The Scoop

Hello TISD Special Services #IslandInnovators! I am so excited to see all we can do for our students and families during the 2024-2025 School Year! Your dedication, passion, energy and innovation will make Tomball ISD a true Destination for Excellence and our own little slice of Paradise!

The Scoop is a place for you to make sure you are in the know and have all the information you need. You are responsible for the information in the SCOOP. If you need clarification, please reach out to your Student Support Specialist or me.

You all do an amazing job and service for our students, families and staff. You set the stage for communication, service and trust. Keep building that community trust with parents, students and staff and over communicate!

~Keri

The following changes were made to TAC 89.1065:

• Clarifying that previously acquired progress must have been documented
• Requiring the ARD committee to consider ESY at the annual IEP review
• Adds that if a student who requires ESY withdraws from one district and registers in another one, the new district is responsible for ensuring those services are provided (could include direct provision of the services, contracting with the previous district or another entity)

Our

district guidelines were updated to ensure we are aligned.

This change has limited to no impact on our current procedures.

Look over students slated to be at your campus that have not shown up to campus. Please reach out to them to verify status and follow procedures in the guidance document linked below. Please ensure all communication attempts are documented in parent contact log or through ARD invitations, etc.

Please remember the talk to your campus registrar regarding students who have not shown up to school who are currently students who receive special education services. Use this guidance to help you.

Check your campus students in eStar Frontline for the correct status:

1) Ensure all records in Frontline eStar on your campus are marked correctly for:

• STATUS - Please make sure all students showing on your caseload are marked appropriately. For example: Withdrawn, Homeschool and Private School if those are their current status. Additionally, please make sure all of your students that you have completed transfer events on are marked as Currently Served for their status.

It is very important that we know the students who have special needs within our school district that attend private school or homeschool. Please keep the private school/homeschool list updated throughout the year.

Date: August 22, 2024

Subject:Parent-Directed Special Education Services (PDSES) - formerly Supplemental Special Education Services (SSES) School System Requirements and Program Updates

Category:Legislative Requirements for School Systems and Important Dates

Next Steps:

Share with appropriate school system and education service center (ESC) staff. Ensure Special Education Director contact information is up to date within the AskTED directory.

The purpose of this communication is to announce that the Supplemental Special Education Services (SSES) program is now known as the Parent-Directed Special Education Services (PDSES) program. This change better reflects the importance of parents as decision-makers in the educational process. PDSES remains a one-time $1,500 online grant for parents of eligible students served by special education and who are enrolled in a Texas public school. Parents of eligible students can use PDSES funds to shop on the online marketplace to obtain educational materials and resources such as textbooks, curricula, technology devices, and/or services such as tutoring or other specific services.

Please see link for full publication and guidelines from TEA: Parent-Directed Special Education Services (PDSES) - formerly Supplemental Special Education Services (SSES) School System Requirements and Program Updates | Texas Education Agency

Please share with teachers and parents of students who are DHH. You are welcome to attend as a TISD staff member as well. Please see the English Flyer and the Spanish Flyer for more information and to share with staff and families.

Please find classroom set up grids, links to strategies, video tutorials/modeling, etc at this website designed for staff supporting students in self contained settings. Region 6 Education Service Center - Professional Learning Lab for Universal Structured Environments and Supports (esc6.net)

Read this LRP Special Ed. Connections article to review tips for supporting students who elope in the general education classroom.

Special Ed Connection

Community Connections assists Special Services in making key chain visuals for staff. There is a minimum of a 1-2 week turn around. If you or anyone on your campus needs the lanyard visuals, please use the link below to order:

Key Ring Visual Order Form

Special Education Connection through LRP provides great legal and practical documents, articles and resources for our Special Services Staff and Counselors. You may log in to Special Educaiton Connection by following this guidance.

SmartStart: Procedural Safeguards -- Consent
to Reevaluate under the IDEA

Overview | Key Points | Links | Additional Resources

This SmartStart is updated with references to the IDEA 2004 statute; the 2006 IDEA Part B regulations; and the 2008, 2016, and 2017 amendments to the Part B regulations.

Overview

The IDEA requires a district to obtain parental consent before evaluating or reevaluating a student with a disability. However, the rules for obtaining consent differ slightly depending on whether it's an initial evaluation or reevaluation.

Key Points

These key-point summaries cannot reflect every fact or point of law contained within a source document. For the full text, follow the link to the cited source.y

Special Ed Connection

• Monday, September 2 - LABOR DAY, no school on this day.
• Friday, September 13 - Cross Talk at TEC. 8:00 - Noon
• Check HERE for the rest of the year meetings for Special Services

Tina Powell - 9/7

Rosmari Boyrie - 9/21

Tina Ayala - 9/27

Robanne Roberts - 9/29

Brenda Knoepffler - 9/30

Tomball Education Foundation continues to provide grants for TISD staff through an application process to support innovative instruction and high academic achievement. As you plan with your teams before school, please keep in mind the opportunity to be funded for innovative practices. The deadline to apply is Friday, October 18. Last year we were able to provide $125,000 to the TISD staff. Grants can be written as a team or as an individual. If you have questions, please contact us through the Tomball Education Foundation website: www.tomballedfoundation.com/

If you are tweeting anything this school year, do not include identifying information of students nor students that are identified with a "red button". Please use our hashtag: #IslandInnovators our district hashtags: #DestinationParadise, #DestinationExcellence and feel free to tag @gibby1112 and @TStudentSupport

Student Support Personnel by Campus

Our Student Support Personnel are listed by campus on the link above. This will help ensure you know your student support specialist as well as other campus contacts.