2007-08 Calendar and Parent Handbook - Quakertown Community ...

PROGRAMS FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN
The Quakertown Community School District provides
exceptional students with free, appropriate, public educational
programs and services, as determined by the child’s Individual
Educational Program (IEP). Students receive instruction in
programs operated by either the district or the Bucks County
Intermediate Unit #22. Some severely disabled students attend
Approved Private Schools because they cannot be educated in a
less restrictive setting.
Special classes are Learning Support, Life Skills Support,
Emotional Support, Physical Support, Autistic Support, Multihandicapped
Support, Speech and Language Support, Visually
Impaired Support, Hearing Impaired Support, and Gifted Support.
Preschool handicapped children are eligible for supportive
programs and services from the Intermediate Unit, and
their parents are encouraged to contact the Intermediate Unit at
215/348-2940.
Homebound instruction is available to students for up to five
hours per week as a temporary educational program due to
physical or emotional incapacity. Further information about
homebound instruction may be obtained from the school’s
guidance counselor or principal.
For more information about special education services,
parents may contact Ms. Doris Martin, Supervisor of Special
Education, at 215/529-2007.
CHILD FIND ACTIVITIES
AND INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT TEAMS (IST)
An instructional support team is a group of educators who
meet to discuss a child’s learning and adjustment to school for
the purpose of deciding upon appropriate intervention strategies. In
addition to the child’s classroom teachers, the team may include
the guidance counselor, principal, nurse, school psychologist,
speech therapist, adapted physical education teacher, and instructional
support teacher. Any parent may request an IST or child
study team-screening meeting, at any time, by contacting the
child’s principal. Consideration for special education programs and
services emerge from a multidisciplinaryteam (MDT) approach,
including the student’s parents as valuable team members.
Teachers or parents may initiate an MDT by contacting the building
principal. Each building has an appropriate form to facilitate a
parental request for evaluation.
Screening activities are ongoing and include reviews of functional
vision, hearing, speech, and language. Screenings are
conducted during the school day, as appropriate, at various times
during the school year. Parents are advised concerning the results
of screening and are asked for written permission before the more
formal MDT process may begin. Once permission is obtained, the
multidisciplinary evaluation must be completed within 45 school
days. The purpose of identification activities is that each child will
receive appropriate and meaningful educational benefit in the least
Pupil Services
restrictive setting. Parents are encouraged to submit comments or
suggestions for improving the Child Find process to the Assistant
Superintendent for Secondary Education/Pupil Services.
PROTECTED HANDICAPPED STUDENTS
The Quakertown Community School District does not
discriminate against otherwise qualified handicapped students
who have physical, mental, or health impairments which
substantially limit equal success to the school program. Section 504 of
the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 guarantees equal opportunities for
participation in school programs and activities. If parents believe that
their child may quality as a protected handicapped student, whether or
not the child is enrolled in a special education class, the parents may
request an evaluation or may request accommodations by contacting
the student’s building principal. A Parent Request for Evaluation form
is available to facilitate parental requests.
PUPIL RECORDS
The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a
federal law that protects the confidentiality of student records. Parents
and students have the right to inspect, review, and obtain copies of
their educational records within a reasonable period of time. Parents
may initiate requests by contacting the student’s building principal.
No individual or agency outside those listed in School Board Policy
shall be permitted to have access to the records without written
permission from the parent or student. Information that is labeled
“directory information” by a school district is excluded from FERPA’s
protection and may be released without permission. In this district, the
directory information that is released consists of student names,
addresses, date and place of birth, major field of study, participation in
recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic
teams, date of attendance, last grade completed, honor roll designation,
and awards received. Directory information is collected for
the purpose of updating school records, sports programs and the like,
including release of seniors’ names to recruitment officers of the
armed services.
IF YOU DO NOT WANT SOME OR ALL OF THIS INFORMATION
ABOUT YOUR CHILD RELEASED, YOU MAY PREVENT ITS DISCLOSURE
BY CONTACTING THE BUILDING PRINCIPAL BY SEPTEMBER 30.
Parents may contact the building principal or the Assistant
Superintendent for Secondary Education/Pupil Services at 215/529-
2013 for further information about the district’s records policy. Parents
may wish to know the types of information collected, especially as the
policy applies to multidisciplinary, psychological and psychiatric
reports, and procedures for the amendment or destruction of records.
INTERIM REPORTS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Interim reports are issued at the mid-point of each marking period
to inform parents of failing grades or work of substandard quality.
STUDENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SAP)
This program offers a team approach to the identification,
intervention, and referral of those students who are “at risk” of
losing their quality of life and/or education because of selfdestructive
behavior patterns which may or may not be tied to
chemical use or mental health conditions.
A team consisting of district and building level administrators,
school counselors, nurses, and teachers operates as a helping
mechanism in conjunction with the discipline system in the senior
high school and each of the middle schools.
HEALTH SERVICES
School nurses in Quakertown public schools provide health
services to all students.
Medical examinations are required for each student upon entry to
school and in grades 6 and 11.
Dental examinations are required upon entry to school and in
grades 3 and 7.
Scoliosis screenings are required in grade seven. Students may be
exempted, upon parent request.
Parents who wish their child to be excused from annual vision,
hearing, height and weight screenings should contact the school
nurse.
When it is necessary for a child to take a prescribed medicine in
school, the following policy is adhered to: prescription drugs must
be in a duly marked prescription container with the child’s name on
it. Written instructions, signed by a parent or guardian, must
accompany this medicine. The school nurse or building
principal must be informed of such medication requirements.
FOOD SERVICES
The QCSD Food Service Department participates in the National
School Lunch Program. Program requirements include lunches meet
one-third of the daily nutritional needs of the school age children and
implementation of free and reduced price lunch benefits.
Student lunches offer a variety of nutritional and appealing
food selections. Lunch prices are set to cover the expense of these
selections. Elementary student lunch is $1.70. Secondary lunches
have tiered pricing, dependent upon food selections; the prices are
$1.90, $2.40, and $2.70
All schools, except Haycock, have point of sale (POS) systems.
POS allows students to establish cash accounts to access for the purchase
of lunches. Students deposit money into their account and draw
from that account using their personal identification number (PIN).
Please contact the district Food Service Office for additional
information on the QCSD Food Service Program.