Public Notice on Screenings/Evaluation

The Southern Tioga School District uses the following procedures to locate, identify, and evaluate specified needs of school-aged students requiring special programs or services.  These procedures, as required by law, are as follows:

The district, as prescribed by section 1402 of the School Code, routinely conducts screenings of a child’s hearing acuity in the following grades:  Kindergarten through grade 3, and on a referral basis in grades 4 through 12. Visual acuity is screened in every grade.  Speech and language skills are screened in kindergarten and on a referral basis.  Gross motor and fine motor skills, academic skills, and social-emotional skills are assessed by classroom teachers on an on-going basis.  Specified needs from all of these screening sources are noted within the child’s official file.  School records are always open and available to parents, and only to school officials who have a legitimate “need to know” about information regarding the child.

Information from the records is released to other persons or agencies only with appropriate authorization that involves written signed permission by parents.  The only exception is when a student enrolls or seeks enrollment in another school in Pennsylvania; educational and personally identifiable information may be released without parental permission.  Parents with concerns regarding their child may contact the building principal at any time to request a screening or evaluation of their child.  Communication with parents and exceptional students shall be in English or the native language of the parents.

Screening information will be used by the instructional support team within the student’s school to meet his or her specific needs or to document the need for further evaluation.  If it is determined that a child needs additional services, the instructional support team will make adjustments relative to such things as the child’s learning style, behavior, physical inabilities, and speech problems to be more in keeping with traditional classroom experiences.  If a student does not make progress, parents will be asked to give written permission for further individual professional evaluations.

After all the evaluations are completed, a comprehensive evaluation report will be compiled with parent involvement, and include specific recommendations for the types of interventions necessary to deal with the child’s specified needs.  Parents are then invited to participate in a meeting where the results of the multidisciplinary evaluation will be discussed. If needed, an individual education program (IEP) will be developed for specialized services for the student.

The Southern Tioga School District IEP team will consist of at least two of the following district staff:  the building principal, the special education teacher, the regular education teacher(s), district school psychologist, other teachers or specialists as needed, and other administrative staff when appropriate.

A parent may request that the district initiate a screening or evaluation of their child’s specified need at any time by contacting the building principal.  Further information about these procedures may be obtained by calling the school district office for the special education supervisor.

Parents are an integral part of the IEP team and are required to be physically present at the IEP meeting.  The district will make every effort to ensure parent participation.  The district will notify the parents in writing, make documented phone calls, and make visits, if necessary, to make parents aware of the IEP conference and the need for parental participation.

Parents are then presented with a notice of recommended assignment (NORA) with which they may agree or disagree.  If parents disagree with the program being recommended, the issue may be taken to remediation or due process hearing.

Information about early intervention, parent rights, mediation or due process procedures, specific special education services and programs offered by the district, and the district’s educational records policy are available upon request from the building principal in your child’s school.