Attending an individualized education program meeting can feel like landing on a different planet.

Acronyms abound, and systems collide.

Confusing meetings advocating for her son are why Kristian Peacock, a reading interventionist at Sandpoint Middle School, volunteered to guide other parents through the IEP process.

“I never want somebody, a parent, to struggle like I did to find the best pathways,” Peacock said.

Peacock is one of the first handful of parents to participate in a pilot program at Lake Pend Oreille School District. The Idaho Department of Education and Idaho Parents Unlimited (IPUL) this week announced the program’s statewide rollout.

A parent who has been through the IEP process with their child receives training and support from IPUL, then mentors an incoming parent through the process.

“Parents navigating special education face a system that is complex, highly technical and difficult to access without support,” said Melissa Vian, parent training and information center director at IPUL. “Families are expected to participate as equal members of IEP teams, yet they often encounter unfamiliar legal requirements, dense jargon and decisions that feel predetermined.”

The state and advocates hope increased communication and peer support will boost positive experiences for families and kids, a press release on the program’s expansion said this week.

“This partnership is a bridge to me,” Peacock said.  “It’s a bridge between those who work in it and those who live it.”

A new parent link: Creating the program

Last year, as state superintendent Debbie Critchfield watched legislators ignore her pleas for funding to close the $100 million special education funding gap, she began looking for ways to support families with special education students.

Critchfield’s team worked with Lake Pend Oreille’s Joy Jansen, who heads up the district’s special education services, and IPUL Executive Director Angela Lindig to launch a pilot program in March. 

Following the announcement, the pair had to figure out how to implement the mentorship idea.

They named the program Parent LINK, an acronym for linking information, networks and knowledge. Jansen contacted parents she knew would be interested in supporting others and have the background to do so.

Lindig led a training in September for the first group of four parents, all of whom also work for the district.

Peacock was one of those parents. While her son is now in his 20s, she recalled meetings where she wanted the best for her son but was confused and scared by acronyms and other complexities.

Parents are scared their child will be saddled with the label of disabled and get discriminated against, Peacock said. “Just because your child needs more help doesn’t mean that they can’t be something that’s incredible.”

For parents, an IEP meeting can be emotional, but it’s part of a million other tasks for school staff members.

Peacock hopes her experience will help her connect with parents by meeting them on an emotional level, validating their feelings, and breaking down the paperwork and processes.

‘There’s always something to learn’

After the first group was matched and trained, IPUL decided to expand the program statewide with the Department of Education’s support.

It’s a chance for parents to connect with the right people in communities across the state — an “invaluable” opportunity, said Critchfield.

With Idaho’s state budget in crisis, Critchfield pulled back proposals that would require new funding sources this year. The program has few costs because it relies on volunteers and IPUL, a nonprofit.

Parent Candice Funk was part of the second cohort of Parent LINK advocates who received training in January.

Funk’s oldest son is 9 and has severe autism and brain damage that leaves him functioning at about a 3-year-old’s level. Her middle son has mild autism and also has an IEP.

Despite having years of personal experience with IEPs, Funk said “there’s always something to learn” in the trainings.

She hopes to help other parents in a way that “feels more personal and a little less terrifying” than walking into an official meeting.

And the program’s formal nature brings the discussion off of Facebook mom pages and creates a positive relationship from the jump, Funk said. “It made it so much more positive.”

For Funk, programs like this are why her family moved to Sandpoint from California.