Special Education
Special Education at YCS
The Board of Education is committed to providing a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to children with disabilities identified in accordance with applicable State and Federal laws, rules, and regulations. This includes students who are confined to community corrections facilities or juvenile detention centers. The District shall provide students with disabilities the services to which they are entitled pursuant to their individualized education programs (IEPs) and in accordance with the Operating Standards for Ohio Educational Agencies Serving Children with Disabilities, including Child Find and Evaluation requirements. Students with disabilities who are in adult county jails shall continue to receive FAPE during incarceration subject to their continued eligibility for services and subject to exceptions related to security and safety.
In order to satisfy the requirements of the Operating Standards for Ohio Educational Agencies Serving Children with Disabilities (“Ohio Operating Standards”), the Board of Education adopts the model policies and procedures promulgated by the Ohio Department of Education’s Office of Exceptional Children (ODE-OEC), which is incorporated by reference into this policy. While the Special Education Model Policies and Procedures (“Model Policies”) issued by the ODE-OEC are comprehensive, the document does not include every requirement set forth in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (“IDEIA”), the regulations implementing the IDEIA, the Operating Standards, the Ohio Revised Code, and/or the Ohio Administrative Code. As such, the Board affirms its obligation to follow these laws and regulations, regardless of whether their provisions are restated in the Model Policies.
Copies of Model Policies and Procedures are available at the office of the Board of Education.
Programs for Students With Disabilities
- Child Identification
Ongoing efforts are made to identify, locate and evaluate students below 22 years of age who reside within the District and have a confirmed or suspected disability in accordance with all federal regulations and state standards.
- Procedural Safeguards
The student with a disability and his/her parent(s) are 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 student.
- Multifactored Evaluation
The District provides a multifactored evaluation for students with disabilities by ensuring that students are assessed in their native language or other mode of communication. Tests are used for their validated purposes. Students 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 and in conformance with the instructions provided by the producer. Medical evaluation, when required as part of the multifactored evaluation, is provided at no cost to the parent(s) by a licensed physician designated by the Superintendent/designee when other no-cost resources are not available.
- Individualized Education Program
An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is developed for each student with a disability who needs special education. The IEP is designed to meet the unique educational needs of the student and developed in a planning conference. The parent(s) of the student are strongly encouraged to participate in the planning conference. The IEP is reviewed and revised as often as necessary, but at least annually.
- Least Restrictive Environment
The education of students with disabilities occurs in the least restrictive environment. Special education programs and services are appropriate and designed to meet the unique needs of each student with a disability. To the maximum extent appropriate, students with disabilities, including students in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with students who do not have disabilities. Special classes, separate schooling or other removal of students with disabilities from the regular educational environment 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.
- Confidentiality of Data
The confidentiality of personally identifiable data relating to students with disabilities and their parents and families is protected at collection, storage, disclosure and destruction. One official of the District is assigned the responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of personally identifiable data. The District follows all federal regulations and state standards related to the confidentiality of data.
- Due Process
The District utilizes procedures that allow differences of opinion to be aired and resolved between parent(s) or agencies and the District. The procedures provide for utilization of case conferences, administrative reviews, impartial due process hearings, state-level appeals and appeals to the courts that involve the District’s proposal or refusal to initiate or change the identification, evaluation or educational placement of the child or the provision of a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to the student. Furthermore, the rights of students with disabilities are protected when the parents cannot be identified or located, when the student is a ward of the state or when the student is without a formally declared legal representative.
- Surrogate Parent
Whenever the parent(s) of a student with a disability are not known or cannot be located, or when the student is a ward of the state, the student’s rights are protected through the assignment of an individual (who is not an employee of the state education agency, local education agency or intermediate educational unit involved in the education of the child) who serves as the student’s surrogate parent.
- Testing Programs
Students with disabilities must participate in local and statewide testing programs. Individual exemptions and participation in an alternate assessment are determined only during an IEP conference.
- Discipline
A student with a disability is disciplined only in accordance with State and Federal laws, rules and regulations.