Miscellaneous

In Ohio we have a provision in our state regulations that requires parental consent for a change of placement. This is not the consent for initial placement and services, but rather for a student who has been receiving special education services. The federal regulations state this is an IEP team decision. I have information that only 7 other states have this regulation: CA, KS, MA, MT, NH, VA, and DC. If you have any information and a citation for this regulation in any of the above states (and DC), please send it to me.

We are thinking about other models to organize the incoming call/email volume we receive from families and school districts. We’ve heard that some states have an ombudsman system, or dedicated staff whose primary job it is to assist the public and districts with these general questions and can collaborate with staff for more specific answers as necessary. Would anyone be willing to share their model with us? What has worked well and not worked well? What tips do you have? Do you have a job description you’d be willing to share?

Have any of you ever dealt with issues concerning block scheduling? Parent is concerned that student will go at least a semester with no ELA and/or math, and could possibly go a calendar year with no instruction in these areas. Parent is also concerned that even though the instruction time in these areas would be doubled when offered, that the pace might be too much for the student to succeed. 

How many States have legal support or attorneys that specifically support the work of Special Education in their departments?

We would be grateful to anyone willing to share information with us about what the use of shortened day looks like in your state. We are interested in knowing if your state has the following: - Mandates, rules, regulations or statues regarding the use of abbreviated day placements for students who experience disability;  -  Developed policy, procedure or best practice guidance; and   -  Monitoring or supervision activities specific to shortened day use, including:  o    Frequency of monitoring; and o    Data sources used. 

Do you have state rules/regulations and/or interagency agreements in place to comply with 34 CFR 300.154 that you could share?

For states that set a percentage for regular education students versus special education students that can be in a classroom for the classroom to still be considered a regular education setting, what percentage do you set?