Norwell Public Schools 5356

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Date

5/6/21

LEA

Norwell Public Schools

5356

Issue

(1) District failed to evaluate in all areas of suspected disability;

(2) District refused to conduct ADOS due to not having appropriate staff to conduct evaluation;

(3) District did not provide prior written notice re: district refusal to conduct ADOS evaluation;

(4) Evaluations did not identify the names of all evaluators;

(5) Transitional assessment was improperly completed with out-of-date information and not provided to parent 2 days before IEP meeting consistent with state regulations to allow meaningful participation in Team meeting;

(6) Transitional assessment has not resulted in transition goals or objectives in IEP

Finding

Compliance:

(1) District used a variety of valid and appropriate assessment tools to gather relevant functional developmental, and academic information;

(2) District’s documents that its refusal to conduct the ADOS was due to test developer’s recommendation that staff not conduct assessment while wearing PPE and district offered to pay for private ADOS evaluation; so district should have considered alternative and safe methods instead of refusing;

(3) District provided appropriately timed notice of refusal to perform ADOS;

(5) District followed protocols for both testing and providing evaluation reports two days prior to IEP meeting ;

(6) District has made a good faith effort to complete a review of transition assessment and offered opportunities to reconvene to discuss further

Noncompliance:

(2) District should have considered alternative and safe methods instead of refusing; while wearing a mask would have resulted in an inability to read facial cues, district should consider face shields and social distance per issues guidelines to allow for completion of assessment.District should have offered to complete evaluation upon student’s return to school;

(4) Evaluation report was sent without signature of evaluator, and district already corrected.

Corrective Action

District provided a signed copy of the evaluation

District must provide parent a Notice of Proposed School District Action and Evaluation Consent Form to conduct the ADOS, arrange for the completion of the evaluation and submit documentation to DESE.