On Feb. 3, the Ohio Department of Education’s (ODE) Office for Exceptional Children released a memo providing guidance for school districts in serving students with disabilities who are confined to community corrections facilities (CCF) and juvenile detention centers (JDC). Students with disabilities must be provided a free appropriate public education (FAPE). This requirement includes students with disabilities residing in CCFs and JDCs, and the responsibility for providing FAPE to such students falls on the student’s district of residence.
ODE’s memo notes that while the district of residence bears the responsibility to provide FAPE to such students, the school district where the facility is located usually provides special education and related services and charges costs of those services to the district of residence. The district of residence also maintains responsibility for child find policies and procedures, and must evaluate any student where there is suspicion of a disability and need for special education and related services. The evaluation requirements remain even if the student will not be in the facility long enough for such evaluation to be completed. The memo also discusses transfer of student records and regular review of school district policies and procedures on providing FAPE in a timely and appropriate manner to all students with disabilities.
More ODE resources on this topic are available here.
Providing FAPE to students in JDCs and other unique situations is just one of the many topics that will be covered at OSBA’s 2016 Special Education Law Workshop. The workshop will be held at OSBA offices on March 4. If you’re interested in attending, you can register online at Special Education Law Workshop or by contacting Laurie Miller at lmiller@ohioschoolboards.org. This program has been approved by the Supreme Court of Ohio Commission on Continuing Legal Education for 4.75 hours of CLE Credit.