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Special Programs

 

Director of Special Programs

BethAnne Rettos

E-mail:  Bethanne.Rettos@BeaverLocal.org

Phone: 330-386-8700 Ext. 22210

Fax: 330-386-8720

 

Secretary: Special Education & Open Enrollment

Karen Wathey

Phone: 330-386-8700 Ext. 22208

E-mail: Karen.Wathey@beaverlocal.org

Fax: 330-386-8720

 

School Psychologists

Ashley Carson

email: ashley.carson@beaverlocal.org

Kara Kovach

email: kara.kovach@beaverlocal.org

Phone: 330-386-8700 Ext. 22310

 

 

Programs for Students with Disabilities at Beaver Local Schools:

 

As an expression of its commitment to provide a free appropriate public education for students with disabilities in accordance with State and Federal law, rules, and regulations.

 

Our department is responsible for overseeing Special Education, Gifted Education, Comprehensive Continuous Improvement Plan (CCIP), Academic Acceleration for Advanced Learners and Early Entrance to Kindergarten, Section 504 Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), Limited English Proficient (LEP), Federal Title 1 programs, and Homelessness.

 

 

1.  Child Identification

Ongoing efforts are made to identify, locate and evaluate students below 22 years of age who reside within the District and have a confirmed or suspected disability in accordance with all federal regulations and state standards.

 

2.  Procedural Safeguards

The student with a disability and his/her parent(s) are provided with safeguards, as required by law, throughout the identification, evaluation and placement process and the provision of a free appropriate public education to the student.

 

3.  Multifactored Evaluation

The District provides a multifactored evaluation for students with disabilities by ensuring that students are assessed in their native language or other modes of communication.  Tests are used for their validated purposes.  Students are evaluated in all areas related to their suspected disability.  Testing is conducted by a multidisciplinary team.  Testing materials and procedures are not racially or culturally biased.  Tests are administered by trained personnel qualified in accordance with all federal regulations and state standards and in conformance with the instructions provided by the producer.   Medical evaluation, when required as part of the multifactored evaluation, is provided at no cost to the parent(s) by a licensed physician designated by the Superintendent/designee when other no-cost resources are not available.

 

4.  Individualized Education Program

An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is developed for each student with a disability who needs special education.  The IEP is designed to meet the unique educational needs of the student and developed in a planning conference.  The parent(s) of the student is strongly encouraged to participate in the planning conference.  The IEP is reviewed and revised as often as necessary, but at least annually.

 

5.  Least Restrictive Environment

The education of students with disabilities occurs in the least restrictive environment.  Special education programs and services are appropriate and designed to meet the unique needs of each student with a disability.   To the maximum extent appropriate, students with disabilities, including students in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with students who do not have disabilities.  Special classes, separate schooling or other removals of students with disabilities from the regular educational environment occur only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.

 

6.  Confidentiality of Data

The confidentiality of personally identifiable data relating to students with disabilities and their parents and families is protected at the collection, storage, disclosure, and destruction.  One official of the District is assigned the responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of personally identifiable data.  The District follows all federal regulations and state standards related to the confidentiality of data.

 

7.  Due Process

The District utilizes procedures that allow differences of opinion to be aired and resolved between parent(s) or agencies and the District. The procedures provide for utilization of case conferences, administrative reviews, impartial due process hearings, state-level appeals and appeals to the courts that involve the District’s proposal or refusal to initiate or change the identification, evaluation or educational placement of the child or the provision of a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to the student.  Furthermore, the rights of students with disabilities are protected when the parents cannot be identified or located, when the student is a ward of the state or when the student is without a formally declared legal representative.

 

8.  Surrogate Parent

Whenever the parent(s) of a student with a disability is not known or cannot be located, or when the student is a ward of the state, the student’s rights are protected through the assignment of an individual (who is not an employee of the state education agency, local education agency or intermediate educational unit involved in the education of the child) who serves as the student’s surrogate parent.

 

9.  Testing Programs

Students with disabilities must participate in local and statewide testing programs.  Individual exemptions and participation in an alternate assessment are determined only during an IEP conference.

 

10.  Discipline

A student with a disability is disciplined only in accordance with State and Federal laws, rules, and regulations.

 

 

* New - 2017 Beaver Local Local Special Education Annual Rating*

 

Beaver Local “Meets Requirements” in the Ohio Dept. of Education’s 2017 Special Education Rating

Each year the Beaver Local Schools are rated on the performance of our special education program by the Ohio Department of Education for procedural compliance.   The rating uses final data from the 2016-2017 school year that Beaver Local submits through the Education Management Information System (EMIS).  These data result in one of four ratings and the Beaver Local’s 2017 Special Education Rating is Meets Requirements with 20 points out of a possible 20 points.

 

 

 

The State of Ohio, the Governor, the Ohio Department of Education, and other state-level defendants to a class action lawsuit have reached a proposed settlement and have requested our District's assistance in informing students and parents of the proposed settlement. A link to the settlement is below. To be clear, our District is not a defendant in this lawsuit and is not accused of any wrongdoing in this lawsuit. We are sharing this information as a courtesy to the Ohio Department of Education and our community: Click HERE for more information

 

Links:

Title IX Presentation

Procedural Safeguards

Operating Standards for Gifted Students

BLSD Gifted Policy