Special Education

Pacifica School District staff is committed to helping all children learn. Many programs and services are in place which are designed to enable children to be successful. The process described below is designed to identify and assist those children who have a disability that prohibits them from equal access to education.

Identification of Children Who May Have Special Needs

If your child consistently exhibits several of the traits listed below to a greater extent than other children his age, you may wish to contact your child’s teacher(s) to request a Student Study Team.

· Makes little progress in one or more basic skill areas in spite of accommodations or remedial instructions.
· Has a short attention span or is unable to pay attention.
· Uses immature language or speech patterns.
· Has a poor memory for things seen or heard.
· Reverses or confuses sounds, letters, words, or numbers beyond grade three.
· Has a difficulty with pencil or paper tasks.
· Seems easily frustrated or lacks patience.
· Seems to act without thinking.
· Has trouble shifting from one idea to another.
· Stubbornly refuses to attempt new learning tasks.
· Has trouble making and maintaining friends.
· Seems to be unaware of or seems not to care about the needs or intentions of others.

A result of the Student Study Team could be that the teacher will modify the instruction and support your child receives in the regular classroom. If the accommodations do not improve your child’s performance, you may request additional Student Study Team meetings to consider other alternatives.

Student Study Team Process

A student experiencing academic, behavioral, and/or social problems in the general education program may be referred to the Student Study Team (SST). The SST is composed of anyone having knowledge of the student, including physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers and parents. The SST will meet at the local school site.

The SST is a regular education forum composed of personnel with specialties and experience chaired by the principal or designee of the school site. It is the intent of the SST to act as a resource when intervention assistance is sought. The SST may suggest regular program interventions within the classroom and/or support services available to all students.

The SST may include the following personnel:
· Principal, Assistant Principal, or designee
· School psychologist
· School counselor
· Community liaison
· Resource specialist teacher
· Reading specialist
· General education teacher
· Parents/Guardians

As the parent/guardian you may be invited to attend the SST meeting, share information about your child's school performance and talk about your concerns. The team may decide that accommodations of the general education program are appropriate to address your child's needs, or other research based interventions that are appropriate for your child. If so, these accommodations or interventions will be written and monitored. If these accommodations/interventions are not successful, the SST may ultimately recommend additional assessment. Should this be necessary, you will be an important part of the assessment team in addition to providing your informed written consent. After the assessment is completed, the assessment team will meet with you in an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meeting to review the results with you. A general diagram of process is available here.

Individual Education Plan (IEP) Meeting

The IEP team will meet to review the results of the assessments. The IEP team makes three decisions. First, using federal and state guidelines relative to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the IEP team will determine if the child is eligible for special education services. If the child is not eligible, the team may identify additional accommodations to assist the child in the general education program. If the child is eligible, the IEP team will develop learning goals for the child. The IEP team will determine which services the child will need to meet those learning goals and determine the most appropriate placement to achieve those goals.

The IEP team may include the following personnel:
· Principal, Assistant Principal, District Administrator, or designee
· School psychologist
· Special Education Teacher
· General Education Teacher
· Others who assessed the child
· Parents / Guardians
· Others with knowledge about the child

The Pacifica School District offers a variety of special education programs and services for children who are eligible for them. These programs and services are based upon the unique needs of the child. In addition, the district will be offering a self-contained pre-school class and a self-contained K-1 class for students with moderate to moderately severe disabilities that began in September 2005. In September 2006, the District has added social skills groups to our available services.

Child Find Program

Pacifica School District is seeking young people from 3 years old to 8th grade who attend any school in Pacifica and may need special education services, including highly mobile (such as migrant or homeless) children with disabilities and children who are suspected of having a disability and in need of special education. If you believe your child may have any of these special needs, please contact the Pacifica Special Education Administrator at 650.738.6627

Parents

If you have a question about the process for identifying children who may have special needs, please call your school principal. It is the principal’s responsibility to assist parents through the identification process. Questions about the assessment process can also be directed to Virginia Harrington, the District’s Special Education Administrator who oversees the process should the SST recommend that a child be assessed for special education. She can be reached at (650) 738-6627.

Lastly, there are several trained resource parents who are available to provide you with a parent’s perspective and to support the parent of a child who may qualify for special education services as s/he progresses through the assessment and qualification process.

Parent's Rights and Procedural Safeguards