Parent urges daily IEP data, clearer communication after truancy notice during child's surgery

A parent who identified herself as Samantha Reed urged the Louisiana Department of Education task force to improve communication, transparency and supports for families of children with special needs, saying current practices sometimes leave parents without understandable information about individualized education program (IEP) progress.

"I had to fight four months just to get a data sheet for our youngest," Reed said, and asked that special education students receive routine progress data so parents can see "both progress and areas of struggle." Reed described receiving a truancy notice while her younger child was in the hospital for heart surgery and said the experience caused extreme distress.

Community engagement specialist Christina Kozick, who said her organization Exceptional Lives supports special education families, told the task force that parents of students with disabilities often need targeted information and that family engagement frameworks should consider two‑way capacity building between families and educators.

Task force members responded that districts and the department should examine how policies are implemented at the school level, and participants proposed placing district‑level guidance and parent‑facing one‑pagers in a central location so families can find consistent information about IEPs, excused absences and special education advisory panels.

Reed asked the task force to use examples from higher‑performing states and ensure that communication and documentation are timely and detailed. "Simply stating sufficient or insufficient progress is not meaningful for most parents," she said.