R 2460.1  SPECIAL EDUCATION - LOCATION, IDENTIFICATION,
        AND REFERRAL

All students with disabilities, who are in need of special education and related services, including students with disabilities attending nonpublic schools, and highly mobile students such as migrant and homeless students regardless of the severity of their disabilities, are located, identified and evaluated according to N.J.A.C. 6A:14-3.3

A.	Procedures for Locating students With Disabilities

1.	The Director of Special Education will coordinate the child find activities to locate, identify and evaluate all children, ages three through twenty-one, who reside within the High Point Regional High school district or attend nonpublic schools within the school district and who may have a disability.

2.	By March 30 of each school year, the Director of Special Education or his/her designee will conduct child find activities, in the native language of the population, as appropriate, including but not limited to:

a.	Development of child find materials for distribution.

b.	Broadcasting of child find information on the school district cable television station. (if applicable)

c.	Distribution of flyers to the parents of all students enrolled in the school district.

d.	Mailing of child find material to nonpublic schools in the area.

e.	Mailing of child find material to local pediatricians, hospitals and clergy.

f.	Public service announcements on the local foreign language radio stations and cable television stations in the following languages:
		Spanish

g.	Public service announcements in local newspapers.

h.	Distribution of child find materials in supermarkets, convenience stores, shelters for the homeless, public and private social service agency locations and nursery school providers.

i.	Mailing information letters to local physicians, hospitals, nursery schools, non-public schools, health departments, community centers, rescue squads and churches.

j.	Posting of state developed child find materials in the Guidance Office and Main Office for potentially disabled students and/or early intervention program.

k.	Training of home school advocate/school community liaisons or others to assist in the identification of potentially disabled students.

l.	Listings of Early Intervention Program (EIP), local nursery schools and pediatricians are maintained. The district’s preschool coordinator (or other) maintains contact with EIP coordinator and nursery school director.

m.	Information is distributed through the Parent Advisory Committee.

n.	School handbooks distributed to parents contain information describing special education services.

o.	Distribution of information to the school district’s ESL/Bilingual teachers describing child find activities.

p.	Students entering Kindergarten are screened to identify students who may have a disability.

q.	Intervention and Referral Services Committees (I&RS) have been established in all school buildings.

3.       	No later than October 1 of each school year the Director of Special Education will contact by mail the Sussex Christian School (identify the title of the nonpublic school official) of the nonpublic school(s) to request input from nonpublic school parents and officials for suggestions on ways to conduct child find activities for students attending nonpublic schools.
 
The child find activities for nonpublic students shall be comparable to the child find activities for public school students.
 
The following individual(s) shall serve as representatives from nonpublic schools:
 
School                     	        	
Representing the
Nonpublic School		Title of the Individual
Sussex Christian School	Principal
 
Based on the suggestions from the representatives of the nonpublic schools and parent(s), the Director of Special Education will modify the child find activities for the next school year, as appropriate.

B.	Procedures for Intervention in the General Education Program

A staff member or agency shall provide in writing a request for intervention services for students ages 13 to 21, (indicate ages of students present in the school district) to the Building Principal or designee.  The request shall contain the following:

1.	Reason for request (including parental or adult student request);

2.	Descriptive behavior of student performance; and

3.	Indication of the prior interventions.

Teachers and other school professionals, as appropriate, will be in-serviced annually by the Building Principal or designee regarding the procedures for initiating and providing interventions in the general education program.  The parent(s) will be informed of the procedures to initiate interventions in the general education program. 

The Superintendent or designee will oversee the district’s implementation/evaluation of the interventions identified..

An Intervention and Referral Services Committee (I&RS) will be in place in each school building pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:16-8.1 et seq. and Policy and Regulation 2417.

The Building Principal or designee will be responsible for the following:

1.	The implementation and effectiveness of building level I&RS Committee;

2.	Will identify the roles and responsibilities of building staff who participate in planning and providing intervention services; and

3.	Review, assess and document the effectiveness of the services provided in achieving the outcome identified in the intervention plan.

4.	The I&RS Committee shall:

a.	Plan and provide appropriate intervention services;

b.	Actively involve the parent(s) in the development and implementation of intervention plans;

c.	Develop an action plan for an identified student which specifies specific tasks, resources, persons responsible, completion dates, date for review;

d.	Coordinate the services of community based social and health provider agencies;

e.	Process and complete the documentation forms;

f.	Review and assess the effectiveness of the services provided in achieving the outcomes identified in the intervention and referral plan; and

g.	Ensure the type, frequency, duration, and effectiveness of the interventions are documented.

5.	The Building Principal will insure that:

a.	I&RS Committee receive in-service training by the Building Principal or designee by June 30  each school year;

b.	Staff handbooks are updated by September 1 and include information regarding intervention procedures;

c.	New instructional staff attend the district’s orientation program commencing in the month of August which includes information on I&RS Committee;

d.	School calendars are distributed in the month of September  and provide information on intervention services; and

e.	Parent/student handbooks distributed in the month of September and include information on intervention services.

C.	Procedures for Referral

Referral procedures are included in professional staff handbooks and referral forms are available in the Principal’s office, the Child Study Team (CST) office, and the Office of Special Services.

1.	Parental Notification of Referral Procedures

Referral procedures shall be included in the Student Planner and on the district web site which shall be distributed to the parent(s).  These procedures and publications shall be updated annually and be distributed to the parent(s) and appropriate social service and welfare agencies not later than October 1 of each year.  

2.	Parent Initiated Referral

When a parent makes a written request for an evaluation to determine eligibility for services:

a.	The written request shall be received and dated by the Office of Special Services;

b.	The written request shall be immediately forwarded to the office of special services/special education;

c.	A file will be initiated to include a timeline for processing the referral including the date that initiates the twenty-day timeline for conducting the referral/identification meeting and any forms used to open a case;

d.	Upon receipt of the referral a request for a summary and review of health and medical information regarding the student shall be forwarded to the school nurse who will transmit the summary to the CST;

e.	The Director of Special Education will convene a referral/identification meeting  within twenty calendar days (excluding school holidays, but not summer vacation) of the date the request was received by the district;

f.	A “Notice of a Referral/Identification Meeting” will be sent to the parent(s);

g.	The notice will contain “Parental Rights in Special Education” (PRISE) Booklet; and

h.	The referral/identification meeting will be attended by the parent(s), CST and regular education teacher.

3.	School Initiated Referral

Referral of a student to the CST may be made by administrative, instructional and other professional staff to determine eligibility for special services when:

a.	It is determined (optional: through the I&RS Committee) that interventions in the general education program have not been effective in alleviating the student’s educational difficulties. 

b.	It can be documented that the nature of the student’s educational problem(s) is such that an evaluation to determine eligibility for services is warranted without delay.

c.	The Director of Special Education, through in-service training, shall ensure that students are referred who may have a disability, but are advancing from grade to grade.
 
(1)	A student with a disability, who is advancing from grade to grade with the support of specially designed services, may continue to be eligible when:  
 
(a)	As part of the re-evaluation, the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team determines that the student continues to require specially designed services to progress in the general education curriculum; and
 
(b)	The use of functional assessment information supports the IEP team’s determination. 

The following procedure will be followed for a school initiated referral:

a.	A referral to the CST will be completed by the referring staff member;

b.	I&RS documentation (including, but not limited to:  teacher reports, grades and other relevant data) (optional: the intervention record) shall be forwarded with the referral to the CST along with any other relevant data;

c.	I&RS documentation does not need to be forwarded for direct referral when the nature of the student’s problem is such that the evaluation is warranted without delay;

d.	The referral should be dated upon receipt by the CST;

e.	A file will be initiated to include a timeline for processing the referral including the date that initiates the twenty-day timeline for conducting the referral/identification meeting;

f.	Upon receipt of the referral, a request for a summary and review of health and medical information regarding the student shall be forwarded to the school nurse who will transmit the summary to the CST;

g.	The Director of Special Education  will convene a referral/identification meeting within twenty calendar days (excluding school holidays, but not summer vacation) of the date recorded on the referral;

h.	A “Notice of a Referral/Identification Meeting” will be sent to the parent(s);

i.	The notice shall contain “Parental Rights in Special Education” (PRISE); and

j.	The referral/identification meeting will be attended by the parent(s), CST and regular education teacher.

4.	The district may use community rehabilitation programs approved by the New Jersey Department of Labor, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services or any other State agency empowered to accept secondary level student placement according to N.J.A.C. 6A:14-4.7(f)1.

5.	Each evaluation of the student requires an assessment to determine appropriate post-secondary outcomes as part of transition services planning.

6.	Each IEP Team member is required to certify in writing whether the IEP Team report reflects his or her conclusions.  In the event the IEP Team report does not reflect the IEP Team member’s conclusion, the IEP Team member must submit a dissenting opinion in order to ensure the parent(s) is aware of dissenting opinions regarding the determination of eligibility for a specific learning disability.

7.	The parent(s) must receive a copy of their child’s evaluation report and any documentation leading to a determination of eligibility not less than ten calendar days prior to the eligibility conference in order to ensure the parent(s) has a reasonable amount of time to review documentation prior to an eligibility conference.

8.	A student may be referred directly to the CST when warranted.

Date Issued:  June 19, 2000
Date Adopted:  December 12, 2011
Date Revised:  March 25, 2002, March 16, 2009, March 16, 2017, June 20, 2017