PALS Meeting Minutes
February 26, 2025 9:30 a.m.
Virtual Meeting using Zoom
School Initiated Removal of IEP Services What does a family do when faced with their child losing IEP Services all together? You read that correctly. Families can be faced with this scenairo, in whole or in part, at any time and it frequently happens around transition periods; Pre-K to K, Elementary to Middle, Middle to High, High to post graduation. Often familes are left feeling blindsided. We discussed what happens and what you can do.
According to 34 CFR 300, a school must reevaluate a child before determining that the child is no longer eligible for special education and an IEP.
Remember to document everything and keep it organized.
The School must provide Prior Written Notice of their intent to remove IEP Services (or any other changes), explaining the changes they intend to make.
Explaining changes means proving the need for change with data. This includes the required reevaluation, progress reports, teacher observations, class work and assessments, and parental input.
Remember the "stay put" rule. If families disagree with the changes being proposed, in this case the removal of IEP services, they have the right to initiate "stay put". This means the child continues to receive the last agreed-upon IEP Services during an active dispute.
Remember that IEP Services do not expire. Yes, there is an expiration date on the IEP, however the services within that document continue until a new IEP is written, including one that terminates services.
Families have the right to request further testing. Was something missed on the reevaluation? Was everything the family is concerned about assessed during the reevaluation? For instance, maybe the student was tested only in speech and reading, but the family has concerns about executive functioning skills.
Hire an educational advocate or attorney. There are free services available; Achieva offers educational advocate the Pennsylvania Disability Rights Network offers a consultation line.
Additional resources:
Update from PHLP
The Pennsylvania Health Law Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit legal services organization that represents Pennsylvanians who need help getting or keeping Medicaid (also known as Medical Assistance or MA). PHLP is an amazing resource and a great place to get the latest updates on the ever changing world of Medical Assistance. The PHLP Resource Library provides up-to-date self-help materials. PHLP provides practical information to help consumers, advocates, and providers understand health law issues, recognize how upcoming changes will impact them, and identify areas where additional advocacy is needed. Visit their News page for the latest updates and subscribe to their newsletter.
FCASD Special Education Plan
*If you are in a different school district, know that your district must also submit a Special Eudcation Plan to the state.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is
responsible for ensuring that all special education programs in public schools are appropriate, compliant, and effective. To do this, school districts must submit a Special Education Plan every three years to PDE as required under 22 Pa. Code § 14.104. The school district's Special Education Plan outlines planning generated from district special education data, compliance monitoring, professional development activities, and training necessary to provide appropriate programs to students with disabilities.
The school district's special education plan describes the special education programs and services that are provided within a school district and those special education programs and services which are accessed by the school district from outside the school district's geographical boundaries. The special education plan reflects ongoing programs and services and incorporates anticipated changes in programming as a result of corrective action generated by the cyclical monitoring and improvement planning and other factors.
Tim Mahoney, Director of Special Education and Pupil Services at Fox Chapel Area High School (FCASD) reached out to PALS as they begin revising the district's Special Education Plan. Currently, and based on our data, the team plans the following topics in bold below. PALS provided an online anynonmous feedback form and submitted responses to Tim on February 25th in preparation of today's monthly PALS meeting. The feedback (º) from the digital form as follows:
Community learning discussing PASA, PSSA, and Keystone assessments including a review of participation and outcome data as part of the student portfolio (required by PDE)
Not interested
Continued development of school-wide PBIS in all K-12 schools (required by PDE)
Yes
Training and collaboration with DCDT to promote best practices for transition age students (required by PDE)
Yes
Life after graduation: Future planning for families with Achieva Family Trust
Yes! I really enjoyed what we have focused on to date and would like to see more of this.
Yes
Supporting Students with Multiple Exceptionalities (2E)
This would be most helpful. I would also love to see how we can represent this population when we try to explain or get help for them. In many groups, it is frowned to mention levels of functionality, which I understand, but it makes it hard to fully explain my kid when I could just say 2E. I'd also like to have some programs/activities specific for 2E populations, if possible. My child is ostracized from her gifted peers because she has challenges and yet she cannot identify with the non-2E kids because it is not intellectually stimulating enough. And, as a parent, I am very lonely and ostracized too - when we are with the gifted only neurodivergent kids, parents look at my kid and treat me like I am a tiger mom putting my child into an elite club she obviously doesn't belong to because of her other needs (sensory processing, mainly), but when we try to be with the kids with only one exception (and not gifted), we often are criticized because we should be grateful we "have it so good". I see where everyone is coming from- but it is so, so hard.
I'd also like if we could run some presentations for gifted teachers in the area/counselors/families of gifted kids to talk about what 2E looks like with these kids as so many fall through the cracks and also so they understand one can be gifted, with other exceptionalities.
No
Any other feedback or additional family session that may be valuable for FCASD to offer.
It would be great to have family sessions on: 1.) Choosing to test (or not to); 2.) How to tell your child; 3.) Late identified (teens) and how to help, etc.; 4.) Demand Avoidance (both Persistent Desire for Autonomy and also demand avoidance in Autistic communities).
Thank you for offering this wonderful service. I try to pass the word on whenever I can because I find so much of this is useful.
No
Tim joined our meeting today to provide an overview of the district's Special Education Plan. He provided the following presentation with additional information below:
2022 Penn Data for FCASAD mentioned on slide 4.
Visit PDE Special Education Data Reporting for addition years for FCASD or all other distircts in the state. Simply scroll to the desired district and click.
Find out more about CMCI.
FCASD will publicly post the Special Education Plan on March 17, 2025 for 28 days, during which time they will accept public comment. PALS will share a link to the SEP once available.
If you are interested in learning more about the Special Education Plan process, PaTTAN provides a training video that provides school districts with necessary information to develop and implement required special education plans.
Additional Questions for Tim Mahoney from Meeting Participants
Concern over a loss of Federal Funding on IDEA programs and how FCASD responds.
FCASD receives IDEA funding but does not rely on those funds to impliment special education services for students. The majority of funding for services come at the local level therefore impact on services is minimal. That minimal impact is being seen by families through disruptions in post secondary employment and waivers. FCASD is assisting families who have not received disbursements.
Related articles of interest:
Parents of Students with Disabilities: Don’t Gut Federal Funding
Does the Section 504 lawsuit put my child’s 504 plan at risk?
Our deep dive into Gov. Shapiro’s proposed budget for education.
A guide to what the U.S. Education Department does (and doesn't) do
Medicare is a Lifeline for People with Disabilities: Congress Must Act to Save It
Concerns for student data security as it relates to transmission to a federal level and recent PowerSchool breach.
Tim responded during the meeting and indicated that he would also inquire with his colleagues and give a more detailed answer. The following is that response:
I was also able to connect with Dr. Collett and she did have information to share relative to privacy and security. She stated that all companies that we contract with are required to follow our board policy and Pennsylvania's data privacy laws. This is a contractual requirement we impose prior to board approval of any programs. Additional to the data privacy requirements, we also take steps to only transfer information through SSID file transfers to ensure protections.
As for the PowerSchool incident, the company continues to gather information through their investigations and have not provided a public statement at this time. Once we know more, the district will share with our community.
The question related to what information we share is associated with our PIMS submissions required by the state and federal government. This is a requirement for us to report student information relative to district, PA Secure ID, special education teacher, disability(s), type of support, educational placement, services, and location of services, as well as general demographic information. While some districts share individual social security information, we do not collect or share that information but people outside of FCASD may want to check with their local district. Again, this information is shared through a secure file transfer and required by law.
Conveying the importance of compliance and communication of all staff to families especially during transition years.
General education teacher are responsible for accessing and reviewing student IEPs / 504 Plans at the beginning of the school year. The software identifies when this task is complete.
General education teachers are required by law to have student IEPs / 504 Plans in locked files within the classroom for ease of review and implementation.
At the beginning of the school year Tim Mahoney meets with school LEAs which is generally a principal and Student Case Managers (special education teachers) to review legal requirements and participate in professional development, which is also conducted throughout the school year.
Introduced the idea of possible parent training videos.
Tim also addressed the language of Extended School Year Services (ESY) and misconceptions that have created issues in the past.
Below find two pdfs; PaTTANs Teacher's Desk Reference: Practical Information for Pennsylvania's Teachers and PA Code Chapter 14: Special Education Services and Programs.
The words "factor(s)" and "criteria(s)" have created confusing leading to the idea that these words are interchangeable in this specific context (ESY). They are not.
The Code makes clear that there are
seven factors and no one factor by itself can determine eligibility for Extended School Year Services (ESY).
meaning at least two of the seven factors must be met to determine eligibility.
PALS February Family Meet-Up
PALS hosted an exciting and memorable event for 10 families at our very first bowling party at Zone 28, as part of our February Family Meet-Up! This gathering provided a wonderful opportunity for families to come together in a fun and relaxed environment, where we all enjoyed the thrill of bowling. The atmosphere was filled with smiles and friendly competition, as both children and adults took turns rolling strikes and spares down the lanes, creating unforgettable memories. Read more here.
PALS March Family Meet-up
Join in on the fun Saturday March 8, 2024 from 10:00am–12:00pm at the Sharpsburg Community Library. We'll bring the all the art supplies, you bring your kids, sibs, and friends. This is a great opprotunity to meet other families in your community and learn more about PALS. This is a free event!
Meeting Topic Survey
Take our suvery and help shape upcoming PALS meetings by sharing what topics you would like to learn more about. *Your email and/or Google account information ARE NOT collected in the process of completing this survey.
Next Meeting: March 26, 2025 9:30 a.m. Virtual Meeting using Zoom.
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