Supplemental Statement of Rights for Private School Students with Disabilities
NEPN/NSBA Code: IHBGB
If you are the parent/legal guardian of a disabled child or suspect that your child may have a disability that is covered by state or federal special education laws, and you have privately placed your child in a private school program located within the Yarmouth school district, you have the following rights.
A. You have the right to have your child located, identified and evaluated by the Yarmouth School Department as a possible special education student, including referral of your child to an Individual Education Program (IEP) Team to determine whether your child qualifies as a special education student, and to be re-evaluated at least every three years to determine your child’s continued eligibility for special education. The school unit child find and referral obligations toward your child while he/she is parentally placed in a private school program located in Yarmouth are the same as for students enrolled in public school, as described in the attached special education “Procedural Safeguards Statement.”
B. Students with disabilities who have been parentally placed in a private school located within Yarmouth do not have an individual right to special education and related services while enrolled in the private school program.
C. When designing and implementing special education services for parentally placed private school children attending private schools within Yarmouth, the Yarmouth School Department has an obligation to consult in a timely and meaningful manner with representatives of those children and with private schools regarding the following issues:
The child find process itself, and whether parentally placed private school and home school students participate in that process equitably, and how parents of these children and private schools are notified of the process;
How the Yarmouth School Department determines the proportionate share of federal dollars that will be spent;
The consultation process itself, including how that process will operate throughout the school year so as to ensure meaningful participation in services;
How, where, and by whom special education and related services will be provided, including the types of services and how such services will be apportioned if funds are insufficient to serve all children, and how and when these decisions will be made; and
If the Yarmouth School Department disagrees with views of private school officials on the provision and types of services, the Yarmouth School Department will provide a written explanation of the reasons why the decisions were made.
D. The Yarmouth School Department has a duty to expend on the pool of identified parentally-placed private school students with disabilities an amount that is the same proportion of the school unit federal special education dollars as the number of those students is to the overall total number of students with disabilities within the Yarmouth School Department. If some of those funds are not expended in a given year, the school unit must carry over unspent funds to the following year for expenditure on these services.
E. The Yarmouth School Department, not the IEP Team, shall make the final decisions with respect to the services to be provided to eligible parentally-placed private school students with disabilities, following timely and meaningful consultation as described in Paragraph C. above.
F. For any parentally-placed private school student with a disability for whom the Yarmouth School Department decides that it will provide services, the school department shall initiate and conduct a meeting of the IEP Team to develop, review, and revise a services plan detailing the special education and related services to be provided and including goals for measuring the outcome of such services. To the extent appropriate, the Team shall develop the services plan in a manner consistent with development of an IEP.
G. Parents may file for a due process hearing with the Maine Department of Education, Division of Special Services (624-6650), alleging that the Yarmouth School Department has failed to meet its child find duty to locate, identify, and evaluate all private school/home school students with disabilities. Parents may also file due process complaints with the Yarmouth School Department regarding the implementation of any of the rights addressed in this document.
Finally, private school officials may file a complaint with the Maine Department of Education, Division of Special Services, alleging that the Yarmouth School Department has not engaged in consultation that was timely or meaningful or did not give due consideration to the views of the private school official.
H. Should the parents of a parentally placed private school student choose to enroll their child in the public school program where they reside, the disabled child would have a right to receive a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) and an Individualized Education Program (IEP) from that public school unit. Parents of such children who reside in Yarmouth should contact the Director of Instructional Support (101 McCartney Street, Yarmouth; 846-5586) if you have any interest in exploring what special education services your child might receive if enrolled in the Yarmouth schools. The Yarmouth School Department would then convene an IEP Team meeting to discuss this with you further. If you enroll your child in public school, you and your child are entitled to all the rights set forth in the school unit’s attached special education “Procedural Safeguards Statement.”
I. If you would like a complete copy of the state and federal regulations addressing the duties of the Yarmouth School Department toward private school/home school students with disabilities or have any other questions, please contact the Director of Instructional Support (101 McCartney Street, Yarmouth; 846-5586) or the Maine Department of Education, Division of Special Services (624-6650). If you have any concerns about your child, please address those concerns in writing to: Director of Instructional Support at 101 McCartney Street, Yarmouth, ME 04096.
Legal References: 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(10)(A)
34 C.F.R. § 300.130- .144
Maine DOE Rule Ch. 101, § II(24), IV(4)(G, H) (July 2011)
Adopted: January 9, 2014
