NORTHFIELD BOARD OF EDUCATION FILE CODE: 6171.4
Northfield, New Jersey
Regulation
SPECIAL EDUCATION
LOCATION, IDENTIFICATION AND REFERRAL
All students with disabilities, who are in need of special education and related services, including students with disabilities attending nonpublic schools, and highly mobile students such as migrant workers’ children and homeless students regardless of the severity of their disabilities, are located, identified and evaluated according to N.J.A.C. 6A:14-3.3
Procedures for Locating Students with Disabilities
A. The Coordinator of Special Services will coordinate the child find activities to locate, identify and evaluate all children, ages three through twenty-one, who reside within the Northfield School District and who may be disabled.
B. By May 15 of each school year, the Coordinator of Special Services or his/her designee will conduct child find activities including but not limited to:
1. Development of child find materials for distribution.
2. Mailing of child find material to nonpublic schools in the area.
3. Mailing of child find material to local pediatricians, hospitals and clergy.
4. The Superintendent of Schools or designee ensures that if any native language speakers for languages other than English are identified, public service communications will include but not be limited to native language announcements on local foreign language radio stations and/or cable television stations.
5. Public service announcements in local newspapers.
6. Mailing information letters to local physicians, hospitals, nursery schools, non-public schools, health departments, community centers, rescue squads and churches.
7. Listings of Early Intervention Program (EIP), local nursery schools and pediatricians are maintained. The district’s preschool coordinator (or other) maintains contact with EIP coordinator and nursery school director.
8. School handbooks distributed to parents/guardians contain information describing special education services.
9. Distribution of information to the school district’s ESL/Bilingual teachers describing child find activities.
10. Students entering kindergarten are screened annually to identify potentially disabled students.
11. Intervention and Referral Services Committee (I&RS) previously referred to as Student Assistance Committee (PAC), have been established in all school buildings.
12. Nonpublic schools or parents/guardians of children who attend nonpublic schools may make referrals regarding potentially disabled students directly to the Atlantic County Educational Services Commission.
C. No later than June 1 of each school year the Coordinator of Special Services will contact by mail the Principal of the nonpublic school(s) to request input from nonpublic school parents/guardians and officials for suggestions on ways to conduct child find activities for students attending nonpublic schools.
Based on the suggestions from the representatives of the nonpublic school(s), the Coordinator of Special Services will modify the child find activities for the next school year, as appropriate.
Procedures for Intervention in the General Education Program
A staff member or agency shall provide in writing a request * for intervention services for students ages three to fifteen, to the Building Principal or designee. The request shall contain the following:
1. Reason for request (including parental or legal guardian request);
2. Descriptive behavior of student performance; and
3. Indication of the prior interventions.
Staff will be inserviced annually by the Building Principal or designee regarding the procedures for initiating and providing intervention Services.
The Superintendent of Schools or designee will oversee the district’s implementation and effectiveness of the procedures for interventions in the general education program.
Intervention and Referral Services Committee (I&RS) or Student Assistance Committee (PAC) will be in place in each school building.
The Building Principal or designee will be responsible for the following:
A. The implementation and effectiveness of building level I&RS/PAC Committee;
B. Will identify the roles and responsibilities of building staff who participate in planning and providing intervention services; and
C. Review, assess and document the effectiveness of the services provided in achieving the outcome identified in the intervention plan.
*Sample forms are located in the Resource Manual for Intervention and Referral Services published by the NJDOE.
D. The I&RS/PAC Committee shall:
1. Plan and provide appropriate intervention services;
2. Actively involve parents/guardian in the development and implementation of intervention plans;
3. Develop an action plan for an identified student which specifies specific tasks, resources, persons responsible, completion dates, date for review;
4. Coordinate the services of community based social and health provider agencies;
5. Process and complete the documentation forms; and
6. Review and assess the effectiveness of the services provided in achieving the outcomes identified in the intervention and referral plan.
E. The Building Principal will insure that:
1. New instructional staff attend the district’s orientation program commencing in the month of August which includes information on I&RS/PAC Committee; and
2. Parent/student handbooks distributed in the month of September and include information on intervention services.
Procedures for Referral
Referral procedures are included in professional staff handbooks and referral forms are available in the Principal’s office, the Child Study Team office, and the Office of the Coordinator of Special Services.
A. Parental or Legal Guardian Notification of Procedures
Referral procedures shall be included in the Parent Handbook. These procedures and publications shall be updated annually and be distributed to parents/guardians not later than October 1 of each year.
B. Parent/Guardian Initiated Referral
When a parent/guardian makes a written request for an evaluation to determine eligibility for services:
1. The written request shall be dated by the district recipient;
2. Immediately forwarded to the office of special services;
3. A file will be initiated (Attach any forms used to open a case);
4. Upon receipt of the referral a request for a summary and review of health and medical information regarding the student shall be forwarded to the school nurse who will transmit the summary to the Child Study Team (CST);
5. The grade level case manager will convene a planning meeting (identification meeting) within twenty calendar days (excluding school holidays, but not summer vacation) of the date the request was received by the district;
6. A “Notice of a Planning Meeting” will be sent to the parent(s) or legal guardians;
7. The notice will contain “Parental Rights in Special Education” (PRISE) Booklet; and
8. The planning meeting (Identification Meeting) will be attended by the parent/guardian, CST and regular education teacher.
C. School Initiated Referral
Referral of a student may be made by administrative, instructional and other professional staff to determine eligibility for special services when:
1. It is determined (optional: through the I&RS/PAC Committee) that interventions in the general education program have not adequately addressed the educational difficulties and it is believed that the student may be disabled.
2. It can be documented that the nature of the student’s educational problem(s) is such that an evaluation to determine eligibility for services is warranted without delay.
3. The Coordinator of Special Services, through inservice training, shall ensure that students who may be potentially disabled are referred even though they are advancing from grade to grade.
The following procedure will be followed for a school initiated referral:
1. A Referral to the CST will be completed by the referring staff member;
2. I&RS/PAC documentation (including, but not limited to teacher reports, grades and other relevant data) (optional: the intervention record) shall be forwarded with the Referral to the CST along with any other relevant data;
3. I&RS/PAC documentation does not need to be forwarded for direct referral when the nature of the student’s problem is such that the evaluation is warranted without delay;
4. The referral should be dated upon receipt by the CST;
5. A file will be initiated;
6. Upon receipt of the referral, a request for a summary and review of health and medical information regarding the student shall be forwarded to the school nurse who will transmit the summary to the CST;
7. The grade level case manager will convene a planning meeting within twenty calendar days (excluding school holidays, but not summer vacation) of the date recorded on the referral;
8. A “Notice of a Planning Meeting” (Identification Meeting) will be sent to the parents or legal guardians;
9. The notice shall contain “Parental Rights in Special Education” (PRISE); and
10. The planning meeting (Identification Meeting) will be attended by the parent/guardian, CST and regular education teacher.
D. The district may use community rehabilitation programs approved by the New Jersey Department of Labor, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services or any other State agency empowered to accept secondary level student placement according to N.J.A.C. 6A:14-4.7(f)1.
E. Each evaluation of the student requires an assessment to determine appropriate postsecondary outcomes as part of transition services planning.
F. Each IEP team member is required to certify in writing whether the IEP team report reflects his or her conclusions. In the event the IEP team report does not reflect the IEP team member’s conclusion, the IEP
team member must submit a dissenting opinion in order to ensure the parents/guardians are aware of dissenting opinions regarding the determination of eligibility for a specific learning disability.
G. Parents/guardians must receive a copy of their child’s evaluation report and any documentation leading to a determination of eligibility not less than ten calendar days prior to the eligibility conference in order to ensure parents/guardians have a reasonable amount of time to review documentation prior to an eligibility conference.
Adopted: October 20, 2008