P5402 Provision of Least Restrictive Environment for Disabled Students

Provision for students identified as disabled will be made to ensure the student is in an environment that allows appropriate placement compatible with the student’s abilities. 

Administrative Implemental Procedures: 

1. The district does not support full integration as a policy procedure for all students. It limits the continuum of alternative placements or services and range of education opportunities and alternatives available to students with exceptionalities. Thus, it is not a legal practice unless it meets the individual needs of any one student. The district cannot, as a policy procedure, promote this as a practice for any one group as a whole because of its limiting effects to individual students. 
2. Special education is an integral part of the total education enterprise, not a separate entity. In USD 259, special education is a means of enhancing the capacity of the educational system to service the needs of all students. 
3. The primary purpose of IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) is to provide students with disabilities a free appropriate public education (FAPE). 
4. At least the following three components shall be considered for every special education placement: 
   1. The appropriateness of the student remaining in general education. When it is not appropriate, the student is to be removed from general education only as is necessary to meet the student’s individual needs. 
   2. The impact, in any placement of a special education student in a general education program, on the general education classroom and students, as well as the impact on the special education students. 
   3. The appropriateness of increased general education involvement at each IEP (Individual Education Program) meeting.  
5. Decisions about the appropriate education for students with disabilities must be made on an individual student basis. Each decision must be a cooperative venture involving educators, parents, and, when appropriate, the student. Primary consideration is the amount of regular education the student requires to meet their needs. It is the practice of the district to maintain the student in the least restrictive environment. 
6. Clearly stated educational rationale is necessary to remove a student from their current educational setting to a more or less restrictive setting within the full continuum of alternative placement/services. 
7. The principle of least restrictive environment assures each student with disabilities an appropriate placement as it relates to a full continuum of educational alternatives and services. The district does not support public policies which limit the range of educational opportunities or alternatives available to students with exceptionalities.  
8. Serving individual students in a general education classroom setting 100% of the time with appropriate support is one option within the full continuum of alternative placement or services. 
9. The principle of administrative due process procedures is the first course of action for any disagreements that cannot be settled within the confines of the instructional center in which the student attends. 

Administrative Responsibility: Student Support Services 

Latest Revision Date: June 2011 

Previous Revision Date: March 1999 P5402 

Updated administratively for alignment purposes: January 2021 

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