Mid Year Face-to-Face Special Education Coordinator Meeting

January 14, 2013

Agenda Welcome District Update Immediate Procedural Changes Planning for 2013-2014 Referrals OEC Onsite Monitoring When Parents Call Complaint Resolution Role of the Special Education

Coordinator Compliance Hot Topics IEP Review Checklist Spring/Summer 2013 Planning Closing

Welcome and Introductions

Introductions New Special Education Coordinators:

Margie Lee, Columbia Imagine Lucia Moraru, Fox Creek High School Leslye Tobin-Cobb, Cape Romain

Environmental Education Charter School Margie Player, Youth Leadership

District Update

District Update Currently have 18 schools who are operational. For 2013-2014, we have 10 schools who are

planning on opening. 1 virtual 1 blended 8 brick-and-mortar

As of today, we have had a total of 41 schools who have put in letters of intent to open in the 2014-2015 school year.

District Update

District Update Since we’ve last met:

Board and Superintendent have an increased emphasis on the District being a charter school authorizer: greater accountability in exchange for

greater autonomy.

SCDE and Legislators want to see more accountability.

The District is strengthening its compliance model and process.

District Update Six schools received notification in November

that they were placed on probation. Special education concerns were the “trigger” for

probation for two of the schools. A total of three schools were cited for special

education deficiencies.

District Update District Population: 11,500

Top 25 Districts in the State

December 1 Count: 1,150 student 10%

District Update 4 State Complaints filed

2 parents withdrew their complaint 1 outside scope of IDEA 1 investigated and resolution issued

Will be discussed later

1 OCR complaint filed Currently being investigated

1 District-Level 504 Grievance Filed Outside the scope of Section 504

District Update We’re up to 80 referrals for initials or “additional

disability suspected.”

We have a total of 2.6 FTE providing IDEA oversight.

Just a reminder: We’re at 18 schools Up to 28 schools in 2013-2014 Up to 69 schools in 2014-2015

We will not be able to keep up with this growth with our current structure.

Immediate Procedural Changes

Immediate Change: Regional Coordinator

In order to keep up with the growth and demands of the District, we are piloting a new a service delivery model.

Initial point of contact for the Upstate Region: Calhoun Falls, Youth Leadership, Spartanburg Charter, & York Prep

Provides onsite support Tailored & School Specific She begins 1/16/2013 when she’s introduced to the above

school leaders

Mariann Carter (part time): mcarter@sccharter.org Phone: will be provided later this week

Immediate Change: Referral Process

ALL referral packets (including reevaluations) will be sent to Catherine Oxner (coxner@sccharter.org). Part Time (1 day a week)

Audrey Whitley will attend evaluation planning and eligibility determination meetings for all school except SCS; that will be Evelyn Williams. Part time (5 days a week)

No meeting will be scheduled until a completed referral packet is submitted.

Audrey and Evelyn will not attend a meeting unless provided a letter of notification.

Neither will not stay for IEP development.

“High profile” or “Unusual” situations

For situations that are “unusual”, one of us will attend the meeting.

Beckie will be involved in “unusual” referrals and reevaluations.

Immediate Change: IEP meetings When there is a representative from the

District at the IEP meeting serving in the role as “representative from the District,” we are serving as the LEA. This needs to be noted on the letter of

notification.

Before attending, we need to receive a copy of the letter of notification.

2013-2014 Planning

2013-2014: Regional Model Every school will be assigned a Regional

Coordinator.

Each position is part time.

This person will be the school’s point of contact.

Over the next few months we’ll draft the regions and provide more information about this model.

2013-2014: Formal Compliance Model

As we previously mentioned, the District, at the request of the Board and Superintendent, are moving towards a “traditional authorizer” model.

Over the next few months, we are going to begin designing this process. Resources:

National Association of Charter School Authorizers

Colorado Charter School Institute

2013-2014: Formal Compliance Model

Some things you can expect: The rollout of the Regional Model Yearly Self-Assessment Yearly Onsite Visit Yearly Comprehensive File Audit More defined roles and expectations

Currently, the District is working on strengthening the Charter Compliance.

2013-2014: Psychological Services

Beginning July 1, 2013, schools will be 100% responsible for all aspects of the child find process.

The district will not provide a school psychologist for evaluation planning or eligibility determination meetings.

We will still maintain a list of contract psychologist and share this list with the schools.

2013-2014: Psychological Services

Over the next few months, there will be more information to come regarding this process.

Schools are STONGLY encouraged to secure a permanently assigned school psychologist.

Referrals

Referrals: Interventions RtI/Intervention Teams

Includes targeted interventions, responses to those interventions, and progress monitoring data

More than just accommodations Includes specific data (CBMs, frequency counts, …) Should include ruling out things like vision or hearing

problems If there’s a behavior issue, must include

Clear description of behavior (what it looks, sounds, smells, tastes, feels like)

How often it occurs How long it lasts What triggers it What happens as a result of it

Referrals: New Procedures C. Oxner

Send all referrals to Catherine unless you’ve cleared it with Beckie first

She will process and log the referral information If the packet is incomplete, she’ll send it back to you

and notify Beckie Once the packet is complete, she’ll review it and pass it

on to Audrey or Evelyn If there is a question about proceeding with the

evaluation, the decision will be made after consultation with District staff; District staff will notify parent with PWN if the decision is made to refuse to evaluate

Referrals: Roles and Responsibility

Special Education Coordinator Ensure the proper RtI process and documentation

has occurred Ensure the referral packet is complete

Review of forms to ensure all are completed Follow-up on info mentioned in referral packet

(requested previous evaluations, obtained consent to talk with other professionals, followed up on any vision or hearing problems

Once notified by Catherine, schedule evaluation/ reevaluation planning meetings with Audrey or Evelyn in a timely fashion

Responsibilities Ensure all information requested by the

team is gathered in a timely fashion Develop a process for monitoring this –

check in with OT, SLT, parent Ensure all information gathered by

others is in a useable format (Word document) Observations must be written up in a

narrative fashion Send all information gathered to Audrey

or Evelyn in the appropriate format

Responsibilities Ensure that Sections I-IV of the Report are

completed appropriately and professionally Send the Report to Audrey or Evelyn within 5

days of the planning meeting Schedule the eligibility meeting within 15

school days of the completion of the evaluation Ensure that appropriate team members attend

or that the proper excusal process is used Do not go into a meeting without all appropriate

team members

OEC Onsite

OEC Onsite: Continued Monitoring On September 20, 2012, the OEC

finished a two-day onsite visit. They indicated that they were going to go onsite to two or three of our schools sometime in the next 30 days.

This never happened. They issued a letter in late October

stating that they would go onsite to two or three of our schools by January 2013.

OEC Onsite: Continued Monitoring On December 19, 2013 they called,

indicating that they do not have time to go onsite, so they were going to come to the District to review some additional files.

They have asked for: The COMPLETE special education file for

every child who was on the original list. From the point of entry to today.

An updated caseload roster

OEC Onsite: Continued Monitoring File Collection:

Updated Caseloads: Distribute

Will be sent electronically by 9am Tuesday. These are due by noon on Friday (1/18/2013)

Emailed to Mr. V.

OEC Onsite: Continued Monitoring The OEC will be at the District Office on

Wednesday, January 23, 2013 to finish the process they started back in September.

Within 30 days (February 23, 2013), the OEC will issue their findings and corrective action plan. Their findings will address: District Policies, School Policies, & Individual Files

When Parents Call

When Parents Call We assess the call based on:

Did the parent not know who to contact at the school, or

Is this a perceived compliance issue.

We always try to redirect the call back to the school to either the special education coordinator or to the school leader.

When Parents Call If the call is about a potential compliance issue:

Assess the situation using Excent, by talking with the special education coordinator or school leader, and asking for additional information from the school.

Outcomes: Informing the parents that the school is within its rights

“the school’s IEP team isn’t letting my child opt-out of PASS.” Informally advising a school of the required corrective

action “my child has been at school since October and we have not

had an IEP meeting yet.” Failure to comply by the school to the informal advice results

in a notification being made to the District’s Director of School Compliance.

Complaint Resolution

Complaint Resolution Issue 1: Did the District fail to

consistently implement the accommodations in the Student’s IEP?

Issue 2: Did the District fail to provide the Student a FAPE as a result of the to implement the accommodations in his IEP?

Complaint Resolution White glove test:

Fail to provide special education, related, and supplementary services?

Fail to include PLAAFPS in the Student’s IEP? Fail to include annual measurable goals? Fail to amend the IEP to incorporate changes

from a previous meeting? Fail to issue progress reports

What are these?

Special Education Coordinator

Special Education Coordinator With the District’s focus on authorization

and verification of compliance, more responsibility will fall on the school for ensuring compliance

Communicate with staff to identify needs and secure resources to meet those needs

Oversight of school-level compliance and implementation

Special Education Coordinator Communication

Information shared with you regarding the implementation of IDEA needs to be shared with your staff. How do you share information with your staff? How do you verify the implementation of the newly shared

information?

Some information needs to be shared with your school administrator: Parent concerns that we’ve brought to your attention Upcoming File audits Data reports

Don’t let your administrator be caught off-guard.

Compliance Hot Topics

Hot Topics: 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).

Hot Topics: Letter of Notification So there has to be documentation that a formal invite that

included all of the above was provided.

What shows that proper notification was provided: Email Email with invitation attached?

Does this make sense? One notification method that says “phone.”

Even if the parent attends, the meeting could be determined null and void if proper notification wasn’t provided.

Hot Topics: Transfers Here are the order of events for a “transfer into the

district” with a current IEP (done prior to the first day of classes or no more than 3 days): After verifying the child is transferring in with a current IEP

(no more than 4 months expired), contact the parent about holding the comparable services IEP meeting. Option A: typical face-to-face IEP meeting to discuss

“comparable services” Requires letter of invite Comparable services consultation meeting form (will be added on

Thursday) Minutes PWN

Option B: if LEA and parents agree, meet without “meeting” Requires comparable services consultation without a meeting form

Hot Topics: Transfers After holding this meeting, go into Excent, and

officially “add” as a transfer.

Within 30 calendar days from the 1st day of enrollment, an IEP team will need to meet again to either accept the IEP, amend the transfer IEP, or conduct an annual review.

Think of it like this . . . One IEP meeting to design comparable services and then one IEP meeting to amend or create a new IEP.

Hot Topics: Comparable Services Most Common Complaints:

Children transferring to new school don’t receive comparable services consistent with their incoming IEPs.

School personnel claiming that there are insufficient resources to meet the provisions of the incoming IEP.

School personnel saying they didn’t know the child had an IEP at the previous school Parent checked “no” on the enrollment form No told me the child had enrolled

What the Regulations Say:

Hot Topics: Comparable Services The new public agency (in consultation with the parents)

must, pursuant to 34 CFR §300.323(e), provide FAPE to the child (including services comparable to those described in the child’s IEP from the previous public agency), until the new public agency either (1) adopts the child’s IEP from the previous public agency; or (2) develops, adopts, and implements a new IEP that meets the applicable requirements in 34 CFR §§300.320 through 300.324.

Comparable services have the meaning of “similar” or “equivalent” to the services that were described in the child's IEP from the previous Local Education Agency, as determined by the child's newly designated IEP team in the South Carolina Public Charter School District.

Hot Topics: Comparable Services Practices (during the comparable services IEP

meeting) that will not be supported: Dropping from 1,000 minutes of special education to

300 minutes of special education. Dropping the one-on-one assistant. Dropping a related service.

If the above actions take place, they can ONLY take place during the 2nd IEP meeting (the IEP meeting after the comparable services IEP meeting) where the school has individual and if there are specific data to support that decision.

Hot Topics: Significant Changes of Placement See previous slide . . . .

Schools cannot lesson the provision of a FAPE just to “make it work.”

It’s imperative that schools have a mechanism in place that allows for IEPs to be obtained prior to the child taking the first class.

There cannot be a delay in enrollment or attendance because of a records request.

Hot Topics: Significant Changes of Placement Knowing that you cannot significantly change the services level as part

of the “comparable services,” schools need to deal with “appropriateness” early.

How do you do this? 1) Before the child sits for the class . . .

1) You have the file (IEP and Psych Report) and you’ve thoroughly reviewed it.2) Is it clear cut (in your opinion)? If so, notify Robbie for a file review.3) Is it not clear cut, call for a face-to-face comparable services meeting and:

1) Agree to comparable services2) Set clear expectations

4) Gather data and in 30 days come back together for anther IEP meeting.

1) It’s more detrimental to the individual child and to the school to “lesson a FAPE” than it is to stand behind the decision of the previous IEP team.

1) Lesson from CREECS

Hot Topics: Related Services The purpose of related services are to allow the child to

access his/her special education services which allows him/her to progress on his/her annual goals. The child has been determined to need related services in order to benefit from his/her special education services. Difference between medically-necessary and educationally-

necessary services

There are concerns when we see statements in IEPs about “the child needs speech and the parents take them to a private therapist“ or there is a related service of counseling and when asked, the school says, “I don’t know; I think the parents take them.”

Hot Topics: Related Services What procedures does your school have

to document the provision of the related services?

What procedures do you have for when the parent doesn’t take the child to the “related services” appointment?

How do you communicate with related service providers?

Hot Topics: Related Service Providers

We’re noticing a trend that some related service providers are operating outside the scope of the procedures set by the District and State (outside the scope of IDEA).

For example, Evaluating the child prior to annual reviews Calling improperly notified meetings to make changes Conducting meetings without proper membership Exiting children from services outside of a reevaluation

Hot Topics: Related Service Providers

Contract Related Service Providers . . . Schools are still responsible for them and the information they share with parents and with IEP teams.

Just because the related services provider says the child needs 3 30-minute sessions a week, does that have to be provided?

No . . . . It’s up to the IEP team.

Related service providers should not be providing information about their portion of the assessment outside of or prior to the eligibility/continuation meeting

When they provide information for IEPs or add information into Excent themselves, someone needs to check behind them for what they are stating. PLOPS and Findings include an enormous amounts of information that does

not belong in the IEP

Hot Topics: IEPs & Present Levels Remember . . . the present levels are what drive

EVERY decision of the IEP. There is not one thing on the IEP that can’t be answered with, “Because of the present levels . . . . .”

For every finding, there needs to be a statement in “academic and functional needs section” that says something like this:

. . . . which is impacting the child from accessing and (or) progressing through the general curriculum.

The “impact” statement isn’t about the child’s disability, but about each individual area of finding.

Hot Topics: IEPs & Present Levels Dates of the Findings: Must be accurate

representation of the “date of the assessment” We’ve noticed several IEPs that the method of assessment was the WIAT (that Beckie did), but the date listed under “date of assessment” isn’t the date the WIAT was conducted.

If your “method of assessment” uses multiple methods, then the “date listed” is the date of the most current method of the assessment.

Hot Topics: IEPs & Present Levels Present levels ARE NOT meant to be a history of

the child’s educational experience. It’s literally, a snapshot of where the child is CURRENTLY functioning. Present levels answer the question, “Where is the child currently functioning?” Note the word “currently”

So for the 1st IEP after a transfer, you could see a comment about “the child just recently transferred from ABC HS where he . . ..”

At the 1st annual review (one year later), this statement wouldn’t be included.

Hot Topics: IEPs & Present Levels EVERY finding in the IEP needs to have a

corresponding annual goal and service or (in a very rare case) an accommodation and indirect service.

Hot Topics: LRE Page Explain the extent, if any, which the

student WILL NOT participate with non-exceptional students in the regular classroom. Does the child participate in a

resource/support class with other students with disabilities? If so, then “electives” is checked and the words “resource” or “academic support” are added.

The only child who wouldn’t have anything marked in this section would be a 100% consultative child.

Hot Topics: Progress Monitoring Progress toward annual goals

Data-driven

Required for ALL goals (related services included)

Hot Topics: Progress Reports There’s been a debate and discussion about “how often” does

progress towards the annual goals need to be reported.

Prior to the 2004 reauthorization, IDEA read “progress reported no less than the general education reports . . .”.

2004 state:  “(3) A description of-- (i) How the child's progress toward meeting the annual goals described in paragraph (2) of this section will be measured; and (ii) When periodic reports on the progress the child is making toward meeting the annual goals (such as through the use of quarterly or other periodic reports, concurrent with the issuance of report cards) will be provided;”

Hot Topics: Progress Reports They clearly took out the specific language of “no

less than progress reported to the general education.”

How do we interpret this . . . . 1) There must be a description of how the child's

progress toward meeting the annual goals described in paragraph

2) The District will be amending it’s policies to state “no less than every 9 weeks.”

3) It has to be an individualized decision.

Hot Topics: PWN BEFORE the newly developed IEP can be

implemented, the parents must be provided “written notice” via Prior Written Notice. So it’s PRIOR to implementing the changes, here is your WRITTEN NOTIFICATION.

If the parent attended the meeting, the IEP can be initiate the next day.

If the parent did not attend the IEP meeting, and you are going to Email the PWN to the parent, then the IEP can be initiated

the day after you emailed the PWN. Mail (US Mail) the PWN, then the IEP cannot initiate until 3

days after you mailed the PWN.

Where’s the IEP initiation date? Cover page of the IEP

Hot Topics: The IEP File What is the legal IEP?

The IEP that the parent walks away from the IEP meeting with (the one on which there are hand-written comments)

OR The one given to the parent two days later

after you have gone back into Excent, updated, replaced the signature page with?

Hot Topics: The IEP File After meetings, if you’re making

handwritten comments, that is the IEP that needs to either be uploaded and/or added to the child’s physical IEP file.

One suggestion would be to have a computer in the room and instead of making hand-written notes, you update during the IEP in Excent as the team makes the changes.

Hot Topics: Testing/Accommodations

Instructional Accommodations: Why does the child need INSERT ANY ACCOMMODATION

HERE as an instructional accommodation? Because according to the present levels it states that it’s needed.

Instructional accommodations need to be specific. There is a different between “oral admin” and “oral administration of assignments and tests for science and social studies.”

What’s your procedures for documenting accommodations?

Accommodations These are necessary to “level the playing

field”, not “I think John would benefit from” Oral admin is for students with significant

reading problems Retaking tests failed is not an accommodation

Failing a test because the appropriate accommodations and special education instruction haven’t been provided is one thing

Failing a test because the student hasn’t studied/ prepared for the test, is entirely different

Hot Topics: Testing/Accommodations

State Wide Testing Why does the child get INSERT accommodation on

statewide testing? Because that’s what he receives as part of daily instruction.

These accommodations must be provided.

As we gear up for HSAP, PASS, and EOCs, special education coordinators need to communicate with testing coordinators about which child receives what accommodations.

“I think”, “The teachers have been told” or “I’ve been told” are not sufficient methods of verification. Have case managers show you the IEP so there is no misunderstanding.

Hot Topics: Discipline Must have a system for communication

with teachers and administrators regarding discipline issues

Don’t let the 10 days sneak up on you Once a student has 10 days out of

school, he/she cannot be suspended again until a manifestation determination meeting has been held

Watch for patterns

DisciplineIF A STUDENT IS REMOVED FROM

HIS/HER TYPICAL SETTING DUE FOR DISCIPLINE REASONS (BEHAVIOR), THIS

IS COUNTED AS A DISCIPLINARY REMOVAL

It doesn’t matter what you call this

IEP Review Checklist

IEP Review Checklist

Table IIESYCOSFTable 5I 11

IDEA Budget Amendments

Spring/Summer Planning

Spring & Summer Planning: Data Table II (personnel):

Distributed by 1/31/13 Due by 2/7/13

ESY Reports due 6/4/13

Table 5 (discipline) due 6/13/13

COSF (preschool outcomes) due 6/13/13

Table 4 (exits) June/July

Indicator 11 (60-day timeline) June/July

Notice the

reports due in

the summe

r!

Spring & Summer Planning Dates to Remember:

March 19th: ALL IEPs for students taking PASS marked complete

April 16th: ALL IEPs for students taking HSAP marked complete

May 7th: ALL IEPs for students taking PASS marked complete

Spring & Summer Planning Meetings/Training:

February 11, 2013, 10:00am: Medicaid (will be given to Principals on Wednesday)

February 12, 2013, 2:30pm: Next web-based coordinator meeting

March19, 2013, 2:30pm – 3:30pm: Writing IEPs (all teachers). Teachers of students aged 12 and up will need to stay an additional 30 minutes 3:30pm – 4:00pm) for “transition” components.

Closing