by David Tyler
publisher
The Fayetteville-Manlius school district needs to improve how it writes Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for children with special needs, according to a review of the district’s special education program conducted by the Special Education Quality Assurance office of the state Education Department.
Districts are required to provide parents and staff with an IEP for each child with special needs. F-M was found to be non-compliant in eight areas dealing with how those plans are written and the type of information the plans contain. The state found F-M’s special education program to be compliant on the remaining 76 standards.
On Monday night, Karen Howard, of the state Education Department, provided the school board with an overview of the report, and cited many positive elements of the district’s program, as well as the eight areas of non-compliance that need to be addressed.
“It’s a very positive report,” Howard said. “But the work’s not done.”
Howard praised the district for integrated co-teaching plans at the middle school level, in which general education teachers work closely with special education teachers to provide integrated programs for children with special needs. She encouraged the district to take up similar programs at the elementary and high school levels. She also gave the district kudos for the percentage of the school day that most special education students are exposed to the general education curriculum.
The eight citations include the need to provide more detailed information in an IEP, including:
—Detailing how a student’s disability affects his or her involvement and progress in the general education curriculum;
—Providing specific benchmarks that are the measurable intermediate steps toward a student’s annual goal;
—Defining the regular education classes in which a student receives consultant teacher services;
—Scheduling when periodic progress reports will be provided to parents.
The district has until Nov. 30 to correct the areas of non-compliance.
“I have no reservations that the district will be able to address well in advance of the deadline the seven areas identified by the review,” said Superintendent Craig J. Tice. “Overall, we are pleased with the results of the state’s review and welcome its feedback and recommendations.”
As part of its review, state officials examined district documents, shadowed a random sample of students who have IEPs, attended meetings of F-M’s Committee on Special Education, conducted multiple classroom visits and surveyed administrators and staff involved with the district’s special education department as well as parents of students with disabilities, including an additional five parents (beyond the randomly selected parents) who contacted the state asking for an opportunity to provide input into the review.
When asked how F-M compared to other districts, Howard said that she had reviewed districts that had many more areas of non-compliance, including major failures in their special education programs.
The review was conducted following a request by the district’s administration.
“I’m very pleased that the district did the audit,” said board Vice President Marissa Mims. “And I’m very pleased we’ve done so well.”
The full text of the report is available at fmschools.org/files/filesystem/08.29.2016%20FM%20FINAL%20REPORT.pdf.
