For access to the Google document, click here.
Policy IHBGB
If you are a parent of a child with disabilities, or suspect that your child may have a disability that is covered by state or federal special education laws, and your child is in a private school or an approved home schooling program, you have the following rights:
A parent/guardian has the right to have his/her child located, identified and evaluated by the South Portland School Department as a possible special education student, including referral of the student to a Pupil Evaluation Team (PET) to determine whether the student qualifies as a special education student. The South Portland School Department Child Find and referral obligations toward the student while he/she is in a private school/home school program are the same as for students enrolled in South Portland public schools.
Students with disabilities enrolled in private schools or in home schooling programs do not have an individual right to special education and related services while enrolled in the private school or home schooling program.
The South Portland School Department has an obligation to consult with representatives of private school and home schooling students with disabilities on how to carry out the South Portland School Department’s duty to locate, identify and evaluate all private school/home schooling students with disabilities and also to consult in a timely way on:
Which students will receive services;
What services will be provided;
How and where the services will be provided; and
How the services will be evaluated.
The South Portland School Department has a duty to expend on the pool of identified private school/home schooling students with disabilities an amount that is at least the proportion of the district’s grant under §1411 (g) of the IDEA as the number of school age private school/home schooled students with disabilities in South Portland is to the total number of school age students with disabilities in South Portland.
South Portland School Department shall make the final decisions with respect to the services to be provided to eligible private school/home schooling students with disabilities.
For any private school/home schooling student with a disability that the South Portland School Department decides that it will provide services, the South Portland School Department shall initiate and conduct a meeting of the PET to develop, review and revise a services plan detailing the special education and related services to be provided and including goals for measuring the outcome of such services. To the extent appropriate, the Team shall develop the services plan in a manner consistent with development of an Individualized Education Program.
Parents may file a complaint with the Maine Department of Education, Division of Special Services (287-5950) alleging that the South Portland School Department has failed to comply with any of its obligations toward private school/home schooling students. Parents have a right to a due process hearing from the Maine Department of Education only on issues relating to the South Portland School Department duty to locate, identify and evaluate all private school/home schooling students with disabilities.
As a resident of South Portland, the parent/guardian has a right to enroll his/her child in the local public school. If at any time the parent chooses to do so and his/her child is a student with a disability, the PET will meet to review and/or develop an IEP for implementation upon enrollment of the child in public school. If the child is enrolled in public school, the parent/guardian and his/her child are entitled to all the rights set forth in the South Portland School Department’s attached special education Statement of Rights.
If a parent would like a complete copy of the state and federal regulations addressing the duties of the South Portland School Department toward private school/home schooling students with disabilities, he or she should contact the special education office at the South Portland School Department or the Maine Department of Education, Division of Special Services (287-5950). If a parent has any concerns about his/her child, written concerns should be addressed to:
Director of Special Education
South Portland School Department
120 Wescott Road
South Portland, Maine 04106
A parent may also telephone the Office of Special Education at 871-0555.
Questions may also be addressed to the Maine Department of Education, Division of Special Services, at 287-5950.
Legal Reference: 20 USC § 1412(a)(10)
34 CFR § 300.450-.462 (March 1999)
Me. Dept. of Ed. Reg. ch. 101 § 4.7 (Nov. 1999)
Adopted: July 8, 2002
*Please excuse any formatting errors.
