January 22, 2021
Dear Special Education Families,
Happy New Year! It is so hard to believe that Annual Review meetings are around the corner and that we are already beginning our planning process for the 2021-22 school year. We have been working diligently in PPS to streamline our processes and procedures to ensure that our K-12 in-district annual review meetings go as smoothly as possible. As always, we seek to work collaboratively with you to ensure that your child’s programs and services are individualized and well thought out. Your input is greatly appreciated as our families offer valuable insight into each student’s needs.
In the interest of ensuring that our meetings are focused and productive, we are moving forward with the following:
Service providers and teachers will be contacting parents/guardians within two weeks of scheduled Annual Review meetings to discuss progress and potential recommendations. These pre-conferences will ensure that families come to the table with a full understanding of their child’s strengths and needs and will assist us in managing meeting duration. All final determination of services will be made by the CSE.
Annual Review meetings will be scheduled in 40 minute blocks of time. This will assist us in ensuring that our teachers and service providers are not pulled away from students for too great an amount of time. If a consensus cannot be reached within this allocated time frame, a follow-up meeting will be scheduled.
As related service providers (Speech, OT, PT, etc.) will be contacting you prior to your Annual Review to discuss progress and recommendations, their attendance will not be required at meetings. If there is an issue that requires their attendance, please let your case manager know and we will ensure attendance.
Extended School Year (ESY) services: ESY services are reserved for students who exhibit substantial skill regression over breaks in instruction and require an inordinate period of review or re-teaching to re-establish the attainment of goals. Classroom teachers and related service providers will be collecting regression data, which will be considered at annual review with regard to recommendation of ESY services.
Annual Review packets will be sent if there are new evaluations or documents to be reviewed, include any evaluations that need to be reviewed or new information. If you require a copy of your child’s IEP, please inform PPS and we will provide it.
An informational webinar is being held on February 2nd at 10 am to discuss these changes and respond to any questions. Please register for the webinar using this link. We are looking forward to the continued collaboration as we plan for your child’s future. Thank you so much for your support!
Sincerely,
Janine Villez Desiree Clemente