My child was at Golden Valley River for 2 years. After recently going back through his 2024 IEP,…read moremeeting notes, and the emails from that time, I decided other parents of children with IEPs deserve to know about our experience.
In 2024, during our first experience with the IEP process, a Special Day Class was presented to us as the recommended placement for our son for first grade. We were told to research our options and decide how we wanted to proceed.
We signed the IEP believing we had options.
What was never clearly communicated to us was that GV would later treat that signature as meaning our son could no longer return to River.
When I realized that was their position, I objected immediately and in writing.
I explained that the SDC had been presented to us as a recommendation, that we had been told to research and decide, and that neither my husband nor I had agreed our son could not return.
I specifically asked them to show me where the IEP said that.
I never received a direct answer to that question.
Instead, GVs Director of Special Education responded in writing that River was "unable to meet [our son's] needs," that he had been "recommended for a special day class," and that because we had signed the offer, we needed to contact our district of residence.
But that wasn't what I was asking.
I knew an SDC had been recommended. I was asking when and where we had been clearly told that signing the IEP meant our child would no longer be allowed to attend the school he had been at for 2 years.
Had someone looked us in the eye during that meeting and said, "If you sign this, Golden Valley's position will be that your son cannot return to River," we would never have signed it.
And this wasn't something I suddenly decided I misunderstood months or years later.
I raised it immediately.
I asked for clarification. I demanded answers. I put our disagreement in writing. I asked them to show me where we had agreed to this. We had another meeting because we wanted to revisit the decision and discuss our son remaining at River.
We still did not receive a straightforward answer to the questions we raised.
Instead, our signature was treated as though it settled the issue.
Looking back at GVs own documentation makes the experience even more upsetting. The IEP notes list multiple options the team considered, including continued enrollment at the charter school with accommodations, general education with accommodations, etc.
Yet the documentation we received does not explain why the options that could have allowed our son to remain at River were rejected.
His IEP also states that academic interventions had not been tried because Golden Valley's kindergarten program was play-based and formal academics were not introduced until first grade.
We were never provided a separate Prior Written Notice explaining that Golden Valley's position was that our son could no longer attend River or why alternatives that could have allowed him to remain were being rejected.
I still have the IEP. I still have the meeting notes. I still have the emails.
Two years later, I don't have to rely on my memory of what happened. I can read what I wrote while it was happening.
We were parents navigating our first IEP. We trusted the professionals sitting across from us to explain our options clearly and make sure we understood the consequences of what we were signing.
They did not.
But what I find even harder to accept is that once I explicitly told them there had been a serious misunderstanding and demanded clarification, we still couldn't get a direct answer about when or where we had supposedly agreed that our son could no longer return.
Looking back, I feel manipulated by a process we did not yet understand. We felt pushed out of a school our child had attended, and we felt that our lack of knowledge about the IEP process worked against us once our signatures were on the document.
Parents should not have to become experts in special education law before they can trust that the professionals sitting across the table are being completely transparent about what they are signing and what it means for their child's education.
If your child has an IEP or may require accommodations, ask everything.
Ask exactly what every signature means. Ask whether your child can continue attending the school if you accept a placement recommendation. Ask what supports and accommodations have been considered. Ask why other options were rejected. If something doesn't make sense, say so. If the answer isn't clear, ask again.
And get everything in writing.
I can't change what happened to our family, but I can make sure another parent walks into their first IEP meeting knowing the questions I didn't know to ask.
I wish someone had done that for us.
We trusted GV with our child.
When he needed additional support, we were told they didn't have the resources for him.
That is how our two years at Golden Valley River ended.
