AcceliPLAN, the new Austin ISD Special Education Individualized Education Program (IEP) software system, has been an ongoing problem for Special Education teachers since it was introduced at the start of the 20-21 school year. Due to “bugs” in the program, IEPs have not been able to be appropriately developed or finalized. Because of this, a significant number of Special Education students have had incomplete and/or expired IEPs for some time this school year. This is a violation of federal law and a disservice to our students' education.

Being a Special Education teacher in Austin ISD during the COVID pandemic has brought unique and challenging circumstances that have stretched us thin. We love what we do, we care deeply for our students, and we just need our IEP software system to work. Instead, we are experiencing a heightened level of anxiety due to this new program.

We have been forced to spend 10+ hours creating each IEP within the system, 2-3 times longer than ever before. We have experienced hundreds of bugs and other issues in the system since it started in August. Every day we have to check to see if a “bug” has been fixed overnight. Fixes often lead to a host of new issues in the system. We’ve been trained by the district to put in Help tickets for each new issue encountered. These tickets are consistently not responded to within 48 hours and are often not responded to at all, causing us to have to submit multiple tickets to the Accelify Help Desk.

To add to the list of problems with the new system, IEP Amendments have not been an option in the new system which means we are forced to hold formal ARD meetings for minor changes. Not only is this extremely time consuming for both parents and teachers, it is also a legal violation of IDEA.

Prior to this school year, the IEP software system, SEEDS, was successfully implemented. SEEDS was used by teachers for 20+ years, was extremely user friendly, and ensured compliance. Neither of which can be said of the new system.

We have reported the issues daily, weekly, and monthly to our district leadership, along with the hundreds of help tickets, with no adequate action from district Special Education leaders to make this better for us or our students.

The purpose of this petition is to raise awareness of the pervasive issues to Superintendent Elizalde and other district leaders, and to request an end to AcceliPLAN.

We encourage teachers and administrators to sign this petition. We encourage you to share this with anyone that has struggled with AcceliPLAN. Please share your experiences in the comments below.