Services Provided by Pioneer Special Education Department

Pioneer Preparatory currently houses a K-4 resource classroom and a 5 & 6 resource classroom providing level A and level B services to students with a variety of conditions.

Specialists serving our students with disabilities include special education certified teachers and paraprofessionals. The Special Services Department includes professionals who specialize in working with students who need related services. Pioneer Preparatory hires psychologists, speech-language pathologists, and occupational therapists through STEPS in order to support and meet our students’ needs.   

Students must meet eligibility requirements to enroll in a Special Education program.

The goal of Special Education is to help students become independent learners by teaching them strategies to prepare them for their regular classes. Ideally, this will prepare them for middle and high school and post-secondary education. This goal will be achieved through a partnership between the student, his or her home, and school. Pioneer Preparatory School offers resource services for students grades K-8. 

The Program for Exceptional Children is required to provide free, appropriate public education to eligible children in cooperation with parents and other agencies under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act. Each eligible student must have an Individual Education Plan (IEP), which is developed by a team composed of teachers and other qualified school personnel, parents or guardians, and the student, when appropriate. The IEP is revised when necessary and reviewed at least annually.

All students referred for Special Education Services must first go through the Teacher Support/Response To Intervention process. This means that strategies in the regular education setting must be considered and documented before referral to Special Education. Parents and guardians are encouraged to contact the school for more information if they suspect that their child has a disability.

Requirements for Destruction of Special Education Records

1. The retention period for special education records is “4 years after the fiscal year of final enrollment in the program” (Parents must be notified prior to the destruction of special education records). Pioneer’s internal practices are to retain sped records for 5 years after the fiscal year of final enrollment in the program.
2. SPED records are the only record series that require parental notification prior to destruction. This notification is a Federal requirement, per 34 CFR 300.624: Destruction of Information. Section 34 CFR 300.624: Destruction of Information reads as follows in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA – https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/f/300.624):

(a) The public agency must inform parents when personally identifiable information collected, maintained, or used under this part is no longer needed to provide educational services to the child.

(b) The information must be destroyed at the request of the parents. However, a permanent record of a student’s name, address, and phone number, his or her grades, attendance record, classes attended, grade level completed, and year completed may be maintained without limitation.

3. There is no formally approved method for the notification prior to the destruction of these records. Here are some best practice recommendations for parent notification of destruction of records:

• Make a Notice to Destroy part of the enrollment process in the program.
•  It is also recommended to do one of the following
  • Mail out a Notice to Destroy to every parent prior to the destruction
  • Advertise in a recognized newspaper
  • Place a Notice to Destroy on your website
  • Place a Notice to Destroy in your Newsletter

SAMPLE NOTICE TO DESTROY SPECIAL EDUCATION RECORDS

Dear Parents / Guardians,

Federal and state laws require that parents/guardians of children who receive special education services on an IEP be notified when their special education records will be disposed of. Pioneer Preparatory School disposes of special education records for students receiving services 5 years after promotion from 6th grade. If your child exits special education services before 6th grade, their records will be disposed of 5 years after they have exited from our special education program.

This notice is to inform you that if your child was receiving special education services on an IEP as a 6th grader in the 2016-2017 school year or before and was promoted from the school, we will be disposing of their special education records. Also, if your child exited from receiving special education services in the 2016-2017 school year, and they were not in 6th grade, we will also be disposing of those records. We will begin the disposal of these records on October 1, 2022.

If you have any questions and wish to get copies of your child’s special education records before they are disposed of, please contact us at 623-933-3733.

Respectfully,

Jackie Sibley
Director of Special Education Services
Pioneer Preparatory School

Child Find

Child Find is a component of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA ’04) that requires Public Education Agencies (PEA) to locate, identify, and evaluate all children with disabilities, aged from birth through 21, located within their boundaries of responsibility, who are in need of early intervention or special education services.

Charter Schools will identify, locate, and evaluate all children with disabilities within the population they serve who are in need of special education and related services.

We are responsible for identifying, locating, and referring all children with disabilities including children aged 2.9 through 21 and from birth through 2.9 years of age to Arizona Early Intervention Program (AzEIP) for evaluation and appropriate services.

If you have an infant birth to 2 years 9 months of age who appears to have developmental delays, please contact Arizona Early Intervention Programs (AzEIP) at (602) 253-1620 to learn about services available for younger children with disabilities. You can also go to https://des.az.gov/azeip for more information.

We are also responsible for providing a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) for children in grades K-12, which includes special education and related services to children with disabilities at public expense, under public supervision and direction and without charge to parents.

If you know of a child residing within the community who is disabled, regardless of the severity of the disability, and who is in need of special education and/or related services, please contact our Special Education Director at (623) 933-3733. 

Child Find – Special Education Director – (623) 933-3733

45-day Screening of School-Aged Children

All kindergarten and other new students will be screened within 45 days of enrollment using the 45-day Screening Form, which is available at all district schools. Teacher data is collected for a period of 45 days, and the screener is completed on or after the 45th calendar day of the date the student enters school, but not before. The screening will be conducted to identify possible problems in the areas of vision, hearing, academic skills, cognitive development, psychomotor skills, communication, and social-emotional development. The screening will not be needed if records from a previous school indicate that the student has already been screened. If screening results indicate a possible concern, the student will be referred to the school’s grade level team or child study team to engage in a problem-solving process and initiate interventions.

Extended School Year (ESY)

Definition

ESY means additional special education and related services for pupils with disabilities to supplement the normal school year. These services are provided as part of a free appropriate public education (FAPE) and documented on the student’s IEP.

Issues

Students with disabilities are not required to attend ESY.

ESY is not a daycare or respite service for pupils with disabilities; a summer recreation program; or a program to maximize the academic potential of pupils with disabilities.

Requirements

Schools are required to provide ESY for pupils with disabilities when such a program is necessary to: 

• Prevent irreparable harm to the pupil’s ability to maintain identified skills or behaviors. 
• Accommodate critical learning periods for pupils who are unlikely to receive another opportunity to learn or generalize skills or behaviors.

Schools should develop ESY criteria in the following areas:

• Regression-recoupment factors
• Critical learning stages
• Least restrictive environments (LRE) considerations
• Teacher and parent interview and observations
• Data-based observation of the pupils
• Consideration of the pupil’s previous history
• Parental skills and abilities

Example

The School would compare pre/post testing after every break in instruction (winter, summer, spring breaks) to decide whether the student has regressed too far to recoup the skills learned during the previous instruction period on specific skills designated as “essential skills” on the IEP.

Schools may not use the students’ categorical eligibility as a determining factor.

The School should review previous IEP’s to determine if the student has a history of eligibility for ESY and interview the parents and consider whether the student might succeed in a less restrictive environment, if ESY was provided to the student the prior summer.

Section 504

Definition:

Section 504 is a civil rights law passed in 1973, which prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities including employees, students, and parents. It requires that School Districts do not discriminate in their employment practices; that buildings be accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); and that students with disabilities who are not eligible for special education be provided with reasonable accommodations in their regular education program.

Disability:
Section 504 protects all qualified individuals defined as having any physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. Major life activities include: walking, seeing, breathing, working, taking care of oneself, and learning.