1. A gen. ed. teacher is required IF the student has gen. ed. classes, otherwise they are not required. Ditto for ancillary services, S&L, PT, OT etc.
2. A parent is not required to attend an IEP. A school district is required to try to schedule a mutually agreed upon time, supply an invitation and provide follow up to the parent in the event they are unable to attend. Best practice on the part of any school district is to discuss expectations before the IEP.
3. Not all states require parents to sign an IEP. A parent can request a hearing at any time, but they must supply/pay for their own representation.
4. Depending on the state/area, an amendment may be written to deal with an issue, not a whole new IEP.
5. ESY in most areas is provided when there is an anticipated or documented regression in skills. As most kids with special services for academic purposes have remedial skill deficiencies, in comparison to their same age peers, they can be said to have poor academic achievement. Some kids have been documented to have lost as much as 50% of their skills over the summer. Those are the target kids for ESY in most locale.
6. Folly to write that email? Oh baby, couldn't agree with you more.