Meeting Minutes

Developed by Mary-Lorraine Cox, School Psychology/504 ISS

For October 2, 2020, PD

Information and contents from non-DoDEA websites are used in throughout this presentation. However, the contents of the websites do not necessarily represent the policy of the US Government or DoDEA, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government or DoDEA.

https://boardable.com/blog/board-meeting-minutes/

• For IEPs, a template already exists. If you are a minute-taker, make sure you know what it looks like.
• For 504 plans, I have encouraged chairs to draft key components.
• For parent teacher meetings, create an agenda or outline to follow.
• In all cases, a visible agenda should be posted or provided to each participant
• An agenda can help keep everyone on track.
• It may help participants who need to know when certain information will be discussed.
• It may include a scheduled end-time for the meeting, after which the meeting would need to reconvene if not completed.

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The person doing the speaking during the meeting, may have difficulty taking notes.

The administrator who needs to monitor how the interactions are going may not be able to do this as well if also taking minutes.

Therefore, as another team member, you may find yourself taking the minutes.

• Observations mentioned need to be substantiated with examples and data.
• Avoid judgement words like smart, manipulative, mean, kind, etc.
• If you know someone tends to use judgemental words, please remind them before the meeting that they can be problematic in conversations with parents and in meetings.
• Summarize patterns in behaviors mentioned rather than word-for-word minutes.
• Mention the data used for decision-making
• Assessment results, logs, work samples, etc.
• Make sure to include student strengths, progress made, and desired behaviors observed.
• Be truthful about weaknesses, lack of progress, and behaviors of concern exhibited.
• Remain student-focused

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• Purpose
• Participants by Name (and title)
• Were participants consulted prior to the meeting for input?
• Were rights and notices provided when expected.
• Important background information discussed
• Current Discussion - key concepts, not “he said, she said.”
• Summarize reasons why changes in the draft were made
• Describe why requests were declined or alternates chosen.
• Were all in agreement?
• Do not repeat information also mentioned in other official paperwork
• Do no list accommodations decided upon and included in the plan or program.
• Do not repeat information mentioned in the plan or program.

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• As the minute-taker, you are likely using Microsoft Word.
• In best practice, minutes are posted on a large screen for all team members to read.
• If this is a lengthy meeting, consider reading aloud or posting the minutes after each portion of the meeting, so changes can be made in real-time, rather than reviewing them in their entirety at the end of a long meeting.
• You will need to e-mail the minutes encrypted to the chair or case manager who can add these minutes into Aspen.
• Participants need to sign at the end of the meeting, so parent(s) can leave with a copy.

Writing IEP meeting minutes

Writing 504 meeting minutes

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so I can improve future trainings:

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