Orange County Public Schools

The school-based staffing specialist/LEA representative is responsible for coordinating the staffing and educational planning process at the local school. The person assigned this responsibility will be assisted by the district staffing team in each exceptional education process at the school.

Responsibilities:

1. Serve as the designee of the Local Educational Agency (LEA) in ESE meetings at the school where special education eligibility, placement, dismissal and program changes occur.
2. Convene and coordinate all Individual Education Plans (IEPs), Educational Plans (EPs), Individual Family Services Plans (IFSPs), Service Plans (SPs) and Education Planning Team (EPT) meetings, as determined, at the school in conjunction with district staffing teams.
3. Coordinate the collection of all necessary documentation prior to a student being staffed and/or identified for an exceptional education program and/or service.
4. Possess knowledge of eligibility criteria, placement procedures, exceptional education program options and community services available for disabled and gifted students.
5. Attend district training sessions in order to remain current as to trends, issues and litigation which impact decisions in meeting regarding the education of disabled and gifted students.
6. Provide training to school staff relative to ESE referral procedures, least restrictive environment and other issues involving exceptional education students.
7. Serve as a liaison for Matrix development and training at the school in conjunction with the district staff.
8. Assist in the development of all documents required for identified students.
9. Maintain accurate ESE paperwork to reflect service delivery models for all students.
10. Serve as the contact for FTE issues regarding students with disabilities.
11. Ensure that all ESE paperwork is accurate and current for gifted students and students with disabilities assigned to the school.
12. Performs other duties as assigned by the principal.

The school-based staffing person works cooperatively with district instructional support teachers, district staffing specialists, district program specialist and ESE Directors.

The District Staffing Specialist (DSS) is responsible for providing district-wide support with exceptional student education meetings at the schools. District Staffing Specialists are also assigned to support the work of the district programs.

Responsibilities:

1. Monitor the staffing/placement process to assure that all necessary documentation is accurate and in place for the following meetings:
   • to determine eligibility for and placement into an exceptional education program
   • to determine dismissal from an exceptional education program
   • to reassign a student from one exceptional program to another
   • to assign transferring exceptional education students into a program
   • to review the evaluation data collected from the triennial reevaluation
2. Possess extensive knowledge of eligibility criteria, placement procedures, exceptional education program options and community services available for disabled and gifted students.
3. Assist with reporting of matrix cost factor information and compliance documentation and enter data, when necessary.
4. Support the school-based staffing specialist with monitoring the maintenance of exceptional education student records and the preparation of records for audit.
5. Provide information on identification and eligibility criteria, placement and program options and community resources available for students with disabilities.
6. Conduct site based audits of exceptional education records and data.
7. Provide assistance with IEP, EP, IFSP, Services Plans and Matrix development for ESE students.
8. Assist the district directors with training and staff development on compliance issues.
9. Assist schools with FTE Issues to obtain maximum funding for ESE students.
10. Maintain ESE hotline to respond to questions from internal and external sources.
11. Performs other duties as assigned by supervisors.

The District Staffing Specialist is directly responsible to the Director of ESE Procedures for the integrity of the staffing process. The DSS supports the Director on issues of compliance. The DSS and school staffing team work together to accomplish the goal of providing a free appropriate education to students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment.

The district ESE State Reporting staff is responsible for entering data for all eligibility and placement meetings for students with disabilities in Orange County Public Schools. The staff maintains a database of eligibility reports from school-based evaluators. The staff assists in obtaining copies of records for internal and external requests.

Responsibilities:

1. Enter daily paperwork information processed by the DSS's in the student system including Individual Education Plans and Family Support Plans for all ESE students.
2. Revise inaccurate data on the Exceptional Student Education screen to ensure updated, appropriate documentation of identification, eligibility, placement and services for ESE students.
3. Maintain the tracking system for evaluation reports for psychologists, social workers, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, hearing and vision screenings and verify the accuracy of demographic information.
4. Retrieve records, in conjunction with the OCPS Records Department, when records are unavailable at the school site.
5. File and retain transmittal forms submitted by the school and learning community staff to verify specific compliance actions for each ESE student.
6. Return paperwork packets and annual review packets to school upon receipt from OCPS Records Department, to be filed in the student’s ESE folder.
7. Verify eligibility and placement status of ESE students upon request of selected staff.
8. Assist school-based data entry and attendance clerks with FTE discrepancy reports.
9. Verify student information for private school and McKay Scholarship compliance.
10. Provide training, under the direction of the Director of ESE Procedures, to school, learning community and district staff relative to data entry for ESE students

The district operates a telephone hotline for parents, school staff, and community access. The caller can receive immediate assistance to ESE questions and issues between the hours of 7:45 AM to 2:45 PM each day the school district's sites are in session.

407-317-3900, 2033646