• Blacklick Valley School District
    Special Education Department
     
    High School Graduation

    All students receiving special education services in Pennsylvania are guaranteed the right to an opportunity to earn a high school diploma.  A high school diploma will be awarded to a student who successfully completes the same courses and earns the same credits as a general education student, or who completes the special education program developed by the     IEP team.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a child who attains the age of twenty-one (21) years during the school term and who has not graduated from high school may continue to attend the public schools in his district free of charge until the end of the school term.  If school officials believe your child's IEP has been completed and your child is eligible for graduation, or if your child reached the age of 21, you will receive written notice of the termination.  If you disagree with the notice, you may request an informal meeting with school officials, mediation, or a special education due process hearing. 

    Your Child's School Records

    All parents are guaranteed the right to see their child's public school records without delay, within 45 days after asking for them, before any meeting regarding an IEP, or before a due process hearing.  You may be charged for the copying of these records.  Parents are also guaranteed the right to ask for and receive an explanation of any information in the records.

    The law guarantees that your child's school records be kept confidential.  No one should see them who does not have an educational interest in your child.  Someone has an educational interest in your child if that person teaches your child or otherwise is responsible for some aspect of your child's education.  Records cannot be given to anyone outside the school system without your permission unless there is a legal reason for doing so.  Your district must have a procedure for you to follow to correct the records that you feel are wrong or misleading. 


    Materials, Classrooms and School Buildings

    Equipment and materials may be different for children with disabilities because of their individual needs, but they should be of the same quality as the equipment and materials that are purchased for students in general education classes.  Each special education class must be as close as appropriate to the ebb and flow of usual school activities and located where noise will not interfere with instruction.  It should be located only in a space that is designed for purposes of instruction,  be readily accessible, and be composed of at least 28 square feet per student.

    Discipline for the Student Receiving Special Education Services

    Behavior sometimes results from a child's disability.  When behavior caused by the disability results in the violation of school rules, inappropriate discipline by school officials is not permitted. 

    Programs to control or change behavior must be designed using positive approaches to help children correct or control their behavior. Positive approaches include recognizing and rewarding appropriate behaviors so that they will replace those behaviors that are inappropriate.  They do not include punishing, embarrassing or isolating your child.

    Discipline must not include use of mechanical restraints or physically restraining a child, except in an emergency situation where there is a danger that the child will be harmed or harm someone else.  The use of restraints in those situations will trigger an IEP team meeting to review the current IEP to ensure it is appropriate and remains effective.  Certain mechanical restraints, such as seat belts, can be used to help children control their movements of the parents agree and their use is made clear in the IEP.
     
    None the following methods of punishment may be used with children:
    • Corporal punishment
    • Punishment for behavior that is caused by the student's disability
    • Locked rooms, locked boxes, or other locked structures or spaces from which the student cannot readily exit
    • Noxious substances
    • Deprivation of basic rights, such as withholding meals, water, or fresh air
    • Treatment of a demeaning nature
    • Electric shock
    • Suspension or removals from classes for disciplinary reasons that form a pattern.  The following provides additional information with regard to these removals.
    There are special rules in Pennsylvania for excluding children receiving special education services for disciplinary reasons.  Before a student is excluded from school for more than 10 school days in a row or 15 total school days in any one school year, the IEP team must meet and a Notice of Recommended Educational Placement (NOREP) must be signed, because such exclusions are considered changes in placement.  The exclusion of a child with mental retardation for any amount of time is considered a change of placement and requires all of the steps mentioned above.  When a student is subjected to a series of removals that accumulates to more than 10 days in a year, but less than 15, these removals may be a change is placement, and if so require prior notice to the parents for approval.  This determination of whether or not the series of removals is a change in placement is done on a case-by-case basis.  Factors such as the length of time of each removal, the total amount of time the child is removed, and the proximity of the removals to one another are used to determine if the series of removals is a change in placement.  If you do not agree with the change in placement on the NOREP, your child remains in the existing placement until due process is complete.  School official may seek an court order to exclude your child form school to "override" your disapproval. 
     
    When a child's placement is changed for disciplinary reasons, the IEP team (including the parents) must meet to review the IEP to decide if it is appropriate and if it contains an appropriate plan that addresses the child's problem behaviors.  If no plan is included in the IEP a functional behavioral assessment must be done and a behavior plan developed.  A functional behavioral assessment reviews the child's behavior in the setting where the problems are occurring and analyzes what is happening to trigger and reinforce the inappropriate behaviors.  The IEP team then outlines steps to take to reduce problem behaviors and replace them with appropriate ones.  If a plan already exists, it must be reviewed and, if necessary, changed.
     
    In addition, a "manifestation determination" must be conducted by the IEP team to decide if your child's behavior was caused by your child's disability or is a "manifestation" of the disability.  In order to determine that a behavior was a manifestation of the disability, the team must decide that the conduct in question was caused by or had a direct relationship to your child's disability; or the conduct in question was the direct result of failure to implement your child's IEP.  Children with disabilities cannot be disciplined for behaviors which are related to or are manifestations of their disabilities. 
     
    The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act allows school officials to change your child's placement for no more than 45 school days, without your permission, in school situations involving possession of a weapon. possession of a controlled substance, or serious bodily injury.  In the new 45-day education placement (called an interim alternative educational setting), your child must be able to receive the services in the IEP and continue to demonstrate progress in the general education curriculum.  The new placement must also offer services to deal with your child's problem behavior so it does not occur again. 


    Due Process to Challenge Disciplinary Exclusion

    If the IEP team decides that your child's behavior was NOT related to the disability, your child's placement may be changed for disciplinary reasons.  You have the right to ask for a due process hearing  to challenge this decision.  During the hearing and appeal, your child stays in the current placement unless the incident involved drugs or weapons or behavior that is a danger to your child or to others, in which case the child stays in the disciplinary placement for up to 45 calendar days or to the end of due process,     whichever occurs first.
    School officials may ask for an expedited hearing if they believe that the child is a danger to self or others in the current placement.  In such case, the hearing officer must issue a decision within 30 school days.
     
    Anytime a child is given a disciplinary removal that is a change in placement, or anytime a placement is changed for possession of weapons or drugs or serious bodily injury, school officials must still provide a free appropriate public education, including all services identified on the child's IEP, and any other necessary for the student to reach IEP goals. 
     
    The law contains certain protections for children yet to be identified as a "child with a disability" who face disciplinary procedures.  If school officials "knew or should have known" that a child was disabled, because of written requests from the parents for an evaluation or written expressions of concern to supervisory or administrative personnel, or because teacher or other school personnel have expressed concerns about the the child to the special education director or any other supervisory personnel about a pattern of behavior or performance, the child is entitled to the protections given to children who already have been identified as being disabled and needing special education services. 


    Basic Rights for Parents

    As a parent you have a right to be notified  (sometimes called procedural safeguard) that service to protect the rights of your child who is a child with a disability or thought to be a child with a disability.  Generally, the school has the duty to inform parents of these procedural safeguards:
    1. Upon initial referral or parental request for evaluation;
    2. With notice of a disciplinary change in placement;
    3. Upon the first occurrence of filing for a due process hearing.

    Additionally the law requires parents to be informed:

    4. When the school proposes to change the identification, evaluation, educational placement, and the provision of a free appropriate public education or refused your request to change the identification, evaluation, educational placement, or the provision of a free appropriate public education.
    5. Of your child's progress toward annual IEP goals at least as often as progress is reported for students in general education.
    6. Of the procedures to maintain the privacy of your child's educational needs.  Your child's record will be seen only by those who need to work with your child.   Your school district must show you its policy about the student records and confidentiality if requested.  Detailed information on confidentiality will be described in the notice given you on those instances listed above. 
     
     
    Additional information may be obtained in the booklet "Pennsylvania Parent Guide to Special Education For School Aged Children".  This booklet is available by contacting the Blacklick Valley School District Special Education Department using the email link below.
     
    Nichole Kolarik, Special Education Director
     
    Renee Williamson, Administrative Assistant
    renee.williamson@bvsd.k12.pa.us
     
     
    Additional information is also available through the Pennsylvania Department of Education web site.