Marnie: Our local public school district (in Ohio), excludes special education students from it’s 5-day-a-week, integrated preschool program for four year olds. Students with IEPs are instructed to attend only 4 days a week, while the typical students attend all 5 days. I am trying to find how/where this is legal before requesting that my son be able to attend all 5 days with his “typical” peers, even if I have to pay tuition for the extra day. Any thoughts on where to begin?
My son is going through something similar and we have hired an advocate. He is currently on an IEP for speech and they are denying him a spot in a preschool cassroom in the district. They told us he does not have enough of a disability and are requiring us to bring him for 30 min of speech per week. When I brought up that that wasn’t enough and needed to provide him with FAPE in his LRE they offered having him go in two days a week for one hour and get time in a classroom. He is 5 years old, this is not appropriate. Does anyone have any advice or something similar happen?
I suggest contacting your state parent training and information project. They will be familiar with your state rules dealing with this situation. http://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center/
My son attends the same preschool as Marnie’s. In a recent meeting with the director I was told my son could attend on Fridays but without his IEP and at the same cost as a typical student pays per day. Can they have him on an IEP Monday-Thursday and take him off it on Fridays?
I have an email from another teacher about how Curriculum on Fridays is different. They are kindergarten prep and reading prep days. How can I encourage them to do kindergarten prep and reading prep to the IEP kids earlier in the week, too, since they don’t seem to want to make Fridays available to everyone?
Such a practice, procedure is not legal. The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) is a anti-discrimination law, & requires equal access. If each student’s individual needs are not being looked at, it is discriminatory against students with disabilities. Paying tuition for one day would also be discriminatory, unless all families were paying it.