Today the IEP Task Force reconvened in a meeting about the new IEP Plus 5.0. Together with the Governor’s Advisory Council for Exceptional Citizens (GACEC), a meeting was held to go over the new functionalities of the IEP computer system that former Chair of the IEP Task Force Matt Denn wanted to scrap altogether. This meeting was SO important nobody knew about it. And unless legislation has been introduced extending Senate Concurrent Resolution #63 from the 147th General Assembly, anything with the name “IEP Task Force” is technically illegal.
While pretty much nobody showed up to the meeting from the old IEP Task Force, I find it interesting the DOE would stage a meeting in conjunction with the GACEC and this mythical new IEP Task Force. None of the legislators from the previous task force showed up. Matt Denn wasn’t there. So who is running this? Apparently, the Director of the Exceptional Children Resources Group Mary Ann Mieczkowski ran the meeting. She was on the IEP Task Force. And she is also a member of the GACEC.
So we have a non-public meeting of two very public entities. Say the IEP Task Force was just a name thrown on over a month ago (which was when an email was sent to different task force members advising them of this meeting today). The GACEC should have definitely put this on the Delaware Public Meeting Calendar. But I guess non-transparency is okay if nobody finds out about it!
From what I have learned, the meeting was very boring. It was a lot of technical lingo about the updated computer system run by Sunguard. Sunguard also runs e-school, that clever little database that houses EVERYTHING about your child. IEP Plus is the system where ALL IEPs are stored. But that’s not the point. I’ve been in IEP meetings where IEP Plus sucks the oxygen out of the room and technical difficulties take up far too much time. I’m sure it isn’t just schools and the DOE who are fed up by it. But here is the DOE, probably paying tons of money for this upgrade with no one the wiser. By denying any parent the ability to go to this meeting, I have to wonder what other meetings are going on in this state behind closed doors that should be open to the public. I’m sure there are plenty! Like I’ve said a couple times: “Delaware, first to sign the Constitution, the last to follow it!”
The Season Of Myths 