| Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School District |
| Bylaws & Policies |
2460 - SPECIAL EDUCATION
The Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School District, as an expression of its commitment to provide a free, appropriate public education for children with disabilities in accordance with State and Federal laws, rules, and regulations, does hereby resolve to implement the following policies:
| A. | Child Identification | |
| It shall be the policy of this Joint Vocational School District that it will cooperate with the school district of residence in ongoing efforts to identify, locate, and evaluate children below twenty-two (22) years of age, who attend the Joint Vocational School District and have a confirmed or suspected disability in accordance with all Federal regulations and State standards. | ||
| B. | Procedural Safeguards | |
| It shall be the policy of this Joint Vocational School District that it will cooperate with the school district of residence to ensure that a child with a disability who attends this Joint Vocational School District and his/her parent(s) shall be provided with safeguards, as required by law, throughout the identification, evaluation, and placement process, and the provision of a free, appropriate public education to the child. | ||
| C. | Multifactored Evaluation | |
| It shall be the policy of this Joint Vocational School District to cooperate with the school district of residence in the provision of a multifactored evaluation for children with disabilities to ensure that children are assessed in their native language or other mode of communication; tests are used for their validated purposes; children are evaluated in all areas related to their suspected disability; testing is conducted by a multidisciplinary team; testing materials and procedures are not racially or culturally biased; tests are administered by trained personnel qualified in accordance with all Federal regulations and State standards; tests are administered in conformance with the instructions provided by the producer; and, that medical evaluation, when required as part of the multifactored evaluation, shall be provided at no cost to the parent by a licensed physician designated by the superintendent of school district of residence or his/her designee, when other no-cost resources are not available. | ||
| D. | Individualized Education Program | |
| It shall be the policy of this Joint Vocational School District to cooperate with the school district of residence in the development of an individualized education program (IEP) for each child with a disability who needs special educational. The IEP shall be designed to meet the unique educational needs of the child and shall be developed in a planning conference. Parents of the child shall be strongly encouraged to participate in the planning conference. The IEP shall be reviewed and revised as often as necessary, but at least annually. | ||
| E. | Least Restrictive Environment | |
| It shall be the policy of this Joint Vocational School District that the education of children with disabilities shall occur in the least restrictive environment; special education programs and services shall be appropriate and designed to meet the unique needs of each child with a disability; to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, shall be educated with children who do not have disabilities; special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment, shall occur only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily. | ||
| F. | Confidentiality of Data | |
| It shall be the policy of this Joint Vocational School District that the confidentiality of personally identifiable data relating to children with disabilities and their parents and families shall be protected at collection, storage, disclosure, and destruction, and that one (1) official of this School District shall be assigned the responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of personally identifiable data. This Joint Vocational School District follows all Federal regulations and State standards related to the confidentiality of data. | ||
| G. | Due Process | |
| It shall be the policy of this Joint Vocational School District to cooperate with the school district of residence in the utilization of procedures that allow differences of opinion between parent(s) and school district(s) or between agencies and school district(s), to be aired and resolved; and that the procedures shall provide for utilization of case conferences, administrative reviews, impartial due process hearing, and State level appeals and appeals to the courts that involve the district's/districts' proposal or refusal to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child, or the provision of FAPE to the child. Furthermore, the rights of children with disabilities shall be protected when the parents cannot be identified or located, when the child is a ward of the State, or when the child is without a formally declared legal representative. | ||
| H. | Surrogate Parent | |
| It shall be the policy of this Joint Vocational School District to notify the School District whenever the parent(s) or guardian(s) of a child with a disability are not known or cannot be located, or when the child is a ward of the State. | ||
| I. | Testing Programs | |
| It shall be the policy of this Joint Vocational School District that students with disabilities shall participate in local and Statewide testing programs to the maximum extent appropriate. Individual exemptions shall be determined only during an IEP conference. |
Be it further resolved that the Superintendent shall administer the local implementation of these State procedures, in accordance with State and Federal laws, rules, and regulations, which will ensure fulfillment of the policies contained herein.
Adopted 3/18/96