Kootenai Classical Academy Special Education and Student Services

Kootenai Classical Academy (KCA) is an authorized school by the Idaho Public Charter School Commission. Kootenai Classical Academy provides a free and appropriate classical education for its students. Through our sound “child find” practices, KCA helps to identify and serve students through the provision of Individual Education Plans (IEP), 504 plans, and Response to Intervention (RTI) programs, under all applicable federal, state, and district laws, policies, and guidelines.

Child Find

Kootenai Classical Academy (KCA), has been authorized by the Idaho Public Charter School Commission to provide a free and appropriate classical education for all its students while furnishing support for students with other learning. KCA adheres to the following “child find” practices to identify and serve such students, through the provision of Individual Education Plans (IEP), 504 plans and Response to Intervention (RTI) programs, under all applicable federal, state, and district laws, policies, and guidelines.

Kootenai Classical Academy, in cooperation with parents and nonpublic school agencies, engages in Child Find services throughout the school year. Child Find activities are conducted (1) to create public awareness of special education programs, (2) to advise the public that students who qualify for services have the right to a free appropriate public education and confidentiality protections, and (3) to alert community residents that a process exists for identifying and serving children with disabilities from the age of 3 through the semester in which they turn 21. If you know of a child who is 3 through 21 years of age who may have individual needs that result from disabilities or developmental delays, and who is not enrolled in a school program, please contact Shanna Schillinger, Special Education Director, 208-297-7085. These children may have difficulty walking, talking, hearing, or learning, or may display behaviors that appear different from other children their age. If you are part of a community agency or civic group that would like more information about educating children with disabilities, please call the school office by the above phone number.

Family and Community

There is a partnership between educators, families, and the surrounding school community. Here at Kootenai Classical we believe family support and community engagement help to create strong relationships. Looking at the research, children have a higher academic achievement rate when all parties are active members, participating in their child’s education. At KCA we are committed to holding all parties to high standards.

Family & Community engagement creates relationships between educators and families through collaborative and structured efforts. Multi-tiered family, school, and community partnering ensures that provisions exist at each level of support. It is important Schools and families inform one another and share their expertise and knowledge about the student to support learning and promote competence. This provides the ability for the framework to be a transparent problem-solving process with everyone on the team to share information and decision making. MTSS allows parents and the community access to resources, training, and materials. Demonstrate respect for cultural, linguistic, and learning differences. Focus on results and information gathered.

Student Services

At Kootenai Classical Academy we believe that our instruction should be rigorous yet fun and engaging, so that all students rise to the challenge given to them. As a classical school we believe all students should be challenged with the expectations held to high standards. We understand that academic rigors may be especially challenging for our students with unique learning challenges. We see the best way to meet the needs of students with disabilities is by ensuring our commitment to sound classroom instruction and well-trained teachers that adhere to classical ideals and that are committed to high standards and expectations of all students.

Our adopted curriculum has proven to be effective and successful for many students but especially for our students with disabilities. The additional supplemental resources, support, and reteaching will help students with disabilities access our curriculum. It is important to understand that not all students who may struggle have a disability. At KCA we want to ensure all students receive the support they may need to have access to the curriculum. This is done through collaborative planning between the Student Services Team and general education faculty.

Here at KCA we use a multi-step approach to early identification and support of students learning and behavioral needs.

The following multi-tier system is used by KCA in our RTI process:

Overview of the different levels of the multi-tier system.

Tier 1: Effective for whole class instruction. Intervention as identified through universal screening.

Tier 2: Focused intervention: This begins within the classroom, one-on-one, or small group.

Tier 3: Intensive Intervention: One-on-One or small group pull-out.

Referral: At this final step in the procedure a referral may be made to Special Education. This is when extensive interventions has not yielded positive academic or behavior results.

Referral to Special Education

The following two reasons are normally how students are a referred to Special Education:

The student shows lack of response to multiple steps of intervention.
A parent makes a written request for an evaluation.

A meeting will be held with the appropriate team members and parents to discuss the progress monitoring data, lack of data, areas of concern, behavior plan or learning plans if applicable, assessments, etc., to determine if an evaluation is warranted.

Consent for Assessment

At this time it is important for the evaluation team to be identified and all areas of concern to be included in the assessment document. The assessment document will be followed to ensure all areas are tested by the professional listed as responsible for. Questionnaires or rating scales may be a part of the evaluation.

Evaluation and Determination

The results of the evaluation will be presented, the evaluation team (parents included) will determine if the child meets eligibility criteria in Idaho. The three prongs of eligibility for special education services: Qualifying disability, disability has an adverse effect on the child’s educational performance, the student requires specially designed instruction.

Initial IEP Developed and Implemented

An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is a plan that outlines the help for the student with disabilities. The different supports that will be provided so that the student will be successful in school. It is important the IEP outlines the students strengths and needs, goals, services and accommodations to help the child succeed.

For special education services to begin the initial placement for consent must be given and signed. Once the school receives, the obligation to provide the special education supports and services begin.

Least Restrictive Environment

The following statement is taken from the IDEA, which states that the Least Restrictive Environment to the maximum extent appropriate, all students with disabilities, three to twenty-one years of age, are to be educated with age-appropriate peers who are nondisabled. It is important that the LRE is an appropriate balance of settings and services. The LRE placement will be reviewed annually to ensure the student is making reasonable gains towards their goals.

Section 504-Rehabilitative Act of 1973

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protects the rights of individuals with disabilities to access programs and instruction available to individuals without disabilities. Here at KCA comply with the federally mandated services and protection of students with disabilities. It is important to understand that not all students with disabilities require specifically designed instruction and may only need special accommodations. These identified special accommodations must show how this benefits the student to access the school programs and curriculum. An example of this would be a student with a hearing impairment who would have the need for preferential seating in the classroom with a personal FM system to better hear the instruction. Another example would be a student with a medical condition who may need to have frequent access to the restroom.

Eligibility Process of a 504 Plan

Parent and/or Teacher Request

Eligibility process
Development time and Implementation
Annual review/ Three-year re-evaluation

Once a request has been made, the 504 coordinator will schedule a meeting with the appropriate school team members and parent/guardian. Parents will be asked to provide documentation of the disability and any other information that will be helpful in the review process. Data and qualitative information will be gathered regarding the child’s academic or social functioning that is pertinent to the area(s) of concern. The team will meet again to determine the eligibility of the student for a 504 plan. The team will determine whether the child has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits academic or social functioning within the school setting. The team will develop a 504 plan with individualized accommodations.

Shanna Schillinger

Kristin O'Reilly