IN Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall Fall 2019 | Página 68

NOTICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES AND PROGRAMS
BRENTWOOD BOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT AND
BALDWIN-WHITEHALL SCHOOL DISTRICT
CHILD FIND AND ANNUAL NOTICE TO
PARENTS (CFR 300.125)
In compliance with state and federal
law, School Districts provide to each
protected handicapped student without
discrimination or cost to the student or
family, those related aids, services or
accommodations which are needed to
provide equal opportunity to participate
in and obtain the benefits of the school
program and extracurricular activities to
the maximum extent appropriate to the
student’s abilities. In order to qualify as a
protected handicapped student the child
must be of school age with a physical or
mental disability, which substantially limits
or prohibits participation in or access to an
aspect of the school program.
These services and protections for
“protected handicapped students” are
distinct from those applicable to all eligible
or exceptional students enrolled (or
seeking enrollment) in special education
programs.
For further information on the evaluation
procedures and provision of services
to protected handicapped students or
eligible students, contact Dr. Christine
Winiarski at [phone] Ext 2215 or
email [e-mail] if you reside
in Brentwood Borough School District or
Marissa Gallagher at [phone] or
email [e-mail] if you
reside in the Baldwin-Whitehall School
District.
Each school district, along with other
public agencies in the Commonwealth,
must establish and implement procedures
to identify, locate and evaluate all children
who need special education programs
and services because of the child’s
disability. This notice is to help find these
children, offer assistance to parents and
describe the parent’s rights with regard to
confidentiality of information that will be
obtained during the process. Each school
district shall also conduct awareness
activities to inform the public of gifted
education services and programs and the
manner by which to request these services
and programs.
The content of this notice has been
written in English. If a person does not
understand any of this notice, he or she
should contact the school district and
request an explanation.
IDENTIFICATION ACTIVITY
Child Find refers to activities undertaken
by public education agencies to identify,
locate, and evaluate children residing in
the State, including children attending
private schools, who are suspected of
having disabilities, regardless of the
severity of their disability, and determine
the child’s need for special education and
related services. The purpose is to locate
these children so that a free appropriate
public education (FAPE) can be made
available. The types of disabilities, that if
found to cause a child to need services
are: Autism, deaf-blindness, deafness,
emotional disturbance, hearing impairment,
intellectual disability (mental retardation),
multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment,
other health impairment due to chronic or
acute health problems, specific learning
disabilities, speech or language, traumatic
brain injury and visual impairment including
blindness, in the case of a child that is
of preschool age developmental delay.
Screening activities are also conducted to
determine student need for gifted support
services.
School Districts provide educational
services for all eligible students either
through district- operated classes,
contracts with Intermediate Unit #3, or
Approved Private Schools. Students found
to meet eligibility criteria as “mentally
gifted” may receive services through
district’s Gifted Support programs.
Each school district is required to
annually provide notice describing the
identification activities and the procedures
followed to ensure confidentiality of
personally identifiable information. This
notice is intended to meet this requirement.
Identification activities are performed
to find a child who is suspected as having
a disability that would interfere with his
or her learning unless special education
programs and services are made available.
Children suspected of being “mentally
gifted” who need specially designed
instruction not ordinarily provided in the
regular education program also go through
screening activities. The activities include:
review of group data, conduct hearing and
vision screening, assessment of student’s
academic functioning, observation of the
student displaying difficulty in behavior
and determining the student’s response
to attempted remediation. Input from
parents is also an information source for
identification. After a child is identified
as a suspected child with a disability, he
or she is evaluated, but is not evaluated
before parents give permission for their
child to be evaluated.
The school district will follow
procedures outlined in the special
education regulations (Chapter 14) for
determining eligibility and need for special
education services. Chapter 16 regulations
will be followed to determine eligibility and
need for Gifted Support services.
CONFIDENTIALITY (CFR 300.127)
If after screening, a disability is
suspected, upon your permission, your
child will be evaluated. Written records
of the results are called an education
record, which are directly related to your
child and are maintained by the school
districts. These records are personally
identifiable to your child. Personally
identifiable information includes the child’s
name, the name of the child’s parents or
other family member, the address of the
child or their family, a personal identifier
such as student identification number, a
list of characteristics that would make the
child’s identity easily traceable or other
information that would make the child’s
identity easily traceable.
The school district will gather
information regarding your child’s physical,
mental, emotional and health functioning
through testing and assessment,
observation of your child, as well as
through review of any records made
available to the school district through your
physician and other providers of services
such as day care agencies.
The school district protects the
confidentiality of personally identifiable
information by one school official being
Questions about our District Policy Notices:
For Baldwin-Whitehall School District,
contact Marissa Gallagher at [phone] or
email [e-mail]
For Brentwood Borough School District,
contact Dr. Christine Winiarski at 412-881-4940
ext 2215 or email [e-mail]
responsible for ensuring the confidentiality
of the records, training being provided
to all persons using the information, and
maintaining for public inspection a current
list of employee’s names and positions who
may have access to the information. The
school district will inform you when this
information is no longer needed to provide
educational services to your child and
will destroy the information at designated
intervals, except general information such
as your child’s name, address, phone
number, grades, attendance record and
classes attended, grade level completed,
may be maintained without time limitation.
As the parent of the child you have
a number of rights regarding the
confidentiality of your child’s records. The
right to inspect and review any education
records related to your child are collected,
maintained, or used by the school district.
The school district will comply with a
request for you to review the records
without unnecessary delay before any
meetings regarding planning for your
child’s special education program (called
an IEP meeting). Should you and your
school district disagree about your child’s
special education supports and services
and a due process hearing is requested,
the school district will furnish you with the
opportunity to inspect and review your
child’s records, within 30 days.
You have the right to an explanation
and interpretations of the records, to be
provided copies of the records if failure
to provide the copies would effectively
prevent you from exercising your right to
inspect and review the records, and the
right to have a representative inspect
and review the records. This review
is conducted with the assistance of an
appropriate school district staff member.
Upon your request, the school district
will provide you a list of the types and
location of education records collected,
maintained, or used by the agency.
Additionally, the school district has a right
to charge a fee for copies of records made
in response to your request except, it will
not charge a fee if doing so will prevent
you from inspecting and reviewing your
child’s records. A current list of reasonable
fees relative to records request is available
in the district’s central office. The district
will not charge a fee to search or retrieve
information.
You have the right to request in writing
the amendment of your child’s education
records that you believe are inaccurate
or misleading or violate the privacy or
other rights of your child. The school
district will decide whether to amend the
records within 45 school days of receipt
of your request. If the school district
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BRENTWOOD-BALDWIN-WHITEHALL
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FALL 2019
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