7618 - Declassification of Students with Disabilities
| Policy: Declassification of Students with Disabilities | Policy Number: 7618 |
| Date of Original Policy: | Date Revision Adopted: 02/03/2021 |
| Reviewed by Policy Committee: 01/13/2021 | Date of Next Review: 01/13/2024 |
| Replacement of Policy Number: |
The School District shall establish and implement a plan for the appropriate declassification of students with disabilities which must include:
- The regular consideration for declassifying students when appropriate
- A reevaluation of the student prior to declassification
- The provision of educational and support services to the student upon declassification
The School District must evaluate a student with disability prior to determining that a student is no longer a student with a disability as defined in accordance with the Commissioner’s Regulations, and the District shall provide a copy of the evaluation report and the documentation of eligibility to the student’s parent. The District is not required to conduct a reevaluation of a student before the termination of a student’s eligibility due to graduation with a local high school or Regent diploma or exceeding the age eligibility for a free appropriate public education. However, the parent must receive prior written notice, in accordance with Commissioner’s Regulations, before the student’s graduation from high school with a local or Regents diploma or before he or she receives and Individualized Education Program (IEP) diploma. The results of any reevaluations must be addressed by the Committee on Special Education (CSE) in a meeting to review and, as appropriate, revise the student’s IEP.
Prior to the reevaluation, the School District shall obtain informed parental consent unless otherwise authorized pursuant to law and regulation. Parental consent need not be obtained if the District can demonstrate that is has taken reasonable measures to obtain the consent, and the student’s parents fail to respond. The District must have a record of its attempts to obtain parental consent. Should the student’s parents refuse consent for the reevaluation, the District may continue to pursue the reevaluation by using mediation or due process procedures.
The District shall take whatever action is necessary to ensure that the parent understands the proceedings at the meeting of the CSE, including arranging for an interpreter for parent with deafness or whose native language is other than English.
Individual Evaluation
As part of any reevaluation, a group that includes the CSE and other qualified professionals, as appropriate, shall review existing evaluation data on the student including evaluations and information provided by the parents of the student, current classroom-based assessments and observations, and observations by teachers and related services providers.
On the basis of that review, and input from the student’s parents, the CSE and other qualified professional, as appropriate, shall identify what additional data, if any, are needed to determine:
a) In the case of a reevaluation of a student, whether the student continues to have such a disability
b) The present levels of performance and educational needs of the student
c) In the case of a reevaluation of a student, whether the student continues to need special education
d) Whether any additions or modifications to the special education services are needed to enable the student to meet the measurable annual goal set out in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) of the student and to participate, as appropriate, in the general curriculum
If additional data are not needed, the District must notify the parents of that determination and the reasons for it and of the right of the parents to request an assessment to determine whether, for purposes of services provided in accordance with law and Commissioner’s Regulations, the student continues to be a student with a disability. The District is not required to conduct the assessment unless requested to do so by the student’s parents.
The CSE shall arrange for an appropriate reevaluation of each student with a disability at least every three (3) years by a multidisciplinary team or group of persons, including at least one teacher or other specialist with knowledge in the area of the student’s disability. The reevaluation shall be sufficient to determine the student’s individual needs, educational progress and achievement, the student’s ability to participate in instructional programs in regular education and the student’s continuing eligibility for special education. The results of any reevaluations must be addressed by the CSE in reviewing and, as appropriate, revising the student’s IEP.
Recommendation for Declassification
If the student has been receiving special education services, but it is determined CSE that the student no longer needs special education services and can be placed in a regular educational program on a full-time basis, the recommendation shall: Identify the declassification support services, if any, to be provided to the student; and the student’s teacher Indicate the projected date of initiation of such services, the frequency of provision of such services, and the duration of these services, provided that such services shall not continue for more than one year after the student enters the full-time regular education program.
Declassification Support Services
When appropriate, the District shall provide declassification support services to students who have moved from special education to a full time regular educational program in accordance with the recommendation of the CSE. Declassification support services means those services provided by persons appropriately certified pursuant to Part 80 of Commissioner’s Regulations, or holding a valid teaching license in the appropriate area of service, to a student or the student’s teacher to aid in the student’s move from special ecuation to full –time regular education, including:
a) For the student, psychological services, social work services, speech and language improvement services, non career counseling and other appropriate support services
b) For the student’s teacher, the assistance of a teacher aide or a teaching assistant, and consultation with appropriate personnel.
Procedural Safeguards Notice
The District shall use the procedural safeguards notice prescribed by the Commissioner of Education. The District will further ensure that the procedural safeguards notice is provided in the native language of the parent or other mode of communication used by the parent, unless it is clearly not feasible to do so. If the native language or other mode of communication of the parent is not a written language, the District shall take steps to ensure that the notice is translated orally or by other means to the parent in their native language or other mode of communication n; that the parent understands the content of the notice: and that there is written evidence that all due process procedures, pursuant to law and regulation, have been met.
20 Untied States Code (U.S.C.) Sections 1400-1485,
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
34 Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) Part 300
State Law- Education Law Sections 4401-4410-a
8 New York Code of Rules and Regulations (NYCRR) Sections 100.1(q), 100.2(u),200.2(b)(8),200.4(b)(4) and (5), 200.4(c)(3), 200.4(d)(1) and 200.5