Week_6_Activities

=Week 6 Activities=

Special Education (Whole Group)
The IDEA not only requires that school systems provide disabled students with a free appropriate public education (FAPE) but it also sets forth a number of procedural requirements, which, if not followed, may lead to the school system being required to fund a parent’s decision to unilaterally place a child in a private school. Not every procedural violation will lead to public funding, but if the violation interferes with the student’s right to a FAPE, an Administrative Law Judge in a Due Process Hearing or a Judge on appeal to the Court, may order public funding for a unilateral placement made by the parent(s). When problems arise, it is important to review not only the substantive decisions made by the IEP or MDT Team, but also the procedural aspects to determine whether a violation of the IDEA may be proven by the parent(s). === || **Case Study: The Unsatisfied Parent** You are the director of Special Education for your school system. School starts in a week and you receive a letter from a parent stating the following: “After I have participated in several IEP meetings at my son’s school, I still do not have an appropriate placement for him. Not only is the placement unacceptable, there have been so many violations of the IDEA, I cannot count them. (If you want a list, I would be happy to supply it.) In light of the fact that the school has failed to provide my son with a free appropriate public education, as required by the IDEA, I have no other choice but to enroll him in the Private Special Education School. As required by law, I fully expect you to provide the funds necessary for his tuition. Please contact me immediately regarding the funding for this placement. If I do not hear from you, I will contact my lawyer and he will request a Due Process Hearing.” **Discussion Questions:** * //What legal issues do you see?//
 * 1) Read the following case study about special education and develop a response to the discussion questions provided.
 * 2) Post your response to the questions in the whole group discussion forum, **Week 6: Special Education**.
 * 3) Actively participate in this discussion throughout the week, and contribute at least two additional substantive postings.
 * //What issues will you ask the school to clarify for you?//
 * //What procedural issues should you investigate?//
 * //Under what circumstances will you agree to voluntarily fund the student's placement at a private school?//

Please remember to post the public URL in the team thread if you used a non-ELC tool to complete the activity.


 * Introduction**

In this activity, each team will review and summarize a case study involving special education and present the case findings to the whole group. 1. Your team has been assigned a case study from the Reutter textbook, as noted below. Locate and carefully read your assigned case. Page numbers are provided in the Reading section.|| **Team's Assigned Cases**


 * **Team A:** Board of Education of the Hendrick Hudson Central School District v. Rowley


 * **Team B:** Cedar Rapids Community School District v. Garret F.


 * **Team C:** Honig v. Doe


 * **Team D:** Schaffer Ex Rel. Schaffer v. Weast ||

2. This week's team facilitator should create a new thread titled, **Week 6: Judicial Review.** The facilitator can decide how to best discuss and organize the work on the case. 3. As a team, develop a summary of your assigned case to share with the class. Use the document, **How to Write a Legal Summary** as a guide. You should also include questions you still have about the case study and any additional comments, including challenges your team faced in responding to the case study. 4. By midnight, Saturday, the Reporter should post the team’s responses as a new, clearly labeled thread in the **Week 6: Team Judicial Review Presentations** discussion forum. If you used a non-ELC tool such as Google Doc, please be sure to provide a public link.

5. By the end of the week, review the summaries posted by the other teams. Post a response to each team's summary, by providing feedback to teams, asking questions, or responding to questions posed by the instructor.

Planning PD for a Legal Issue Assignment (Individual)
This week you will complete your professional developent plan of a legal issue around technology and education.
 * Assignment Due**


 * Directions**
 * 1) Review the **Planning PD for a Legal Issue Assignment Directions and Scoring guidelines** so you know how you will be graded.


 * 1) Submit all components of the assignment to your **Individual Discussion Forum** by the end of Week 6.

 Last week, you submitted a draft of your Superintendent’s Memorandum to your team forum. This week, you will review and provide feedback to each of your teammates to assist them in improving their memoranda.
 * Peer Feedback Due in Team Forum**


 * 1) Review the memoradum drafts submitted by each team member. As you review it, be mindful of the following requirements and scoring guidelines:
 * Teammate assumed the role of a superintendent and consistently wrote using the appropriate voice and neutral tone.
 * The memorandum is clearly written for the targeted audience: administrators, teachers, parents, students, and community members.
 * The legal issue is clearly and succinctly described along with how the issue affects the school/community environment.
 * The significance of the two legal cases researched, plus at least three facts from legal summaries, are presented in order to support the issue.
 * Personal reaction to the legal issue is included.


 * 1) Re-read the memorandum drafts of each team member and respond with feedback based on the following questions:
 * //How accurately and effectively has your teammate addressed the legal issue in the memorandum?//
 * //What is at least one area of improvement that you would suggest to your teammate?//
 * //Did your teammate fulfill all requirements as outlined in the scoring tool?//
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'trebuchet ms',arial,helvetica;">//To what extent is the information presented in a format that is easy to follow, appealing, and informative?//
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'trebuchet ms',arial,helvetica;">//What is one thing that you learned from reading your peer’s Superintendent’s Memorandum?// //As a school administrator, how might this information be useful to you?//


 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'trebuchet ms',arial,helvetica;">Your feedback is due to each team member by the end of this week.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'trebuchet ms',arial,helvetica;">As you review your teammates’ memoranda, what commonalities do you see in approaches to the legal issues, as well as the format and tone of the memoranda?