PROGRAM OBJECTIVES FORSTUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

 

 

·      To ensure the establishment of a plan and policies for implementing school-wide general education instructional strategies and pre-referral services (PRS) in order to remediate a student’s performance prior to referral to special education.

 

·      To provide a free appropriate education in the least restrictive environment for resident children between the ages of three (3) and twenty-one (21) or until a regular high school diploma has been achieved by the student, whichever shall occur first.

 

·      To ensure that students with disabilities have the opportunity to participate in school district programs to the maximum extent appropriate to the need of each student, including access to general education curriculum and extracurricular programs and activities, which are available to all other students enrolled in the public schools of the district.

 

·      To establish a Committee on Preschool Special Education (CPSE), a Committee on Special Education (CSE) and appropriate Subcommittees on Special Education for the purpose of evaluating students suspected of having disabilities and for the provision of appropriate services and/or programs for students with disabilities.  The CPSE and CSE will monitor the progress of all students with disabilities and will report annually to the Board of Education regarding the status of each student.

 

·      To ensure effective communication and collaboration between the Committee on Special Education, the Committee on Preschool Special Education, school staff and school district administrators, parents and community.

 

·      To ensure that parents are advised of their due process rights and to establish procedures in this regard.

 

·      To ensure that each preschool student with a disability residing in the district has the opportunity to participate in an appropriate preschool program or services.

 

·      To provide for the establishment of administrative practices and procedures to ensure that parents have received and understand the request for consent for evaluation of a student.

 

·      To ensure the establishment of administrative policies, practices and procedures to implement the provisions of Section 200.6 (a) of the Commissioner’s Regulations and to provide special services or programs, to the extent appropriate to the needs of the student, to enable the student to be involved in and progress in the general education curriculum.

 

·      To provide the human and material resources necessary for the implementation of a continuum of programs and services to meet the academic, social, physical and management needs of students with disabilities.

 

·      To provide, to the greatest extent appropriate, adaptation, and/or modification of instruction and materials to enable students with disabilities to benefit from instruction within the general education setting, whenever appropriate.

 

·      To ensure that students with disabilities have access to the full range of general education programs and services to the extent appropriate to their individual needs and to provide them appropriate opportunities to earn a high school diploma in accordance with Section 100.5 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education.

 

·      To ensure that a discipline code for student behavior is in place, while protecting the rights to a continuity of appropriate education for students with disabilities.

 

·      To ensure the confidentiality of personally identifiable data, information or records pertaining to a student with a disability.  Such personally identifiable information will not be disclosed except in accordance with the Regulations.

 

·      To ensure that adequate and appropriate space is made available to meet the needs of preschool and school age students with disabilities.

 

·      To provide professional development for all personnel who work with students with disabilities in order to assure that they have the skills and knowledge necessary to meet the unique needs of these students.

 

·      To ensure the establishment of plans and policies for the appropriate declassification of students with disabilities.

 

·      To ensure that students with disabilities who reside in the district have received the protection of all other applicable State and Federal laws and regulations.