Social Worker Cheat Sheet.pdf - CFN201SpEd

Social Worker
Social workers can view portions of their students’ online records according to their access privileges. They can
create, edit, and finalize those documents for which they are responsible.
Social workers will manage the social history process in SESIS, starting with scheduling the meeting and preparing
the documentation, meeting with the parents, and conducting the Social History Evaluation after the parent consents
to the Initial Evaluation. Social workers also play a key role as the primary contact between the school staff
members and the parents. Given this crucial role, social workers are given access to all areas of the student’s online
record so that they can clearly communicate the special education process with each student’s family.
It is important to note that SESIS provides social workers with standard homepage reports that will display students
who are associated with the same school as the social worker and a caseload feature that will display students who
have been assigned to the social worker as a result of redeployment or per session.
1 Reports
Social workers have access to the each of the reports listed below. Each report provides a view of critical
information to provide social workers with the information necessary to communicate with each student’s family.
Additionally, all SESIS users have access to the ad-hoc reporting feature to create personalized reports. For more
information on ad-hoc reports, please see the Reporting training module on the SESIS website,
https://portal.nycenet.edu/sesis.
Referral
Requests for Initial Referrals Awaiting Approval
Requests for Additional Reevaluation Awaiting Approval
Status of Initial Referrals
Status of Requested Reevaluations
Status of Mandated Three-Year Reevaluations
Evaluation
Evaluations to be Completed
Request for Assistance
IEP
IEPs not Complete by IEP Meeting Date
Status of Annual Reviews
Mandated Members to be Excused
Other
Students Discharged from ATS Needing Follow-Up
Status of Students – Parent Revocation
Management Report from Referral Through IEP
2 Processes to Manage
2.1 Parent Outreach
Create / Send Notice of Referrals
SESIS provides a “bulk print report” option for each referral notice including, but not limited to: Notice of Referral:
Initial for Initial Referrals, Notice of Request for Initial Referral for disapproved Requests for Initial Referrals, and
Notices for Requested Reevaluations, Annual Reviews, and Mandated Three-Year Reevaluations.

Schedule Meetings
Social Worker
The Notice of Social History and Notice of IEP Meeting must be created in SESIS. By clicking the Send/Print Letter
link, social workers can record the sending of the letter in the student’s event log. Notices and letters to parents
should be finalized prior to clicking the Send/Print Letter link.
DOE policy indicates that meetings should be scheduled at least 7 days in advance. However, if a meeting should
occur within 7 days from the date of the notice, the social worker must record an event in the event log with the
response type, “Parent agreed to schedule an earlier date for the Social History meeting” and indicate the date and
time that he or she communicated with the parent. Once this event is recorded, the system will set the “Parent
agreed to schedule an earlier date” checkbox on the Notice of Social History to “Yes.”
Other Outreach Attempts
Any parental outreach attempt, whether there is a response or not, should be recorded in the SESIS event log.
2.2 Request Referrals
Social workers may submit Requests for Initial Referrals, Requests for Reevaluations, and Requests for Additional
Reevaluations in the Same School Year in SESIS. Once a professional staff member submits the Request for Initial
Referral or Additional Reevaluation in the Same School Year for review, SESIS will post the request on a report on
the principal or CSE chairperson’s home page for approval. The first Request for Reevaluation made by a school
staff member does not require a principal or CSE chairperson’s approval. SESIS also provides reports for social
workers to monitor their students’ Annual Reviews and Mandated Three-Year Reevaluations.
In some cases, the student’s SESIS record may need to be reactivated if the student was previously known as a
special education student before proceeding further with any SESIS transactions. To reactivate a student, simply
locate the function in the student’s action toolbar.
2.3 Social History Process
Meeting
SESIS provides the Social History Package to assist in preparing for the social history meeting. The package
includes all of the documents necessary for the social history meeting. Each document completed by the parent or
guardian, such as the Consent for Initial Evaluation or the Request for Release of Record, must be faxed into SESIS
using the appropriate fax coversheet.
Evaluation
After entering parental consent into SESIS, the social worker will conduct the social history evaluation. The first
section of the Social History Evaluation report contains demographic information that requires verification. Any
changes to this demographic information must be entered into ATS for public school students. The social worker
must finalize the evaluation in order for SESIS to populate the Assessment Planning document with the evaluator’s
name and assessment completion date. Other evaluations that the social worker may be asked to complete are:
Classroom Observation, Functional Behavior Assessment, Level I Vocational – Student, Parent/Guardian or
Teacher Assessment. These assessment templates can be accessed from the Create New Document menu within the
student’s online records document repository.
2.4 IEP
A draft IEP can be developed prior to the IEP meeting. The social worker has access to all sections of the IEP to
develop the draft for students on his or her caseload. Subsequent to the IEP meeting, the case manager is
responsible for finalizing the student’s IEP and for faxing the signed Attendance Sheet into SESIS.

2.5 Document Management
Social Worker
When the social worker needs to access or process pertinent written communications or electronic files regarding the
student, the social worker must use the SESIS document management system. The SESIS document management
system allows users to both fax paper documents and upload electronic documents into SESIS. These documents
will become part of the student’s online record in the existing documents list and in the document repository, which
only displays faxed and uploaded documents. For more information on faxing and uploading documents, please see
the Faxing & Uploading Documents section of the Navigation Basics module on the SESIS website,
https://portal.nycenet.edu/sesis.
Faxing Documents
Social workers will need to create a coversheet in order to fax documentation into SESIS. When faxing documents,
SESIS will prompt the user to enter information needed as part of the student’s online record. The SESIS fax
number, (877) 449-8416, is printed at the top of the coversheet and users can e-mail
SESISDocumentControl@schools.nyc.gov for questions and support.
2.6 Closing a Case
A case closing document will be created each time a student’s case needs to be closed. SESIS will provide a variety
of message prompts and guided actions to direct the case manager of next steps depending upon the selected case
closing reason. As an example, if the case manager chooses “parent revocation of consent”, SESIS will prompt the
case manager to fax in the parent’s written revocation of consent. As with any document, the case closing document
is incomplete until it is finalized.
3 Training Modules
Social Workers should view the following computer-based training modules:
Navigation Basics Module (all sections and topics)
Social History Module (all sections and topics)
Evaluation Module
Evaluation Section (School-based Staff)
Reporting Module (all sections and topics)
Topic 2: Creating and Finalizing Evaluation Reports
Communications and Calendaring Module (all sections and topics)