Hello

>>One of our friends from this board told me that signing your name to a form that indicates there was an IEP meeting - when there was never a meeting of any kind - is a felony. Is that correct?

Depends on your state law. Might be a felony in your state, I would think most states would be misdemeanor at best.


>>Is it that any time you sign your name on a document - it's a legal document and therefore a felony if you misrepresent the facts

If you sign a document under penalty of perjury, then that can be a felony, depends on state law, but most states define perjury as a felony. Also depends on the document. If you sign a letter to a friend which misrepresents facts, it is probably just lying, or possibly an infraction, unless your friend substantially changed his/her position in reliance on the facts from your letter, in which case it would be fraud. Very complicated. Did you sign under a statement that indicated you were signing under penalty of perjury? If not, then all it might do is be proof against you that you attended an IEP meeting that did not exist.


>>or is that since IDEA mandates these IEP proceedings - it's a felony to falsify IEP documents?

Depends on state law, could be felony or misdemeanor or infraction.


>>(BTW - I've read your disclaimer many times over the last couple of years & am fully aware that I should regard your answer as general information and NOT as legal representation. Thank you.)

Yes, especially because I am not licensed in any state except California.


>>I'm having an enormous problem with Sarah's new school. I won't go into all of the problems we've had since we moved here. But something has happened and I'm ready (i.e. livid enough) to call an IEP meeting. I think the whole incident could've been avoided had they provided Sarah the aide her IEP calls for.

If the IEP includes an aide, you should call an IEP meeting and demand the aide. The school is in violation of the IEP, which may or may not be a felony LOL, depending on your state law. But you definitely have a case for denial of FAPE if it is in the IEP and not provided.


>>Okay, Okay - twist my arm. I'll tell ya'll - in detail-what happened. Sarah was out of school - sick - on a Friday and the following Monday. Monday eve - hubby & I prepared her, told her she would be going back to school. She started saying "no lunch, no lunch." She actually drew a crude picture of her lunch bag - colored it the appropriate color and put a big "X" over it. We had no idea what was wrong. We asked her older brother if he knew anything (he's the one that found her alone & lost in the cafeteria on their first day to the new school) and he didn't know. The next morning she got hysterical. She actually pushed her lunch bag off of the table. She NEVER does anything like that. She was sobbing by the time we got to school. Her brother said that he bet the cafeteria ladies were mean to her because they're always mean. Well, turns out he was right. Her teacher said < Oh, I bet I know what it is. Last week I happened to walk by and see the cafeteria aides getting onto Sarah. She had stepped into some milk and they were upset with her.>

Being upset with a young child for stepping in milk is not appropriate adult behavior, even for an NT child. This can also be inappropriate supervision of minors under care, or even abuse of minors under care, which is a crime, can be a felony depending on your state law LOL.


>>The teacher said she immediately told them that Sarah is autistic and they backed off. I was furious. Did they not take a breath long enough to notice that there's something different about Sarah?

This pisses me off because they should not have treated ANY child badly just for stepping into milk. I even do this, and if anyone treated me badly for stepping into milk, especially if I was not the one who spilled it, I would possibly rearrange their face.


>>They must of dug into her pretty good if she was so freaked out about it four days later. Since then, although they say they've fixed the problem - she's not the same going to school. She gets upset as soon as we get in the building.

Now you need an aide to escort her into the cafeteria. Write that into the IEP, as a "school-created situation requiring an aide 1:1 for entire day, including non-instructional time".

>>It'll be a week since I found out about the incident tomorrow. I'm going to hand deliver a written request for an authentic IEP meeting then. Is that what ya'll do when you call a meeting?

This is what I would do, get the school secretary to sign and date a copy for your files. Cheryl and others can give you more specific information about this also.