` Policy
6600
Special
Education Program
Ashland-Greenwood Public Schools
adopts this special education policy with the intent that the policy maintain the District’s compliance with all
applicable laws affecting special education services and programs. The
Superintendent or designees shall develop regulations or procedures to
implement these policies. Employees and contractors of the District are expected
to comply with these policies and all regulations, guidelines and procedures
related to this policy in all respects.
The District will abide by all
state and federal laws relating to special education. The District’s special
education policy and regulations, guidelines and procedures related to this
policy are to be interpreted so as to be in compliance with such laws. In the event of changes in law, the school
administration shall be authorized to implement modifications of practice to
comply with such changes (whether the changes impose more or less stringent
procedural or substantive requirements) until such time as amended policies are
adopted by the Board of Education.
References herein to 92 NAC 51 citations are made to Rule 51 as in
effect on the date of the adoption of these policies. In the event of
renumbering or other revisions to Rule 51, the policy shall be interpreted and
implemented consistent with such renumbering or revisions.
1.
Free Appropriate Public Education
A free appropriate public
education shall be made available to all children with disabilities residing in
the District from date of diagnosis through the school year in which the
student reaches 21 years of age, including children with disabilities who have
been suspended or expelled.
Legal Reference: 92 NAC 51-004.01 through 004.03A and
007.07C2 through 007.07C6
The District shall take steps to
ensure that its children with verified disabilities have available to them the
variety of educational programs and services available to children without
disabilities in the areas served by the District, including art, music,
industrial arts, family consumer science education, and vocational education.
All children with disabilities residing in the District, including
children with disabilities who are homeless or are wards of the state or
attending nonpublic schools, regardless of the severity of their disabilities,
who are in need of special education and related services, will be identified,
located and evaluated and a practical method shall be developed and implemented
by the administration to determine which children with disabilities are
currently receiving needed special education and related services.
An
individualized education program, or an individualized family service plan, is
to be developed, reviewed, and revised for each child with a disability in
accordance with 92 NAC 51-007.
To
the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children
in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are to be educated
with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or
other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational
environment will occur only when the nature or severity of the disability of a
child is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary
aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.
Children with disabilities and
their parents shall be afforded the required procedural safeguards.
Legal
Reference: 92 NAC 51-009.01
through 009.07; 009.10 through 009.12; 009.14, 006.07 and 016.01
Children with disabilities shall be evaluated and identified in
accordance with 92 NAC 51-006. The District will respond to a request for an
Independent Educational Evaluation without unnecessary delay. Locations of any
evaluator shall be within a reasonable distance of the District. A reasonable
distance means within 100 miles of the school building the child attends and
within
The confidentiality of student
records and information shall be maintained in accordance with law.
To the extent consistent with the
number and location of children with disabilities in the District who are
enrolled by their parents in nonpublic elementary and secondary schools in the
District, provision will be made for the participation of those children in the
programs assisted or carried out under Part B of the IDEA (services for
school-aged children) by
providing them with special education and related services.
Legal
Reference: 92 NAC 51-012.08 and
015
Personnel providing special education
or related services to children with disabilities shall be appropriately and
adequately in accordance with IDEA requirements and the District will take
measurable steps to recruit, hire, train and retain personnel meeting the
requirements of IDEA to provide such services.
Legal
Reference: 92 NAC 51-010
All children with disabilities
shall be included in all general state and district wide assessment programs,
including assessments described under section 612(a)(16)(A) of the IDEA with
appropriate accommodations and alternate assessments where necessary and as
indicated in their respective individualized education programs. The District will make available to the
Nebraska Department of Education the information necessary to carry out its
duties relating to the reporting of children with disabilities participation in
assessments.
The District will examine data, including
data disaggregated by race and ethnicity, to determine if significant
discrepancies are occurring in the rate of long-term suspensions and expulsions
of children with disabilities.
As
part of any print instructional materials adoption process, procurement
contract, or other practice or instrument used for purchase of print
instructional materials, the District will enter into a written contract with
the publisher of the print instructional materials to:
Procedures shall be in place to ensure that testing and evaluation
materials and procedures utilized for the evaluation and placement of children
with disabilities will be selected and administered so as not to be racially or
culturally discriminatory. Such
materials or procedures shall be provided and administered in the child’s
native language or mode of communication, unless it is clearly not feasible to
do so, and no single procedure shall be the sole criterion for determining an appropriate
educational program for a child.
Children
shall not be required to obtain a prescription for a controlled substance as a
condition of attending school, receiving an evaluation to determine whether a
child has a disability or the nature and extent of special education and
related services the child needs, or receiving special education services.
Transportation will be provided
for children with disabilities who are eligible for transportation and
residents of the school district as required by law.
Legal
Reference: 92 NAC 51-014.01
through 014.02
When a parent refuses to provide
consent under 92 NAC 52, a meeting will be held or offered to explain to the
parents how their failure to consent affects the ability of their child to
receive services under 92 NAC 52.
Legal
Reference: 92 NAC 52
Legal
Reference: 34
CFR Parts 300, 303 and 304
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 79-1110
to 79-1167
92 NAC 51
Date
of Adoption: August 1, 2011
(Replaces
6159 & 6600 previously adopted 6-1-2009)
Revised: July 20th, 2015