Monitoring and Compliance Jan 2020

Attention High School and Transition Plus Staff –

For those staff serving 12th graders who will be graduating this year or students in grades 12+ who will be graduating this year, it is time to look at the following requirements:

Exiting Students from Special Education Services Due to Graduation

Students with disabilities who graduate “from high school with a ‘regular high school diploma’ are no longer eligible for special education services. 34 C.F.R. § 300.102(3)(i). Students are not exited from special education if they “have graduated from high school but have not been awarded a regular high school diploma.” 34 C.F.R. § 300.102(a)(3)(ii). The term “regular high school diploma does not include an alternative degree that is not fully aligned with the State’s academic standards, such as a certificate or a general educational development credential (GED).” 34 C.F.R. § 300.102(a)(3)(iv).

Graduation from high school with a regular diploma constitutes a change in placement, requiring written prior notice.  34 C.F.R. § 300.102(a)(3)(iii).  Because graduation cuts off the legal right to services, it is important to follow due process procedures carefully.  School districts are expected to provide the prior written notice (“Notice of District Action”) a reasonable time before proposing to graduate a student, in order to ensure that there is sufficient time for parents to plan for, or challenge, the pending graduation.

It is the practice in Minneapolis Public Schools to begin the graduation notification process early in the fourth quarter of the graduation year, although discussions and decisions about graduation must begin well before that time (and well before the 12th grade year). See the section on graduation and transition planning in Section 3A of this manual (Transition IEPs) at pages 1 - 3.

At each annual IEP team meeting for 12th graders and each year after 12th grade, the team must decide whether the student will (a) continue in the system (either remain at the high school site (this would be for students with few academic class credits needed to graduate) or transfer to a Transition Plus program), or (b) graduate and take their diploma.

The team must also discuss whether any reevaluation is necessary to help make the decision whether the student will continue in the system or graduate. A reevaluation is not required before a student graduates, though it may be necessary to gather additional information about the student’s functioning in order to make appropriate decisions about the student’s future service needs. The discussion about the decision to graduate or to continue on in the system must be documented in the IEP team meeting conference notes.

If the IEP team decides a reevaluation is needed before the graduation decision is made, the team must proceed with the evaluation. When the evaluation is complete, the team should recommend whether the student should continue in the system or should graduate.

If the IEP team feels a reevaluation is not needed, the data supports the decision that the student is ready to graduate, and the student has completed MPS graduation requirements, then in April or May prior to graduation, the case manager must complete the “Notice of District’s Proposed Action or Denial of Special Education Services.” Note: Send the notice early enough to allow for the 14-day response period. Check box C, “The school district recommends that all current special education services be discontinued and will proceed with this change unless you object in writing within 14 calendar days of this notice being sent to you.” Also include on the notice:

1. A description of the action proposed by the district (“exiting the student from special education services on date of graduation”);

2. An explanation of why the district proposes to take the action.

Samples:

  • “The student has met the MPS general education requirements to graduate and the IEP team determined the student no longer needs special education services at the time the student graduates” (graduating with a regular education diploma), or
  • “The student has met the requirements for graduation determined by his/her IEP team and the IEP team has determined the student no longer needs special education services at the time the student graduates” (graduating with a special education diploma), or
  • “The student has obtained the general education credits needed to graduate and wants to take his/her diploma on June _____ (graduating with a regular education diploma). The IEP team believes the student continues to have special education transition needs.”;

3. A description of any other options that the district considered and reasons why those options were rejected (briefly summarize the team's discussion of whether any further reevaluation was needed before the student graduates and if not, why the team decided not to do further evaluation. Also, if applicable, the discussion of whether the student should continue to receive special education services rather than graduating at this time and explain why this option was rejected by the team);

4. A description of each evaluation procedure, test, record or report the district used as a basis for the proposed action ("The IEP team discussion on [date of meeting]; conference summary notes of the [date] meeting, the evaluation report dated [___] and the IEP dated [___]"); and

5. A description of any other factors relevant to the district’s proposal.

Example – A Summary of Performance form has been included with this Notice.

Send the Notice of District Action (PWN) to the parent and student.

Before a student exits from special education because of graduation, the school must also provide the student with “a summary of the student’s academic achievement and functional performance, which shall include recommendations on how to assist the [student] in meeting the [student’s] post-secondary goals.” 20 U.S.C. § 1414(c)(5)(B)(ii). Thus, before the student graduates, complete the “Summary of Performance” form and provide it to the student. The Summary of Performance form is on EdPlan under the Documents tab. While the law does not say how long before graduation the Summary of Performance form must be provided to students, it is recommended it be done shortly before graduation so that the information in the Summary is helpful to assist the student in meeting their goals after high school.


Recommended Process –

An IEP team meeting must be held at least annually for each student – so even if a student’s annual IEP date is a week before graduation, you still need to hold an annual IEP meeting (although in such a case you need NOT write a new IEP). Use that last IEP meeting to talk about the student’s Summary of Performance, strengths and continuing needs into adulthood, and after the meeting write and send out the Summary of Performance and Notice of District’s Action (Prior Written Notice or PWN) to exit the student from special education services (if not aging out).

If a student’s last annual IEP meeting takes place earlier in the school year, it is expected that the team will discuss graduation plans and plans for beyond graduation at that meeting. In those cases, you will write a new IEP for the student, but you will NOT send the Summary of Performance form until closer to graduation time. If you have had the annual IEP meeting earlier in the school year, you do NOT need to have an IEP team meeting to discuss or to write the Summary of Performance later in the school year. You DO need to meet with the student, however, to discuss the Summary of Performance and the student’s strengths and ongoing needs, and you need to document that meeting (in EdPlan Due Process Contacts). That meeting need not be a formal IEP team meeting. The Summary of Performance form should then be sent out with the PWN acknowledging that the student will be graduating and exiting special education services.

This information can be found in the MPS Online Due Process Notebook, section 11, pp. 4-6, https://minneapolispublicschools.sharepoint.com/sites/SPED/Shared%20Documents/Due%20Process%20Notebook/2019-2020/Sec.%2011%20-%20Exit%20and%20Graduation%20July%202019%20revision.pdf.

ICYMI (In case you missed it)

Deadline for completing Evaluations and the 30-day calendar

Each year questions seem to arise regarding how to count the 30-school-day deadline for completing evaluations. The following information appeared in the February 2019 Special Ed Update.

As you all know, the deadline to complete an evaluation report is 30 school days after receiving consent from the parent. The only exception is if the three-year evaluation deadline comes first. Then you go with the three-year deadline. Lately, there has been confusion on how to use the 30-Day Due Process Timeline for evaluation deadlines. [Note this Timeline only applies to the 30-school-day deadline for evaluations and has nothing to do with IEPs.] This confusion may be tied in with the new start date process for IEPs incorporated into EdPlan recently. Under the new EdPlan process for IEP start dates, the default start date is now 15 calendar days after the IEP is sent to the parent. This includes 14 calendar days for implied consent with the start date being the day after the implied consent date. This is why we talk about 14 + 1. For example, if an IEP is mailed out on 1/22/19, the implied consent date is 2/5/19 (14 calendar days after 1/22/19 – 1/23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 2/1, 2, 3, 4, 5) with the start date being 2/6/19. This entire counting process for IEP start dates does not apply to the 30-day evaluation deadline.

For the 30-school-day evaluation report deadline, Day 1 is the first school day after receiving parent consent, written or implied. The day you receive consent, for implied consent this would be the 14th calendar day after the Notice of Eval/Evaluation Plan is sent to the parent, does not count as the first school day for deadline purposes. The first school day after the 14th day counts as the first school day. This is what is attempted to be explained in the text of the second sentence under the 30-school-day timeline chart. For example, if the eval plan is mailed to the parent on 1/22/19, the implied consent date is 2/5/19 (14 calendar days after 1/22/19 – 1/23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 2/1, 2, 3, 4, 5). In the 30-day chart this 2/5/19 date is called the “Rec’d on” date. Day 1 of the 30 school days would be 2/6/19 with the evaluation due on 3/21/19, the 30th school day. There are no extra days to be built into this timeline date. The timeline chart has taken all non-school days into the consideration. Do not think you should be “adding an extra day” to the chart deadline date. Just go with the timeline date.

The 30-school-day calendar can be found on EdPlan on the Main Menu page, near the bottom, under the “How To’s” tab.

Reminder – Upcoming Trainings:

  • Writing Legally Compliant Evaluations – Thursday, Feb. 27, 4-6 p.m. Davis Center Room N1-053
  • Writing Legally Compliant IEPs – Thursday, Mar. 5, 4-7 p.m. Davis Center Room N1-053
  • You can sign up for these trainings on eCompass Course No. 80163.

Alternative Educational Services/Supervised Homework

Just a reminder that students are entitled to alternative educational services/supervised homework in the following two circumstances:

  • If the student has been out of school for more than 5 consecutive days, alternative educational services need to be provided to the student by the school beginning on day 6. The method of alternative educational services chosen must allow the student to progress toward meeting graduation standards and may include services such as instruction through electronic media, homebound instruction, or supervised homework. The type of alternative educational services must be decided by “relevant members” of the student’s IEP team including at least one of the student’s teachers.
  • Alternative Educational Services – If the student has been removed from school for more than 10 cumulative days this school year, relevant members of a student’s IEP team, including at least one of the student’s teachers, need to discuss the need for alternative educational services for the student while he/she is out of school so as to enable the student to continue to participate in the general education curriculum and to progress toward meeting the student’s IEP goals. If school personnel determine such a plan is needed, the plan should be written up so that it is available if there are any future periods of removal. The alternative educational services selected may include such services as instruction through electronic media, homebound tutoring, or supervised homework.

*Please refer to the attached Checklist for Disciplining Students with IEPs or Suspected Disabilities.