State questions SAD 45’s special ed program
WASHBURN, Maine — The Maine Department of Education has found numerous flaws with how SAD 45 handles its special education program, which is referred to locally as the Day Treatment Program. Following the department’s review of special education documents and a site visit Oct. 17, 2014, several issues of non-compliant policies, practices or procedures were identified.
Among the issues pointed out to Superintendent Ed Buckley by Janice Breton, director of special services for the Maine DOE, included:
• Failure to consider the Least Restrictive Environment for children with disabilities and to consider a continuum of services when placing a child with a disability in a more restrictive setting.
• Failure to follow required procedures for determining eligibility of a child with a disability prior to placing a child in a restrictive special education setting.
• Failure to ensure that all personnel delivering instruction to students are qualified as either special education teachers, or educational technicians I, II or III.
• Failure to provide the necessary administrative supervision and guidance to educational technicians and behavioral health professions.
• Failure to develop self-contained classrooms that meet the individualized needs of children with disabilities.
In Breton’s Dec. 22, 2014 letter to Buckley, she states that the district “shall conduct in-service training on the following topics for all district special education teachers and related service providers, to be completed no later than March 30, 2015”:
• The requirements to consider when determining the Least Restrictive Environment for identified children with the most severe needs.
• The makeup of a contained classroom and the protocol for placing students in that classroom.
• Following Maine Unified Special Education Regulation (MUSER) guidelines for referral of a student to special education.
• Following MUSER guidelines for determining eligibility of a child with a disability, and the adverse effect the disability has in the learning environment.
• The individualized education program (IEP) process and responsibilities of the special education teacher, and related service providers.
• The qualifications and role of the educational technicians I, II and III.
• How to write a compliant IEP for students placed in the most restrictive setting.
To assist in the process, Breton wrote, SAD 45 “will receive targeted technical assistance from the Maine DOE, and the state will identify personnel to conduct the training, and document compliance with the elements of the Corrective Action Plan (CAP).”
Compliance with the CAP must be demonstrated by submitting to the department a copy of the syllabus of the CAP training; copies of all handouts distributed in connection with the training; and a list of the names and job titles of all those who attended the training.
Once the training is completed, SAD 45 will proceed to conduct various corrective activities including:
• Identify and outline the continuum of services that SAD 45 has to consider when placing a child in the least restrictive setting.
• Review all students in the “Day Treatment” program and for compliance with the MUSER, in consultation with the district-identified training provider(s).
• Review all staff credentials and certifications with the district-identified training provider(s), and report to the Maine DOE what actions will be taken for staff not certified or not meeting the placement requirements based on level of certification.
• Submit a schedule of annual/triennial meetings for students in the “Day Treatment” program to the district-identified training provider(s), and determine the administration oversight to be implemented for the students in the “Day Treatment” program for the remainder of the 2014-15 school year.
Buckley declined to comment on the DOE’s findings except to say, “A lot of things are still up in the air. We really can’t comment on that at the time because nothing is definite.”
The deadline for a formal response from SAD 45, according to Breton, has passed.
