New Extended School Year Rules Now Official
Michigan FINALLY decided to make the Extended School Year (ESY) rules official. Following many months of debate and uncertainty about the subject, the State Board of Education on August 12, 2008 approved these new standards. A legislative committee quickly and unanimously okayed the changes the next day.
Are the rules perfect? Probably not. But we (students, parents, advocates, and educators) now have something definitive to work with at annual IEP Team meetings. At this point everyone is urged to carefully read the rules and the amplifying information at the state Department of Education webpage. The link leads to a 32 page PDF document.
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/Item_AA_243389_7.pdf
After you have reviewed this material, please plan on discussing ESY services at your child’s next IEP Team meeting. It is required! In a nutshell, there must be one or more current IEP annual goal(s) where significant concerns exist regarding a student’s skill maintenance during a break in school services. A goal area of concern should represent skills essential to the progress of a student. A student may be determined to need ESY services due to:
- a serious potential for regression of skills beyond a reasonable period of recoupment, or
- the nature or severity of the disability, or
- critical stages or areas of learning.
Whatever you do, don’t wait until next May or June to hold an IEP Team meeting since mediation, formal complaints, or even due process hearings take a good deal of time to resolve and may negate any chance at summer educational programming for your student. Begin early to collect educational and behavioral data on your child. Don’t just rely on school-based reports either; obtain private clinical data if possible.
