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Laura A. Krcelic
Exploring Different Kinds of Law Part 2: Special Education Law and Policies
In order to ensure the achievement of all students in every school, districts are required to
manage their schools according to set standards. The goal of the policies set forth are to provide
a safe and secure learning environment for every student to meet their potential. A key area of
focus in policy development and district compliance is in the area of Special Education.
Supervisors of Special Education ensures the needs of identified students with disabilities are
receiving their appropriate accommodations based on the guidelines for least restrictive
environment and the Individualized Education Plans (IEP’s). The state of Ohio provides a
specific set of guidelines to ensure the needs of those students are meet on every level within the
school building.
The Ohio Operating Standards for the Education of Children with Disabilities is a state
document that is intended to regulate education procedures for students with disabilities. Within
Individualized Education Program (IEP), transportation concerns, preschool eligibility, and free
appropriate public education guidelines along with other areas of interest. The following is an
Confidentiality
medicine. It is vital that, as educators, we are able to recognize the importance of maintaining
confidentiality in terms of our student’s health and progress. In this section of the policy outline,
the role of informing parents and guardians the intended use of data and information collected by
the school district. Especially when it comes to English-Language Learners (ELL), the
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information pertaining to their child is presented in their native language in order to ensure
comprehension. Parents also have the right to inspect and review education records under this
rule. During IEP or conferencing, families have the ability to request verification of how their
child’s needs are being meet and the progress being made.
According to the Ohio Department of Education (2014), “each school district shall adopt
and implement written policies and procedures… that ensure an individualized education
program [IEP] is developed and implemented for each child with a disability” (page 117). The
development of this plan for students identified with a disability is at no cost to the parents.
Schools are expected to manage the IEP through written reports, data collection, and parent
questionnaires and conferences to ensure the child’s needs are directly being met. It is the
responsibility of the district to ensure that the IEP accommodations are being met in the
classrooms. A vital part of this plan is ensuring that there are measurable annual goals to ensure
Transportation Concerns
The transportation is per IEP goals established for the children with identified disabilities.
When considering transportation of student with disabilities, it is necessary to consider the safety
and well-being of the child. Based on the unique needs of the student, the receive the appropriate
accommodations that may be reimbursed per the Ohio Department of Education depending on
the circumstance. The role of the school district is to establish the standards for travel, including
standard travel time based on factors such as age, conditions of disability, and geography.
Drivers and aides need to be informed of the needs of the child as it relates to their
transportation.
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Preschool Eligibility
School districts collaborate with interagency partners, such as Head Start programs, to
ensure that free appropriate public education (FAPE) is available for all students between the
ages of 3 and 5 within that district. In order for a preschool age child to be identified for the use
of special education services, districts need to use a variety of data sources for analysis rather
than one score. These can be done through structured observations in multiple settings and
activities, parent or guardian information, evaluations, etc. For preschool age children, they are
assessed within one of the following areas: adaptive behavior, cognition, communication,
According to the Ohio Department of Education (2014), “each school district shall make
a FAPE available to all children between the ages of three and twenty-one, inclusive, including
children with disabilities who have been suspended or expelled from school” (page 42). Starting
at age 3, school districts are accountable for ensuring that children at age 3 have the opportunity
to attend public school that meets their direct needs. Districts are accountable to ensure that
children with identified disabilities are advancing grade levels. Services are provided by the
district in all contents and special subjects that allow students to be successful through FAPE and
IDEA.
In Warren City School District, there are five buildings dividing the district. This
includes four pre-school through eighth grade buildings and one high school which addresses
students in grades nine through twelve. In order to meet the needs of the large student
population, there is a supervisor of special education in each of the buildings and a director of
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special education at the Board of Education. At Jefferson pK-8 building in Warren City Schools,
the Supervisor of Special Education is Mesa Morlan. Throughout this interview we addressed
various topics from least restrictive environment to teacher perspective on the requirements of
special education.
A. How does your school implement special education law and policies?
At Jefferson pK-8, areas that teach English Language Arts and Mathematics are in a co-
teaching environment when a student with an IEP is within the class. According to Morlan
(2020), “we utilize a standard binder for reference for all special education guidelines and
maintaining student data per case load”. The Intervention Assistance Team (IAT) meets to refer
students to the IEP originally where once students are identified, IEP teams meet once per year
to renew or the potentially meet more times depending on the student situation. Morlan is
responsible for ensuring that IDEA regulations are being met through observations,
Students are referred for an IEP through the IAT, teacher, or parent referral. This is done
through monitoring of Tier 2 and 3 interventions used for the child. These interventions may be
either targeting academic or behavioral needs. Specific Tier 3 interventions used at Jefferson pK-
8 are Spaulding, Wilson, Reading Recovery, and Zaner Bloser which are used in the younger
grades to remediate literacy concerns. In the upper grades, students are receiving targeted
intervention through Read 180, Math 180, and Study Island in addition to the Intervention
Special (IST) being able to pull small groups for additional instruction.
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C. How does your school ensure compliance with IEPs and implementation of
working?
Compliance is maintained through the yearly meetings discussing the students’ progress
based on their IEP goals. This allows all stakeholders to attend to ensure necessary updates are
made to the IEPs based on observations and data for whether or not the specific accommodations
are effective. Morlan collects progress monitoring from IST’s every 4 weeks to report home to
parents/guardians. Within this, IST’s log the minutes spent per child working on each of the
D. How do school staff members feel about least restrictive environment and the IEP
process as a whole? Do they feel the IEP process represents true collaboration
Morlan recognizes that teachers could at times be frustrated with the least restrictive
environment requirements, whereas teachers feel that students may require more assistance than
we are able to currently offer. There is not a co-teacher in every content area in the older grades,
such as science and social studies that are not tested, where student accommodations are still
expected to be met within the inclusion environment. It is a struggle for those teachers to
continuously meet the needs of those students in those environments. Overall, the process for
managing and updating the IEPs is good for collaboration where all stakeholders are able to
attend conferencing for updates. In addition, this IEP process follows all federal and state
regulations.
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E. Which aspects of the IEP process most confuse or discourage team members?
Morlan recognizes that there are some areas that can be considered discouraging or
frustrating to the special education team. Once primary area she noted was that the IAT process
may take too long of a time for students to be identified. If some students are identified it may be
too late for effective intervention or students may be overly identified and not require as much
intervention. Many times, students go unidentified due to chronic absenteeism, students are not
F. What do IEP team members say can be done to better improve the process?
To better improve the IEP process, Morlan noted a few areas that could always use
improvement. One area specifically was allowing for greater collaboration among team
members. Ideally, allowing all content area teachers to discuss student progress would be ideal
for student goal setting. However, due to substitution concerns during the IEP planned meeting
time, it is not possible for all content teachers to be present. Another area that could be improved
is pinpointing interventions to use with each specific student’s. At times, it is difficult to hone in
G. Are students’ IEPs effectively implemented at your school? What can be done to
improve implementation?
Overall, Morlan noted that the IEP’s are effectively being implemented within Jefferson pK-
8. IST’s are assigned specific caseloads of students in order to meet their needs specific to
English/Language Arts and Mathematics. The students could be assigned to IST’s based on
behavior concerns, as well, where a teaching aide is assigned to that student. The current struggle
is applying accommodations to all inclusion classrooms, including science and social studies,
where an IST is not present. There is also an issue in the range of services offered at our school.
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Morlan explains that while Jefferson has self-contained cross-cat classrooms and inclusion, there
Conclusion
Special education is an area of great interest in modern educational reform. Ensuring that
every student has the potential to succeed is at the front line of conversation. The Ohio
Department of Education provides a clear set of expectations that allow teachers and
administrators to recognize their role in meeting the needs of students with identified disabilities.
Mesa Morlan follows this set of standards at the Jefferson pK-8 building in Warren City Schools
with collaboration of Intervention Specialists (ISTs) to ensure student’s needs are being met and
References
Ohio Department of Education. (2014, July 1). Ohio Operating Standards for the Education of