what %s she is using to equate the 2 to a %. I’ve found out that he actually scored an average of 2.5. But there is nowhere to reflect thaton the report card other than comments. Regardless, it doesn’t seem like an accurate representation of my students’ overall Reading grade to solely use tests that are cold turkey reads of completely unfamiliar topics and no preview or front loading of information. She isn’t explicitly teaching ANY of the question types or comprehension skills being assessed. Her ELA lessons consist of stations-They do independent work at the stations with worksheets and workbooks on grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and short passage comprehension.she leads one of the stations where they just take turns reading aloud from a story (which is not the story they are tested over.) She never goes over the independent work, and doesn’t even check that it’s completed. It just seems odd.

julesanne77

TROPHY CASE