New Special Education Coordinator Training; day 2

1. New Special Education Coordinator Training; day 2 August 1, 2013

2. Icebreaker

3. Agenda • Day 1 Reflections • IEP meeting types and requirements • Invitation • Participation • PWN • Meeting Type Alternatives • Excent • Confidentiality • Enrollment through the 1st 30 days • Records • Comparable Services IEP Meeting • 30-day meeting • Student Intervention Teams • Child Find

4. Day 1 reflection • Questions: • District/School Relationship • Regional Coordinators • Expectations of the school coordinator? • Any other questions?

5. IEP Meetings

6. Meeting Types • Full IEP Meeting • IEP Meeting with non-essential person dismissed • IEP Meeting with essential person dismissed • Agreement to Amend IEP Meeting • Special Reviews versus Annual Reviews

7. 3 parts to a standard meeting • Pre-meeting (notification) • During the meeting • Post-meeting (Summary/PWN)

8. Letter of Notification IEP meeting notifications must include the purpose, time, and location of the meeting and who will be in attendance. This is why an email asking the parent to attend a meeting doesn’t suffice (even if they attend). Use the invitation out of Excent (handout)

9. Letter of Notification • Team Membership • The public agency must ensure that the IEP Team for each child with a disability includes-- (1) The parents of the child; (2) Not less than one regular education teacher of the child (if the child is, or may be, participating in the regular education environment); (3) Not less than one special education teacher of the child, or where appropriate, not less then one special education provider of the child; (4) A representative of the public agency who-- (i) Is qualified to provide, or supervise the provision of, specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities; (ii) Is knowledgeable about the general education curriculum; and (iii) Is knowledgeable about the availability of resources of the public agency. (5) An individual who can interpret the instructional implications of evaluation results, who may be a member of the team described in paragraphs (a)(2) through (a)(6) of this section; (6) At the discretion of the parent or the agency, other individuals who have knowledge or special expertise regarding the child, including related services personnel as appropriate; and (7) Whenever appropriate, the child with a disability.

10. Letter of Notification • The LEA: (4) A representative of the public agency who-- (i) Is qualified to provide, or supervise the provision of, specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities; (ii) Is knowledgeable about the general education curriculum; and (iii) Is knowledgeable about the availability of resources of the public agency.

11. Notification of Meetings • For students that receive speech services: • An SLP must be in attendance • For a student that receives OT: • An OT must be in attendance • For a students that receives PT: • A PT must be in attendance • For a child thathas a VI or HI: • A teacher of the VI or HI must be in attendance

12. Letter of Notification • Parents must be provided enough notice for them to make a decision about attending. • If parents do not attend, there must be evidence that two separate attempts using two different methods was made. • Kids 12* and up need to have “to discuss transition services” checked too and be invited to the meeting.

13. Letter of Notification • So there has to be documentation that a formal invite including all of the above was provided. • Which one shows that proper notification was provided: • “Email” • “Email with invitation attached?” • Does this make sense? One notification method that says “phone.” • What if the parent does not attend and one of the two notifications was “phone?” • Even if the parent attends, the meeting could be determined null and void if proper notification wasn’t provided.

14. Letter of Notification • What are your alternate options to ensure participation? • Conference Call • Web-based

15. During the Meeting • Things to think about: • How will you make changes during the meeting: • On paper copies • On Excent • On Excent with a projector • Do you have an agenda? • How many “draft” handouts? • Capturing signatures

16. Meeting Summary • Required per District Policy • Not meant to be a transcription • Purpose is to capture the gist/flow of an IEP meeting • Purpose is to discuss requests/disagreements and resolutions of these • Every parental request needs to have closure • Parent asked for an in-home teaching assistant. The team discussed and determined that based on present level data, the child is able to receive FAPE through the proposed services of virtual services and did not need an in-home assistant. • Common mistakes noted: • Wrong date of the meeting • Not noting proper meeting membership • Meeting attendance not matching the signature page • Tips for Taking Notes – See Handout

17. PWN Prior written notice is provided to the parent PRIOR to the implementation of the changes decided upon by the team.

18. PWNs • Top 5 things found on PWNs: • We considered sending the kid back to his home school. • We considered blank. • We considered discontinuing services. • We proposed to conduct an annual review. • Meeting letter says “invite to special review,” but PWN says “conducted annual review.” • We made changes to the present levels, but nothing in section C was checked. • Considered but rejected requiring the child to take medication.

19. PWNs • Let’s talk about what these questions mean: • As a result of the IEP/Staffing meeting, the IEP/Staffing Team proposes or refuses to… • Explanation of why the school district/agency proposes or refuses to take this action. • Description of each evaluation procedure, assessment, record, or report the school district used in deciding to propose or refuse the action. • Description of any other choices that the IEP team considered and the reasons why those choices were rejected. • Description of any other reasons why the school district proposed or refused the action.

20. PWNs • The parent MUST have a copy of the PWN prior to implementing the IEP. • If the parents attends the meeting and does not leave with a copy of the PWN, the IEP cannot be implemented until after the PWN has been sent. • If parents did not attend, the IEP cannot be implemented until after the PWN has been sent to the parents. • What does this mean? • Give the PWN at the meeting (along with the IEP) • Wait 5 – 7 days after the meeting to initiate the proposed FAPE • Initiation date must reflect this on the cover page of the IEP • Cannot extend past the expiration date of the IEP to “wait” to give the PWN

21. After the meeting • What are your plans for retaining copies of the IEP documents after the meeting? • Files scanned/uploaded into Excent (signed copies) • Are you keeping hard copies?

22. The IEP Folder

23. The IEP Folder • Simply put, EVERY CHILD who has/had an IEP at your school needs to have an IEP folder. • These files need to be kept for 5 years after the child exits. • Things that are embarrassing: • 2 years in and the only paper in the folder is a meeting notification from 18 months ago. • The only files are non-signed IEPs.

24. IEP Folder What happens with the “signed IEP” (hand-written one with markups)? What happens to your signature page?

25. Special Review vs Annual Review

26. Special Review vs. Annual Review Special Review Annual Review Updated 100% of the present levels with CURRENT present level data and the entire IEP Can’t be done through “amendment” • Can be done with an agreement to amend an IEP • Only update certain areas of present levels or certain goals (not everything) • Something needs to be changed (updated) for EVERY special review (most likely in the PLOP)

27. Other Meeting Options

28. Excusing a team member • A member of the IEP team whose area of expertise IS NOT being discussed may be excused from an IEP meeting if: • The LEA rep and parent agree in writing prior to the meeting • There’s a form for that • A member of the IEP team whose area of expertise IS being discussed may be excused from an IEP meeting if: • The parent gives informed, written consent prior to the meeting AND • The team member provides written input for the meeting that IEP team members (including the parent) can review prior to the meeting and prior to the parent giving consent • There’s a form for that also • Agreement to Amend IEP meeting • Signed by school’s LEA • For anything except annual reviews

29. Excent

30. Excent • Role Level: • School – can see everyone at the school • Staff – can only see assigned caseloads • Rights: • Coordinator – full rights assigned to 1 person at the school* • Teacher – “IEP process” rights *if you have a special circumstance and more than one person needs “coordinator” rights, contact Robbie.

31. Excent • Excent and PowerSchool work off something called a SIF agent (don’t ask me to describe this . . . . If you ask, I will tell you it’s magic). • Once entered into PowerSchool (after a certain sequence of data has been entered), the SIF agent will add the person into Excent as a regular education student. • Things I’ve observed this past year: • Data flows one way: PowerSchool  Excent • Once entered, the child never leaves • Every once in a while a “referred” child shows up that you know nothing about • A change in school (in PowerSchool) from one of our schools to another, will trigger a change too.

32. Excent • Excent Resources: • Adding Students in Excent • Adding Attachments • Assessment Accommodations Report in Excent (PASS/HSAP) • Assigning Case Managers • Indicator 11 and Placemeht History • Indicator 11 (placement history) for unique situations • Running Reports in Excent • Transfer a student out of Excent • Request ExcentRights new

33. Excent • If you’re new to Excent or need a refresher, your regional rep will be more than happy to assist.

34. Confidentiality Confidentiality/FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act) and IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act)

35. A Legal Protection of Privacy A child’s educational records often contain private personal information about the child and the family

36. Confidentiality of Records In the course of determining a child’s eligibility for special education services and designing a program to meet the child’s needs, schools collect a good bit of information about a child. This information includes social and developmental history as well as medical and other personal information about the student and other members of the family

37. FERPA (Confidentiality) • Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) • Key Legal Terms • “Need to Know” • those with “legitimate educational interest”. This is considered to be those who act in the student’s educational interest, including faculty, administrators, clerical and professional employees, and other persons who manage student record information. • “Personally Identifiable Information” • anything that identifies a specific child. • Example: If there is only one blond boy in the school and you say, “That blond kid in my class did this,” you have violated FERPA. • “Educational Record” • Must be connected in some way to personally identifiable information and must be shared with another school district employee or placed in an filing system owned by the district. Beware, even sometimes, personal notes may be subpoenaed.

38. Viewing Student Records • Must have a need to know in order to view student records • The superintendent cannot look at student files unless he or she has a need to know, even though he or she is the highest ranking official of the district. • When in doubt, don’t! • It’s okay to ask for help and support.

39. Sharing Student Records • Use the “need to know” standard • Some people do not need permission • Examples of people who do not need permission: • School Districts in which a student is seeking to enroll. • Biological parents • Adoptive parents • Legal guardian • Individual acting as a parent in the absence of a natural parent or guardian • DSS, when reporting abuse or neglect. • Some people need written permission • Examples of people who do need permission: • Outside private agencies • Family members not meeting the definition of a parent. • Physicians • When in doubt, don’t!

40. FERPA violation Examples • Casual conversation in the teacher’s lounge, hall, etc. • Sharing with your friends or family members • Sharing with the student’s friends or non-guardian family members • Can’t talk to grandma, aunt, etc. unless they are acting as the custodial parent or guardian

41. The South Carolina Public Charter School District keeps a record of parties obtaining access to education records collected, maintained or used under Part B of the IDEA (except access by parents and authorized employees of the participating agency), including the name of the party, the date access was given and the purpose for which the party is authorized to use the records. The South Carolina Public Charter School District, including each school within, maintains a list of authorized employees who have access to educational records. • Each school needs to maintain a list of “authorized employees” (district’s – to be used as a sample)) • For everyone else who is not “authorized” he will need to sign showing access to the file.

42. Sample School File “Check out” Procedures • Complete the orange “check out” sheet included in every active district file by providing… • The date the file was removed • The name of the person removing and keeping the file • The reason the file was removed • Place the orange card in the student’s empty hanging file • To return files… • Provide the date • Cross out the entire line • Return the orange “check out” card to the front of the file • Place the file in the student’s hanging file • A Sample Form is included on SharePoint

43. FERPA • Additional FERPA training and resources will be discussed and made available during the monthly coordinator meetings.

44. Confidentiality and IDEA • Confidentiality and IDEA – see handout

45. Enrollment to 30 Days

46. IEPs (Transfers) • VI (F) • Regardless of how the parent completes the enrollment information regarding previous special education services, it is the responsibility of the new school to verify whether or not the student received special education and related services in the previous district. • Since this is a transfer of educational records from the child’s previous LEA to the South Carolina Public Charter School District, no consent for release of documents is required.

47. Written, school-level procedures • How to you identify newly-enrolled students who have IEPs? • How/who requests records? • What happens if you don’t get records within 5 days? • Once you get records, what happens?

48. Comparable Services • “Comparable” services” • Not going from 1950 minutes of special education services to 60 • Not dropping the behavior/counseling goal because “we don’t do that here” • Not dropping the fine motor goal because “we don’t have an OT” • How do you determine comparable services?

49. comparable services • An IEP team determines comparable services. • It involves two things: • The transfer IEP • Parental Input • There are two meeting options: • Full IEP meeting • Agreement to amend IEP • 2 options = 1 form • Comparable services meeting must take place within 5 days of enrollment.

50. comparable services • Activity Time . . .