Meeting notes
One meeting on one page: the notice, who came, each decision and whether you agreed, the action items with names and dates, and the topics left for another meeting. Everything you type stays in this browser.
For a first pass, the attendees, decisions and action items sheets are essential: In the meeting asks for the attendees, the decisions, at least one action item with a name and date, and the expected date of the final IEP (write that as an action item). The meeting sheet takes two minutes from the notice. The parking lot is optional. A reader who skips the notes leaves the meeting with the school's record of it and none of their own.
The meeting
Fill the first lines from the meeting notice before you go (Before the meeting and In the meeting).
Attendees
One row per person on the notice or in the room (In the meeting). Excused in writing means you agreed in writing that they need not attend.
Decisions
One row per decision, in the words used at the table (In the meeting). Your answer is yours: agreed, not agreed, or needs time. Tick the last column when the school's proposal or refusal should come in prior written notice.
Action items
Who will do what by when (In the meeting). The follow-through record copies these when its own action list is empty.
Parking lot
Optional. Topics that need another meeting or another person, and the next step for each (In the meeting).
How to use this sheet
- Fill the top before you go. The date, type, format and purpose come from the notice.
- One row per decision, in the words used. Write what was decided as it was said at the table. Your answer column is yours: agreed, not agreed, or needs time.
- Every action item has a who and a when. "The school will look into it" is not an action item until it has a name and a date. Ask for both.
- Tick prior written notice expected for any proposal or refusal you want in writing (After the meeting).
- Read the decisions back before the meeting ends. If the team's understanding differs, correct the row then.
- Action items carry forward. The follow-through record copies them when its own list is empty.
This sheet has no example rows; In the meeting walks through Lena Marsh's notes from Jasper's annual review (fictional), where a friend takes the notes while Lena asks her questions, and the decision list is read back before the call ends.
Your notes record what you heard and what you answered. They are not the IEP, and they do not decide what was agreed; the final IEP and any prior written notice are the school's written record, and you compare them with your notes in After the meeting. This manual does not say what to agree to, and a "not agreed" row is a record, not a dispute. The options are in When you disagree.