001Okay. Good evening. The November 13th, 2025 meeting and adoption of the agenda is called to order. Uh Mrs. Weber, please take roll call to establish a quorum. >> Member Kelly, >> present. Member Wesky >> present. >> Member Morgan >> present. >> President Perry >> present. >> Member Hills is unable to be here. >> Mr. Conlin, does staff have any changes to the agenda? >> No, there are not. >> Are there any requests for changes from board members? >> Are we having the people's comments at the end, not the beginning? >> Yes. >> Can we move that to the beginning so that people don't have to wait till the end of the day? So students don't have to wait till the end of the day so parents don't have to wait till the end of the
002day. >> I won't support that. >> And what's the what's the rationale? It's always been that way. >> Um I have a statement about it. >> We had to move it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> What happens with Robert's rules if there's a 22? >> Okay. Just want to >> Yeah. Thank you for asking. >> Thanks for asking. There was no motion. >> Can vote on it? >> Well, he would know if there should be a motion based on what would happen if it was a two to two vote. >> True. >> And my next motion is that we remove all of the action items concerning the bylaws since the superintendent isn't here and Mr. Hills isn't here. >> I also would not support that. Um, anybody else want to move all the governance off?
003>> The So, the um the issue I have with the bylaws and I I support moving off the governance discussion, these bylaws should be straightforward because none of them are issues outside of CSBA proposed edits. I do not think we should be having a governance meeting discussion. Um that that Scott Danforth is uh >> since I didn't get a second then I move that it's the governance stuff that I would like to basically remove from today's agenda. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed? Nay. N Okay. Do you have some more? >> I think those were two big ones that you just blew over, but that's okay. >> Well, I didn't just blow them over. I've talked to a lot of people and um spent hours on this. >> We are the people.
004We're the board members. >> Okay. >> You're here. We'll >> point. >> Okay. May I have a motion to adopt the agenda? Some >> moved. Second. Any discussion? >> I did. >> Yes. That's what I just said. She said we didn't get a second. >> Oh, I didn't hear you. Sorry. >> Oh, any discussion? All in favor? I >> like this. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> All opposed? Okay. Um, tonight we are going to have our special education services update. Mr. Mayberry, please introduce the presenters for tonight. >> Thank you, board president. Uh, this evening or this afternoon, our special education team will provide an update on the district's comprehensive special education services. Uh this presentation will focus on how we support our students ensuring full compliance with all legal mandates particularly individuals with
005a disabilities education act I better known as IDA uh and how these efforts directly align with our district's alkeep goals. Uh our special education staff uh works collaboratively to ensure every student receives a free appropriate public education and the least restrictive environment uh through commitment to individualized support, inclusive practices and equitable access for all students. Um, as many of you know, Irene White is currently on medical leave and her place, I'm pleased to invite up our interimm director of special education, Jennifer Moss. Uh, to provide an important update to the board. Miss Moss is a highly experienced, supportive leader who has worked alongside Miss White for the last year and including the summer um during this transition. She brings over two decades of professional experience in special education, having served in diverse roles, including teacher,
006psychologist, program specialist, district coordinator, administrator. I think I got all of it. Uh, so with that, I'll hand it off to Miss Moss and her team. >> Thank you so much, Dr. Mayberry, and good evening, President Perry and board members. And thank you for this opportunity to be able to share a little bit about myself and of course all of the work that we're doing in special education. Um, as well as some exciting updates that we're working on this year. Um, thank you Dr. Mayberry for the introduction. I did want to share just a little bit about myself prior to getting started. I do have uh 28 years experience in education, varying roles. Um of late I've been an administrator in special education for the last several years in neighboring districts and then last year
007came over to Laguna Beach Unified. Um I had the privilege of working alongside very closely with Irene White and really came to know very quickly um how special and unique Laguna Beach Unified School District is and the work that we do for our students in special education. Um, when I was asked to take on the role of interim director, Irene and I worked very, very closely together to ensure that we could really work to streamline the transition for our students and families. Um, really working to build that trust and relationships with our students, our staff, and our families to ensure that we could continue the work, ongoing work, and always continue to improve our practices as well. So, looking forward to sharing all of our updates. I want to give a really quick highlight out
008to all of our special education staff as well. They truly are the core of the work that we do here in Laguna Beach for our students. From our education specialists to our instructional aids, our school psychologists, all of our related service providers. They are phenomenal experts and passionate about our students and it's a privilege to work with all of them. We're going to start this evening by just doing a general overview of um like Dr. Mayberry said those key laws governing our practices, legal requirements, uh service delivery models. I will go into a little bit more detail about that. our service delivery models here in the district as well as outside of district programming. Uh we'll review the function of our SULPA, our special education local plan area, as well as processes to support families
009in navigating any problems or disagreements that may arise. And then we're going to focus on some of our department highlights, our programming, as well as future planning. Um so um under special education we are governed by federal laws and California state laws and of course the Individuals with Disability Act IDA really drives the work that we do. It's our obligation to provide all of our students in public agency a free and appropriate public a excuse me education in the least restrictive environment. We serve preschool through age 22. Um and we work really intensely to develop very individualized education programs for our students. Uh we are continuously evaluating least restrictive environments for our student on an ongoing basis to ensure that um we're meeting all of their needs. Um procedural safeguards are also uh provided to
010families to ensure that they have guidance on how to navigate and understand the processes of special education. Um we know our goal is to continuously partner and collaborate with our families. We know that as those relationships are strong and trust is built, then outcomes for our students can be stronger. What drives that work is those legal requirements we're referring to under IDA. Uh the primary legal requirement is our obligation for child find. Child find is the legal requirement under IDA to identify, locate, and evaluate all students who may have a disability to ensure that no child is left unidentified or underserved within our district. uh search and serve is our obligation for that active outreach process. We have a very robust MTS uh processes here in Laguna Beach. So being able to provide the opportunity
011for a referral system to ensure that we're capturing all students that may be eligible or appropriate to refer to an assessment. So we work rigorously to ensure that we capture all students. Assessment referrals may come from teachers, families, a student study team. Um we then determine if a student is eligible by assessing and then we uh evaluate the student, eligibleize them and provide individualized education plans which then lends itself to determining appropriate educational settings. We here in Lagona offer a continuum of service for our students as well as outside programming with in combination with our SULPA as well as um surrounding neighboring districts as well. Just a little bit about the specifics of our students here in Laguna Beach Unified School District. Out of the 2315 students that we serve in Lagona, 11% of our
012students, approximately 268 students are served in special education. That is below the average of 13%, the statewide average. Out of those 268 students, 89% approximately 237 of those students are served within programming here in Laguna Beach Unified School District. 31 students are served outside of Lagona Beach. out of the students that we serve, the 237 students, I'm proud to say that we serve 64% of those students, um I'm sorry, yes, 64% of those 89, approximately 155 students receiving 80% or more of their special education services in general education. That really aligns with our continuous goal to serve our students in the least restrictive environment and giving them the access to general education. Um, this is also above the county average of 54% in neighboring districts and above the statewide average at 60%. We do have
013a percentage of students we serve outside of district programming. Um, 6% of our students, approximately 16 students are served in our specialized programs in our special education local plan area in Saddleach Unified School District. We also have memorandums of understanding with Capistrono Unified for their adult transition programming. And then also we access our regionalized county programs as well for those students. Um 5% of our students are approximately 14 students um are served outside of district programming in alternate settings which could be uh CDE certified non-public schools and or residential treatment centers. Um, we strive for each individual student to be provided the least restrictive environment, but understand that we are obligated to serve students on that continuum of service and there are students that do have higher levels of needs that might require something more
014restrictive. Um, we'll be talking in more detail about those programs as we go on through the presentation. As well, I'd like to introduce um Jaylen Thompson. She is a new program specialist to our department here in Laguna Beach Unified School District. Jaylen has a wealth of experience. She comes to us from neighboring districts. She was an education specialist, is a credentialed school psychologist and has also been an administrator for the last several years um in neighboring districts and she's an asset to our department and she's going to share a little bit about our processes in special education and our assessment process. >> Hi, good evening. So referrals for IDEIDA assessments can come from multiple sources. Um we have um referrals that come from our student study teams SST process. Um our child find referrals and
015also direct parent requests. Um once an evaluation is identified um then the school has 15 calendar days to provide that assessment plan to the parent to consent to. Once we've received consent to the assessment plan, a comprehensive evaluation um takes place and is conducted within 60 calendar days um and we um that comprehensive assessment is utilized for the IEP team to determine eligibility. So if a student is found eligible, then the next steps would be to develop a well-thoughtout IEP um that's really tailored to the students unique strengths and needs. The IEP meeting is a formal and collaborative process that brings together key um members of the team such as general education teachers, special education providers. Um we also have um the our administrators that are part of the assessment I'm sorry, excuse me, the
016IEP team as well as sometimes the student when appropriate. And our key um member of the IEP team would be parents. It's really u parents are those key members because they are really the experts of their child in the process. And during the meeting, the team really likes to celebrate the strengths of the student. Um and then also making sure that we identify any um ongoing areas of need that need to be addressed and then collaboratively developing the goals and supports to um promote continued growth for the student. And then following that IEP meeting, um once parent consents, we would immediately implement the IEP and the staff is then responsible for those direct services for progress monitoring as well as that ongoing communication with the families. And um it's important to note that the IEP
017is a fluid document. So as um the student grows and changes and progresses um you know and their needs evolve, the IEP would um also change. We would expect that. And then um the IEP is reviewed at least once a year and a student would go through a re-evaluation process at least every three years as a part of that to determine continued eligibility. And a key focus throughout the process is understanding the students learning or behavioral profile and really analyzing that data, collaborating as a team and then implementing those empirically based supports. Um the IEP team really works together to ensure meaningful progress for the student. And then for the IDA assessment, I just wanted to highlight a few things. It's a comprehensive multidisciplinary evaluation. So it really helps us understand the whole child. Um
018it's not just about academics. We look at cognitive uh behavioral, physical, developmental, social and emotional functioning as a part of um understanding the students complete learning profile. Um this not only informs if the student qualifies for special education, but it informs the team and how the student learns best. and what supports they may need as a part of that. And the assessment process is multiddisciplinary, meaning that it involves uh professionals that each have a different area of expertise. For example, a school psychologist may assess in the area of cognition. Um a an education specialist may um assess in the area of academics. And um based on the assessment data, the team would then consider those 13 eligibility categories um under IDA to determine if the student meets one or more of the criteria. And um
019eligibility is not um does not determine or limit services, which is important to note. Um it doesn't define how we support a student. um services are based on really individual needs of the student and not just a label or a category of disability. And then from there after the assessment present levels are collected and really highlight those students strengths and any areas of unique need. And then those areas of unique need then directly inform the specific and measurable IEP goals. And those goals in turn would then drive services and supports that the student may receive to help them make progress and access their general education curriculum. So ultimately the IEP process is not static. It's really a responsive framework that adapts to the students development and really ensuring that they continue to make the meaningful
020progress in both academic and functional areas. I think just I want to highlight something that Jaylen said that I think is so critical to our students is we're continuously reeval evaluating their progress. And while we're obligated to serve annually and triannually, we often get into IEP meetings multiple times a year as needed for a students uh maybe they're working on a goal or an area of need that is newly identified or reassessing an area of need. So, it really is an ongoing um process for our students and we're continuously re-evaluating their needs. Um we often have students education specialists might get into six IEPs in the context of a year, whatever it takes to serve our students. So, obviously our processes are comprehensive and we're just highlighting them this evening. Um, but all of the
021assessment data and developing the IEP really lends itself to the team then making a very informed decision about uh services for the student um and what is going to be an appropriate setting for the student. So, how do we determine the educational setting? Um, many factors go into that. Um once a student is eligibleized, like Jaylen said, the team develops a comprehensive IEP. Um that is consistent with all of their present levels and all of those unique areas identified. And those goals essentially drive that educational setting. Um we really need to determine what's appropriate given multiple factors. Um our ultimate goal under IDEIDA is to ensure uh that students with disabilities be educated with their non-disabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate. So the team always is considering the general education environment as a first
022consideration for educational setting. If it's not appropriate, the team is then looking to a more restrictive uh setting in terms of that continuum of service and that could be inclusive of many things, related services, pullout services, psychological services. We're going to go into detail about that as well. Um important factors that we're considering as we develop the IEP and re make recommendations for programming is that assessment data. Again, like Jaylen said, the assessment data itself does not drive the programming, but it informs our decision-making and it informs our ability to identify the needs of our students. Um, those needs and goals really drive those recommendations. Um, the IE uh the IEP team, parent, like Jaylen referenced, they are the centerstone of the IEP team. It's that collaboration and partnership with the parent and the student.
023And as the student begins to transition into that intermediate, especially high school stage, we really encourage that um component for the student to be participating in that process so that they can learn the advocacy skills as they metriculate and get ready for post-secary education. So involving our students, we have a very robust transition um planning component to their IEP as they transition into high school. So having them begin and being part of that process early on is really crit critical as well. Um, some students may have special factors that impact their services such as assisted technology or specific health needs. So, those are considered as well. And then again, always looking at that least restrictive environment for our students. We have many related services that we provide to students varying from speech language pathology, psychological
024services, um, assisted technology, um, occupational therapy, etc. So, those are all considered as well. um especially supplementary aids and services. Also, um we do have a legal requirement to offer a continuum of service in alternate placement. So, that continuum of service starts with least restrictive all the way through most restrictive out of district. And we're going to be talking in detail about that as well. So, again, we do have a very full continuum of service. So, I'd like to highlight some of our programming here in Lagona Beach Unified and then we'll talk in a little bit more detail too about our programs outside of our district that we have the ability to access. So, again, we talk about that least restrictive. So, we really consider our services that we provide students on a continuum and
025it may fluctuate for a student. They may be in a less restrictive environment, a general educ education classroom, and they may find that they may require a little bit more service or uh a level of support that would potentially be fluid, and we would have to make a change in programming. Again, we would convene as an IEP, have that discussion with the family, and make those changes. Um the least restrictive would be for our student to be accessing all general education with consult with an education specialist. Um that's primarily at the intermediate high school level. It might look like the student is uh accessing all of their classes in the general education setting while maybe meeting with their education specialist 15 minutes weekly to review to ensure that accommodations are being implemented appropriately. We do
026have aidup supported classes in the district both at the elementary as well as the secondary level. It does look different at the elementary to middle school and high school. um at both elementary schools. Our aidup supported classes might be a student um is in general education classroom but might have an academic need where they require additional academic support. So an instructional aid may push in for a period of their day in their general education setting. It could be um for uh English language arts. Maybe the student has some areas of need as it relates to reading instruction. So that aid is there to provide additional support. It could be math. It could be if the student is demonstrating behavioral needs or uh social emotional needs that an instructional aid might be there during unstructured times
027or during those encore win times such as art, music, science, PE, maybe fostering and facilitating social skills development, ensuring that the students needs can be met at the secondary level. at our intermediate and high school level. What that looks like is shared aid support in our general education classrooms where an aid might be pushing in to support multiple students in a subject area, for example, science or social studies. Or again, it could be during those social times during a PE, during a lunch, a break where the student just might need a little additional support and or some of that social facilitation skill or communication um support. Um, we have some very robust co-eing models in the district at our secondary levels where we have the expertise of a general education teacher and an ex education
028specialist collaborating together and providing the supports but while maintaining that ability for our students to stay in that least restrictive environment and as they metriculate to high school. It's so important for our students who are really striving for that a through G uh that goal of attending a 4-year university. So giving them the opportunity to have those robust levels of support while also maintaining that least restrictive environment. So we have both co-eing models at Thirstston Middle School as well at Lagouna Beach High School. And we're really uh working to continuously improve those practices. So we're going to be spending some time this year having our intermediate school observe classes at the high school and vice versa so that we can just continue to improve best practices. We also have opportunities if we want to to
029be looking outside of district good co-e models within our SULPA. So really just continuously re-evaluating those practices to ensure um that we're giving the best we can to our students as well. If a student requires more supports, we do have a more restrictive setting where we can provide at the K through five level a resource specialist in our K5 classes. If a student is identified, for example, with dyslexia and has some targeted specific goals in the area of encoding, decoding, they might need um a specific targeted intervention daily. So they would be pulled out for that time, maybe 45 minutes daily. The teacher could also push into that classroom to provide that targeted intervention as well. It could be math. Um at the secondary level, we have basic ELA and math. And we also at
030the high school level have basic ELA and math as well. Um this year we did expand programming to include moderate programming. So our students that are participating in moderate programming can participate in the ELA and math basic classes and if required we can modify the work for them in those settings. We also have a vocational ed class at the high school as well supporting that programming. We do have three self-contained classes here in Laguna Beach Unified. We have a preschool TK self-contained class. Um, we also have a K through2 and a three through five self-contained class at Top of the World. We did move our um three through five self-contained class to Top of the World this year. And that transition has gone really well for our students and families. And there's just such great
031articulation and collaboration with our teachers. And so, it's been a really positive transition for our students. That self-contained class allows the student to receive that specialized academic instruction throughout their day with the supports of the education specialists, their teachers, and then opportunities throughout the day for the student to engage in those encore win activities, art, science, music, PE with grade level uh socialization time with lunch and recess. And then it's really dependent on the students individual needs. So, some students might be pushing out for different subject areas. We're constantly again re-evaluating that and transitioning our students out of that self-contained programming as they be begin to bridge those gaps and make that progress. So, we're excited to continuously be re re-evaluating that for our students as well. Our most restrictive settings would then be our
032specialized programming and our non-public schools that are outside of our district. We access our special education local plan area uh to access those specialized programmings based on the size of Lagona at this time. We uh collaborate with our SULPA to access those regionalized programs. Um we'll be getting into detail for those programs um in just a little bit. We also access non-public schools as well as residential treatment for our students. And like mentioned before, those related services are also part of the continuum of service and programming for our students. Just to highlight a few um speech and language services, aological services, we do access an aiologist through our um OCDE regionalized programming. Um we do have staff, we have occupational therapists, speech pathologists, but we also access non-public agencies for some of the um OT
033services as well. And then we also share our orientation and mobil mobility support with Capistrana Unified School District. So really accessing all of those resources regionally. Um and then we also provide psychological and counseling services just to name a few of our special education related services. Um most important um start to a child's education here in Lagouna Beach Unified is that early learning preschool. So I want to take a minute to introduce Kim Johnson, our director of early learning. And she's just going to share a little bit today about our preschool programming um our supports to our students. Thanks Jen. Um, our early intervention, our preschool program is where special education begins for many of our families and students. This is the foundation where we begin to build strong relationships and trust. Prior to a
034child's third birthday, we begin the process of what's called a part C to part B transition. Part C refers to the early intervention for infants and toddlers ages 0 to three. And in Laguna Beach, they're served through Regional Center of Orange County. Um, part B is our school-based special education services that begins for students on their third birthday. We coordinate transition meetings with regional center to ensure there's no gap in education for these students as they transition into a potential IEP. Um, we also receive student referrals for those students who haven't received early intervention services through our school readiness um, referral system and we get those referrals from parents and some of the community schools as well. At Elmoro, we have three preschool classes, one special day class and two general education classes. Our special
035education um, classroom serves preschool and TK students ages 3 to 5 years old. And our goal in our early intervention class is important because it allows our students to we really to address our developmental needs as we focus on their most critical years in their brain development. The earlier we can provide pro provide these targeted supports uh in the areas of communication, social skills, motor skills and learning behaviors, the stronger the foundation we can build for success later on. We are so grateful to be able to prioritize inclusion as well with the um general education preschool. Our general education preschool and TK classrooms provide opportunities for our students um with and without disabilities to learn and grow together in a classroom which aligns with both the federal and state expectations for inclusive education. Most of
036our students are included for up to 45% of their day. In summary, early intervention is where the journey begins for the majority of our students and families. We identify their needs early. We support the families through the transition and give our youngest learners the best possible start. >> Thank you, Kim. Okay. Um, so after kind of reviewing that continuum of service, um, I wanted to just dive a little bit deeper in understanding why we might be considering an outof district placement for our student and what goes into that processes. Um, again, that thoughtful consideration, gathering as an IEP team, partnering with our families um, in collaboration to understand the factors that we need to consider when we're considering something outside of our district programming. um we really need to focus on the students unique needs.
037Um we have a robust amount of programming and services and supports. Um sometimes a student's needs can be more complex and we need to consider uh more robust programming. So considering their unique needs and goals um considering if a specialized program within our own space, our own district is available. um looking at those severe complex disabilities that might require higher levels of supports. Um sometimes a student may be demonstrating high-risisk behaviors that could present safety concerns for themselves or others. So evaluating that. Um social emotional needs can also be a high priority in terms of considering whether a student might require a higher level of therapeutic support in a therapeutic environment. Um as well as legal or due process considerations. Also, um I think it's really important to understand for our students and we're constantly
038working on this is to continuously re-evaluate students progress and whether or not a student is within district or without district, we're constantly re-evaluating that least restrictive environment to ensure that we can bring our students back to district programming. I can proudly say that last year um I worked very collaborative with our SULPA and our non-public schools and we did bring several students back in collaboration with our teams and our families and we even had students that we considered having them come back and parents chose to stay in those settings because their students were thriving. So, I really feel that we're we're working towards continuing that collaborative process of ensuring that those opportunities exist and that we're also looking at what's in the best interest of our students. All of the decisions that we're making as
039it relates to our students are student centered. That's what drives our work and we're continuously working uh with families to to ensure that we're meeting the needs of all of our students. Um, I'm going to go a little bit more in depth about some of those programs in which we serve our students. Um, again, I've referred a lot to our special education local local plan area and I'm going to dive a little deeper deeper into that into the next slide. Um, but we do primarily access Saddleback Unified School District specialized programming. We do have a memorandum of understanding with Capistrano Unified and we're able to access their adult transition programming. We also have students that access our county connections, OCDE, regionalized programs, and then our non-public school, and then most restrictive residential. One thing I
040didn't mention on the continuum, we do have uh programming that would be the most restrictive, which is home hospital. In certain cases, if a student does have a medical need that drives um their inability to access in the school setting, we can offer that option, but it is relatively restrictive. That would be considered the most restrictive and it's usually based on a medical need that would drive that service. Um we have 31 students that are in outside district programming and I'd really like to highlight the different programs that we serve those 31 students in. We don't serve our 31 students all in the same type of programming. Um, as you can see from the slide, we have 10 plus different programs that serve our 31 students. Um, those programs range from specialized programs in the
041districts, um, from preschool, TK, moderate to severe, um, autism structured programs, therapeutic behavior intervention classes, elementary, secondary, as well as adult transition programming, and moderate severe foundational programming within our SULPA and our neighboring districts and county. Um in our non-public schools where we're serving 14 students, um our 14 students range in uh disability and needs and those students are served in six plus different non-public schools ranging um from varying programming um autism specific uh with language disorders uh behavioral programming with a higher therapeutic component. uh residential treatment center for a student that might have an acute social emotional need requiring that 24-hour care. So, I think what's important for us to understand is that each of these students served in these programs have very unique needs and the program that each student requires um is
042very different in terms of that profile um and what how we're serving those students. U typically a single district is unable to serve all students all of the time based on the profiles of those students. We are required by law to again continuum to look at that continuum of options for our student um our SULPASS they do exist for us to coordinate share and fund those resources um to support our students equitably um and across regions. I am sorry to say that our new self director plans to be here this evening. I was looking forward to introducing she was unable to attend based on the time change. So I apologize but I look forward to her having the opportunity to meet you. So I'm going to share a little bit about our SULPA. Again our
043uh special education local plan area ensures that our special education services are effectively provided to all students with disabilities. Uh they support the coordination, funding and implementation of programs across across multiple districts. Um we belong to South Orange County SULPA. Um, under our ed code, we are required uh regardless of how large or small to participate in a sulpa. Uh, historically, this dates back to the 70s when they came up with the California master plan for special education and districts were required to elect to be in a sulpa. We do have larger neighbor neighboring districts that are single sulpas. Um, and then we are in a multi-dista. Selpa boundaries are based on that state approved local plan. um we really are able to share those regional resources, access appropriate programs and really stay in line
044with our compliance um as we offer that continuum of alternate places by accessing our SULPA. Some of the highlights of our SULPA, we have a director Casey Bombgars and a program specialist Jana Zimmerman that serve our students outside of district. We collaborate extensively with them and many times we are also in IEPs and meetings and communicating with families who are outside of district as well. But they serve as case managers and support and liaison um supporting programming when our students are transitioning into the district as well as when our students are transitioning out. They're actively involved in observing our programming. Our staff and families observe programming in outside in their districts as well and non-public schools. So there is a continuous collaboration. I'd probably say we're on the phone daily uh to support our students
045who are out of district. And then we have again communication and relationships with our families as well. Um they also oversee compliance state reporting. That's a big component of what the SULPA does for us as well. Oh, I apologize. I did not give you that slide. Um we do collaborate on the community advisory committee. Jaylen and myself participate in that. um when they have meetings they uh facilitate that community engagement. Uh we also are partnering with them this year to do some parent education workshops. So we'll be participating in that as well that our families have access to in our SULPA. We have parent representatives, we have a high school student representative um and then we also have a teacher representative as well. So we really do collaborate with our SULPAS to ensure that we
046can meet the needs of all of our students. So, um, when we do have disagreements, uh, we attempt to always resolve those with our families. Um, I proud to say that we have such creative and innovative problem solving. We are a small district and even though we're small um we spend so much care and time to serve our students that when any type of disagreement which could be very small maybe a goal you know the parent doesn't agree with the goal or maybe one service they don't agree with or a placement decision which can be a bigger disagreement we actively initiate an IEP to reconvene to understand those concerns. Um, I spend a very active part of my day collaborating with families and parents to understand their concerns. Um, and we'll continue to do that.
047So, first and foremost, we're always attempting to resolve disagreements with families through that collaborative IEP process. Um, in the event that that can't be resolved through the IEP process, there are processes and procedures in place for families to navigate. Um we do have a wonderful parent partner uh mentorship program and I know our families can connect to better understand and and navigate processes and so that is a connection for our families they can access. Um we also have alternative dispute resolution. Um it's not very often that we have a formal alternative dispute resolution. We spend a lot of time uh and care in having those relationships with our families. So, we're able to communicate and actively work through problems sometimes outside of the IEP despite a formal, but if we do, we also have the
048supports of our Sela director uh to navigate those. We also um do have legal proceedings due process that are overseen um by the office of administrative hearing where families um have access to resolution, mediation, and due process hearing. Um it is very very unusual um that we uh get to that stage um in our small district of Lagona. I think historically they've had one or two. So it is very unusual um for it to go through that process. We're usually able to resolve problems with our families um prior to that. On to the really exciting things. So some of the department highlights I'd like to share with you um this year. There's so many but I'm just going to target a few. Um, we are continuing, um, I say continuing because I know Irene has
049done phenomenal things for the last 20 years and leadership here in special education. And so our goal is just to continue the great work and build on that this year. Um, our own speech pathologist Melissa Kenhorn is continuing to participate in a University of Levver dyslexia training certification where she is a certified instructor but also uh becoming certified to train others to become experts in dyslexia. We're really working towards building that capacity for that implementation of that targeted reading intervention to serve our students with dyslexia. It uses a um structured literacy multi-ensory Orton Gillingham approach to teach teaching those basic language skills. Um we also have two intervention specialists participating in that this year and next year Melissa will be in a position to be able to train other staff members. So the goal is
050to just continue that work and build capacity in our staff um as we target and support our students um in those areas. We also last year had the goal of expanding our after-school programming, read to succeed. Uh that program supports students after school four times weekly. We hold three sessions. Um and it's four times a week. It implements um again that OG based program Sunday taught by our trained instructional assistant insistence. And I'm proud to say that we did expand it to general education this year. And we've been serving 16 students at Top of the World and after school programming in our session one. And in session uh one at Elmorra, we've been serving nine students. And right now, we're currently preparing and staffing for session two, which will start in December. Um this is
051in addition to the service provided to the student during the day. It's an added intervention to continue to focus on that um support to to bridge those uh gaps for the students instructionally. So, it does not replace the during the day interventions. It's just an additional intervention for our students. Um, something else that's new this year that I'm really excited about as well is we are going to collaborate with the family resource center and Dr. Keller to provide parent education workshops. Really trying to build on the parent partnership and supporting our families and communities. We have a first workshop scheduled for December 4th, partnering for success for IEPs and 504s and really focusing on again that partnership with our families um to build strong outcomes for our students. And we are continuing our parent mentor
052work. Last year the team determined they wanted to change the name. So we're transitioning to parent partner. They felt with outreach that might be more welcoming to connect families um that can connect with parents um who have students on IEPs um to understand who are seeking mentorship. Also um just a few highlights for our parent mentors. U many of them participate in some of our subcommittees such as our LCAP advisory as well as curriculum counsel. And then our parent partners are really interested and excited to potentially develop a community event uh this spring. So, we're talking there's a subcommittee and we're we're considering plans for something this um this spring. Bowling was brought up. I'm not sure what that will look like, but um we're working on that in the planning stages as well. And
053future planning, we're always uh looking to see how we can improve our practices. Um, I'm excited to share we've been uh in collaboration with Kim Johnson and myself and looking at our early learning. Uh, we've been doing some research and and planning to consider um additional behavioral supports to directly serve our students. Really building out that behavioral support in that tier one, two, and three um areas um to be able to have that continuity in behavioral systems for our students in the early grades. Um, we're also looking forward to continuing to improve and um, evaluate our moderate programming for our students at the secondary level. And something that I'm very interested in is potentially building those community partnerships with our students who are served outside of district to maybe provide some opportunities within district for
054um, community school-based activities for them to feel part of the community. We know how important that is. Um I through the CAC um and just outreach have been able to establish relationships with our families who are attending schools outside and collaborating with them and we'll continue to do that work to see what we can come up with to serve those students. Um it is an ongoing goal to continue to develop trust and relationships with our families. I look forward to continuing the work but also um doing everything we can to continuously reevaluate and improve our practices. Thank you very much and I am happy to answer any questions that you might have. Thank you very much, Mrs. Moss, Mrs. Tommpkin, Mrs. Johnson. Um, do we have questions, board members? >> Okay, >> go ahead. >>
055Um, I have a uh I'm not sure if I'm going to be entirely articulate. First, thanks for the great presentation and I love um just all the work that you're all doing. It's it's a difficult task and um I you know I'm always impressed by the initiatives. So I not in Laguna Beach but in another school district and state with other with as a parent I have engaged in the IEP process and not agreed with the recommendation. And we focus a lot um in these conversations for you know public conversations about how we try to be collaborative and >> but I think what is harder to understand is that it's not always uh uh I think I'm right in saying that it's not always an issue of collaborating and just deciding yeah I'm going to
056take that choice. What is the role of regulation in law in terms of those kinds of disputes? Because I can imagine there are some parents who would like a goal to be changed or a a you know intervention to be changed when in fact the law or regulation you know law or regulations might not allow it. Is is how how does that impact that negotiation? Yeah, I think that we're always having to work within the scope and practice of the law at the state level as well as the federal level. So, we do have to always consider uh what enables us to stay within that compliance. But I I do think that in serving students, like I said, it's based on their individual need. And I have seen more often than not, you know, maybe
057when talking about goals or services that we're able to have discussions and understand it. I mean again the family has the ability to follow the processes in terms of disagreement. I think we do everything we can so that a parent doesn't have to follow that processes. Um if we cannot come to an agreement because we believe based on the scope that we practice under the law that what we're offering the student truly is what can help them make that meaningful ambitious progress towards their goals. I mean that really is what defines our work. So Oh, I'm sorry. Go. >> No, no, no. I didn't mean to. I thought you were finishing. >> It's okay. I was just going to say I mean we really ultimately are going back to that and if we believe that
058the service or the support that we're providing um can support those goals and the student can make meaningful progress. Sometimes we will continue to make that recommendation despite a parent disagreeing with it. We often had times where parents might disagree with or agree with the exception of and they always have that right to revoke services andor consent. Um but I feel that we often can come to a collaboration but again if we can't and the team feels that um a goal or a service or a recommendation for placement truly is what is going to enable that student to make that meaningful progress. Um there are times where teams will disagree um and it may end up in um that resolution process. oftent times we can work through that as well and meet the needs of
059our families maybe outside of the IEP process in a settlement agreement. Uh we don't have very many but we oftentimes can consider that as well as a resolution if we can't come to that agreement within the context of IEP. I don't know if I answered your question. >> Thank thank you. My quick follow-up question is that um >> what I heard and what you said is that there are sometimes um parents and you know I can identify with this who would like to deny a service or a an intervention and are there regulations that have say over that meaning that if the school district believes that a particular intervention and goal is what was determined to be best for the child I mean I can't imagine and a parent wouldn't want to do that. I'm
060so I'm not trying to make claims about parents. I'm just trying to understand what the legal restrictions are for the district in terms of those kinds of you know >> can I clarify is the question would the district uh want to implement that goal or service despite the parent not agreeing with it? I mean the parent right is to not agree with the service and it would ultimately result in a stay put for what the student was previously in. For example, if we're uh looking at proposed new goals for an annual IEP, the parent didn't agree with certain goals and they did not agree to those goals, we would not implement those goals and they would be in a stay put for the previous goals. Again, we would continuously work with that family and oftentimes
061than not with goals, we would make revisions because that's reasonable. Um, if we were making a recommendation, for example, for speech services and the parent didn't want to access the speech services, if they revoked that service, we would not implement those services. We would pause those services until we had the um consent of the parent. So, okay, parents rights really generally do supersede. It does result in a stay put. So, if the student was receiving any other level of service as it related to speech, for example, maybe a 15-minute consult or a group instead of a individual, we are still obligated uh within the scope and under the law to continue to attempt to provide that service. Whether or not they accessed is really discretionary up to the family, but we would be obligated under
062the law to continue to provide that service. Placement disagreement as well. Um, if we're making a recommendation for placement that's different than the current placement that the student is in and the parent does not agree with that, the student would remain in a stay put in the existing placement. Again, we would continuously be working to resolve that um, and work through that with the family. Whether that's considering whether or not we can serve that student in the existing placement with additional related services or supports is something we're always looking at. if we can't, you know, again, there's those processes and sometimes that does result in those alternative dispute resolutions where we can settle outside of that IEP process. Thank you, >> board member Morgan. >> Hi, thank you. That was a great um presentation and
063um very easy to follow. So, I'm really appreciative of that because it is a very complex issue, I know, and I appreciate all the work that you guys do. um what are our legal requirements requiring like local options? So if if to u member Malesky's point, if a parent disagrees with um a recommendation or a suggestion, whether it's in district or out of district, what is our legal obligation to maybe go a step further? Like if if for example, if we don't have a program that we know we've had before, right? That's that's that's happened recently. um would we not want to what is our obligation legally to bring those program to help support our students in our community in our district because sometimes we send students out because we don't have the program but
064that doesn't necessarily mean that we aren't capable of of putting the program in place. So how is that evaluated? How is that overseen? What's the accountability? because sometimes that will also mitigate some of the legal um I guess backlash from parents if they don't like the recommendation because what they want is to stay here. >> Yeah, I think it's very complicated and I think as I had referenced in the slide as I referred to our outside of district programming we serve so many different profiles of students in programming um that ranges from slightly more restrictive to very much more robust and restrictive for our students. So we have a legal obligation to ensure that we're providing that continuum of service. We are a small district. That is one of the downsides um to being a
065small district, but we do have the access to the SULPA and that consortium to ensure that we are always providing that continuum of service for our students. I think there's so many factors in terms of feasibility for ensuring that we could serve specific students but not all. So that's a very kind of complex I think question to be able to answer just simply um in terms of can we serve any student that would disagree with the programming recommendation. I think it would be very unique to that circumstance. Um it's hard to generalize specifically. Um if we say that we could feasibly develop one type of program that we serve our student in outside of district programming that doesn't serve the need of all program. Um so I think that's something to consider as well. Uh
066I don't know if that answered your question. Um >> um it provided context. So I appreciate that. What is the minimum requirement for the number of kids in any one particular program? >> So like if we like we had a situation where we needed gened uh we needed basic math and basic English. >> And um one of the concerns is that we didn't have enough students to fund those to fill those programs. And I think one of the things that I hear frequently is that um and I know and I've said this before, I'm not a big fan of the statement, we are a small district, therefore we cannot because what's really important for us to keep in mind is that we are a well-funded district and the community and and this goes for our
067parents in the district and I'm also going to include those families that might have been in the district but don't currently have kids in the district. They all want to see our kids thrive. That's never been questioned by a lot of people in the community in the district or not. But what they want to see is as many of our kids served here. So what is the minimum number of students that you need in a program so that we can either bring the program back, implement a new program so that we can serve as many of our local kids as possible? >> Yeah, I can't say that there's a specific number. I think when we're considering programming and programming that's meaningful for students, uh if we consider a program of one for a student, um
068could we create a program of one? I I guess we could, right? But does that program serve the student in all of the areas that the student requires support? I think when we think of a program of one, we miss our opportunities for peer socialization, socialization, communication, etc. But there's so many feasibility factors. So it's not just a size issue. Um if we were considering phasibility for programming, we're talking about uh implications such as facility issues, uh resources, classroom staffing, program implementation, all of the different programs as well. So um again kind of referring back to the different types of programming of students that we serve. um even within our SELA students let's call it our K through five I might have one first grader one second grader a fifth grader a seventh grader and
069a ninth grader who require uh more intensive mod severe uh specific autism programming when those students access our regionalized programming in SULPA or with that uh memorandum of understanding with our uh neighboring school districts they might have access to a program that's more robust with 12 students that gives them socialization peer interaction communication opportunities that if we were to develop a program with those varying grade levels and amount of students may not meet the robustness. I think something else to consider is staffing. Um so when we're looking at programming, um when I say staffing, I just don't mean that we can't hire the staffing to support a student. But I'm going to compare this to a non-public school program that we might access for a student that had a higher need that was maybe a
070more impacted student with autism with a language-based disorder, communication deficit, social skill deficits, behavior uh concerns. Uh in a non-public school setting, it is a much smaller setting. It is not on a comprehensive campus. For example, at Thirstston Middle School, we serve over 500 students on a comprehensive campus. Those students transition class to class, uh multiple transitions during the day. It's an open campus at a non-public school. A student might be in an environment that's more self-contained with 90 students total with itinerant staff full-time, not only one occupational therapist, but four occupational therapist, two BCBAs, a speech pathologist that not only is providing that related service for that student, but is embedded in that programming throughout the day to integrate those social skills, those supports for communication. Um, so the programming itself encompasses all of
071the supports throughout that programming that maybe I mean again back to the size um creating a program of one we wouldn't have two BCBAs, a speech pathologist, an occupational therapist, a sensory room um for one student um in terms of being able to serve that student. I don't know if that helped for a comparison, but in looking at the robustness of the programming and allowing them to meet the needs of those students, um I think it can be challenging um when we are still obligated by law to provide that continuum for those students where that programming might be able to meet the needs of that student better. >> Okay. I I I I I understand that and I want to defer time for others to ask questions, but I had um just >> one more
072in the sense of do we have um in place the possibility of bringing in consultants for these smaller situations? Because sometimes parents are more comfortable with their kids in our district because the surrounding community embraces them and supports them. So sometimes it's not just our services that we can offer. It's the environment that we cultivate and that our students cultivate for those students that makes it worth the fam the families interest is that they want their kid to stay here because those are also their friends and their friends will watch out for them and take care of them. Yeah, I do understand that and I think that lends itself to what we were suggesting as a goal of ours as well and connecting with those families and communities that are attending schools outside that we
073recognize that as a desire and a need and a starting point, right, is bridging that for those families and trying to develop opportunities for community integration and possibly school-based activities that would bridge that gap. Community events, I know it's not the solution for programming. Um, no, I cannot say directly at this time that we're doing any type of consultation or evaluation of the feasibility. Um, I, you know, Dr. Glass isn't here this evening to speak to that either. I don't feel like I could speak to the the future of that, but at this time, I know we've expanded with our moderate programming, and that's an area that we're looking at closely to continue to enhance and evaluate. Um, but no, at this time, we're not evaluating or consulting to to develop any additional programming at
074this time. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Wonderful. Um, I know we still have some questions. I know board member Kelly has some questions. We also have a meeting that lawyers are coming to that we need to get to. So, yes. Um, so we kind of need to speed along here and maybe like I'll I'll email you some questions. >> Absolutely. I am >> I don't want to take up this time >> and available. Please feel free to uh email or anything. Thank you so much. >> Sure. Board member Kelly though I think >> every parent that I've ever come in contact with who has dealt with your office is just overwhelmingly supportive. Even the ones that are outplaced, you know, and I say, "Well, can't we get the kids back? Can't we add a
075special program?" They're doing so well where you've placed them there with peers, their their skills, they would never have got those here. U so that's number one. Number two, could you say a little bit about confidentiality in IEP? Can you devel divulge to the board members or the superintendent what is u specifically recommended in an IEP? >> No, I would not be able to share specifically about specific students with board members. Um if if there were a circumstance that lended itself for the superintendent to have an understanding of a student's supports and services within the district, um it might be a unique situation where we would share depending on what the need of was the student, but no, we wouldn't be providing any specific uh individual student information to board members. No. >> And my
076last question has to do with parent who refuses your team's recommendation. uh what can the parent do? Yeah. Uh as far as to uh override the team's recommendation if if we cannot provide services for for that specific student at the level that we believe that could be provided elsewhere, what can parents do? >> May I clarify your question? Yes. You said if we cannot provide the level of service that we are required to. Are you referring to a student that we may be recommending placement for outside of district because the programming isn't necessarily existing within our district? >> Yeah, I mean we always obviously as I had spoken to encourage our families to uh request an IEP. Uh the team is obligated to uh get back into an IEP uh discuss the options, consider the
077programming recommendation, re-evaluate if needed. um as I spoke to the processes um with the alternative dispute resolution which some kind sometimes can result in settlement agreements outside of the IEP process um it has resulted uh in students programming changes um that is a process that they are entitled to as well as the mediation and due process as well >> so they can they can refuse >> they can yes >> and um we basically will basically ask them to sign a waiver that we're not held responsible ible for that we can provide these services. Is that accurate? >> In the event that a parent were to engage in a settlement agreement outside of the context of the IEP, we would be asking them to consent to wave the obligation that we have to ensure yes that
078the student that we would be following under those ID guidelines for the period of time that the family engaged in that settlement. We've had issu We've had issues where the parents at 2 in the morning finally sign the thing and then we have to uh provide services the next day at 8 a.m. >> We would be obligated if a we had a parent who well any type of agreement outside of the context of an IEP which would be a settlement agreement would require board approval. So in terms of that, I don't know that that would ultimately uh result in an immediate, but if if a student we have a recommendation on an IEP and a parent consents, we are obligated immediately to implement that support and service to that student. Yes. >> Thank you. Um
079board member Malchesky, are there any comments? >> Okay. Thank you again. Wonderful. presentation and I will send you some questions. >> Thank you. Um,