Special Education

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Special Education

Special Education

The West Mifflin Area School District is proud of the special education program and services we provide our students with exceptionalities. The District operates all of our special education classes while some services are provided through collaboration with the Allegheny Intermediate Unit. The District has always operated on the belief that exceptional students should be educated within the District whenever possible. We provide programming for students with various needs and exceptionalities.

Support Services include, but are not limited to the following:

Autistic Support
Learning Support
Life Skills Support
Physical Support
Emotional Support
Gifted Support
Speech/Language Support
Hearing Support
Occupational Therapy
Physical Therapy
Vision Support
Multi-disability Support

WMASD provides special education services to approximately 687 students. The District maintains working relationships with a variety of community agencies to ensure collaborative efforts of developing individualized and appropriate programming for students. The WMASD frequently contracts with the Allegheny Intermediate Unit and various private schools to assist with providing educational services to students who may present more extensive needs. This includes hearing and visually impaired services.

Notification of Rights Under FERPA for Elementary and Secondary Students

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords parents and students over 18 years of age (“eligible students”) certain rights with respect to the student’s educational records. These rights are:

(1) The right to inspect and review the student’s education records within 45 days of the day the School receives a request for access. Parents or eligible students should submit to the School principal (or appropriate school official) a written request that identifies the record(s) they wish to inspect. The School official will make arrangements for access and notify the parent or eligible student of the time and place where the records may be inspected.

(2) The right to request the amendment of the student’s education records that the parent or eligible student believes are inaccurate, misleading or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy rights under FERPA. Parents or eligible students who wish to ask the School to amend a record should write the School principal (or appropriate school official), clearly identify the part of the record they want changed, and specify why it should be changed. If the School decides not to amend the record as requested by the parent or eligible student, the School will notify the parent or eligible student of the decision and advise them of their right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the parent or eligible student when notified of the right to a hearing.

(3) The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student’s education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent. One exception, which permits disclosure without consent, is disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests. A school official is a person employed by the School as an administrator, supervisor, instructor, or support staff member (including health or medical staff and law enforcement unit personnel); a person serving on the School Board; a person or company with whom the School has contracted as its agent to provide a service instead of using its own employees or officials (such as an attorney, auditor, medical consultant, or therapist); or a parent or student serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee, or assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks. A school official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibility. Upon request, the School discloses education records without consent to officials of another school district in which a student seeks or intends to enroll.

(NOTE: FERPA requires a school district to make a reasonable attempt to notify the parent or student of the records request unless it states in its annual notification that it intends to forward records on request.)

(4) The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the School District to comply with the requirements of FERPA.

The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA are:

                Family Policy Compliance Office
                U.S. Department of Education
                400 Maryland Avenue, SW
                Washington, DC 20202-5920

Staff

Karen McClain
Special Education Administrative
Assistant Secretary
mcclaink@wmasd.org

Leah Sylvis
Director of Pupil Services
sylvisl@wmasd.org

Mrs. Rachel Flinner
School Psychologist
flinnerr@wmasd.org

Helpful Links

SPECIAL EDUCATION
1. IDEA: Federal Regulations
https://sites.ed.gov/idea/statuteregulations/

2. Office of Intellectual Disabilities (OID) Fact Sheet
https://www.alleghenycounty.us/Human-Services/Resources/Publications/Resource-Guides/OID-Fact-Sheets.aspx

3. Group & Service Related Resource Guides
https://www.alleghenycounty.us/Human-Services/Resources/Publications/Resource-Guides.aspx

4. Chapter 14 Regulations
https://www.disabilityrightspa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Chapter14adn15SpecialEdComparisonOfRightsMARCH2018-1.pdf

GIFTED SUPPORT
1. Chapter 16 Regulations:
https://www.education.pa.gov/Documents/K-12/Gifted%20Education/Gifted%20Program%20Guidelines.pdf

504 SUPPORT
1. Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act:
https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/504faq.html

2. Chapter 15 Regulations:
https://www.pattan.net/getmedia/fb622ac4-7091-4114-87c9-e625d441b776/TDR5_2_Chpt15_504_415