McKeesport Area School District

McKeesport Area School District is one of the few school districts in Pennsylvania which has run its own special education classes for more than 30 years.  McKeesport has one of the largest district operated special education programs in Western Pennsylvania.  The District has always operated on the belief that exceptional children should be educated within the District when possible.  The District provides programming for all students with varying needs and exceptionalities. 

Support Services include but are not limited to the following: 

•   Learning Support 

•   Life Skills Support 

•   Autistic Support 

•   Emotional Support 

•   Gifted Support 

•   Language Support 

The McKeesport Area School District provides Special Education Services to approximately 1000 students.  The District maintains working relationships with a variety of community agencies to ensure collaborative efforts to develop individualized and appropriate programming for students.  The District frequently contract with The Allegheny Intermediate Unit and various private schools to assist with providing educational services to students who may present with more extensive needs. 

Contracted Services include: 

•   Hearing Impaired Services 

•   Visually Impaired Services 

Range of Services

The McKeesport Area School District provides a wide range of services to students with special needs.  It is the District's desire to ensure that all identified students are educated in the least restrictive environment.  The placements of all students are assessed by team process when determining the level of services a student may need.  All buildings are staffed with an Inclusion Support Specialist to assist students who remain fully included within the regular education setting.  The District is committed to providing educational services that are appropriate for each student and in compliance with all regulations set forth in both Chapter 14 and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act(IDEA). 

Identifying Students

To identify students who may be eligible for special education, various screening activities are conducted on an on-going basis.  These screening activities include: 

•   Review of group based data

•   Cumulative Records

•   Enrollment Records 

•   Health Records 

•   Report Cards 

•   Ability and Achievement Test Scores 

•   Hearing, Vision, Physical and Speech/Language Screening 

•   Review by the Instructional support teams. 

Screening activities are conducted upon requests made, in writing, by parents and teachers.  Before screening begins, the District seeks parental consent to conduct a multi-disciplinary evaluation.  Parents who believe their child is exceptional may request a multi-disciplinary evaluation at any time through a written request to the building principal. For information relating to definitions and warning signs for developmental delays, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, autism,etc., please click here. 

Surrogate Parents

1. The McKeesport Area School District is responsible for assigning a surrogate parent within 30 days.
    
2. The McKeesport Area School District identifies the legal status of the child in need of a surrogate parent to determine if the student is a court or agency placement in a private home; parents or guardians are unknown (1305); a ward of the Commonwealth or Pennsylvania or ward of the Court; parent of guardian are unknown (1306).  Unaccompanied youth are also considered homeless and include a child who is a runaway or who has been kicked out by their parent.  A surrogate also needs to be assigned to unaccompanied youth.
    
3. The McKeesport Area School District completes the Allegheny Intermediate Unit's application form for Obtaining a Surrogate Parent and submits it to the Surrogate Parent Coordinator of the AIU.
    
4. The AIU Surrogate Parent Coordinator will assign a trained, qualified, and available surrogate parent to the child.   If no such qualified surrogate parent is available, the Surrogate Parent Coordinator will work with the district or agency to recruit qualified persons. 

Due Process

Parents have the right to participate in all testing and placements procedures.  A detailed list of all procedures will be made available upon request. 

Confidentiality of Student Records

McKeesport Area School District protects the confidentiality of personally identifiable information regarding exceptional and protected handicapped students in accordance with state and federal law and district policy.  Parents have the right to review all information. Records are disposed of in a timely manner after notification of parents.

Internet Based Resources

educators interested in learning more about procedural safeguards and dispute resolution options.

The following internet-based audio and video educational materials can all be found on ODR’s website at http://odr-pa.org/. 

Procedural Safeguards Notice

This audio recording of Pennsylvania’s procedural safeguards notice (PSN) was created by ODR in order to make critical information available in different modalities.  Listeners can access the recording through section specific links which are organized by the PSN table of contents.

http://odr-pa.org/procedural-safeguards-notice/

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the PSN

This series of brief videos presents basic information about the PSN in FAQ format.

http://odr-pa.org/procedural-safeguard-notice-videos/

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the Resolution Meeting

This video provides information about the mandated resolution meeting which was established under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  Parents and schools will find useful information as they prepare to participate in a resolution meeting.  

http://odr-pa.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Resolution_Meeting/English_Video/FRMEnglish.html?iframe=true&width=700&height=520

INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAM (IEP) Facilitation

This video provides information about ODR’s IEP facilitation service, including information about the role of the facilitator,and how to request and prepare to participate in a facilitated IEP meeting. 

http://odr-pa.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/video-files/iep-fac/iepfac.html?iframe=true&width=700&height=520

Mediation

Viewers can learn about the mediation process by observing a mock special education mediation session.  This video presentation includes information about the process, the mediator and the

benefits of participating in special education mediation.

http://odr-pa.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/video-files/mock-mediation/mm.html?iframe=true&width=700&height=520

To learn more about the previously mentioned no-cost services, contact ODR at 1-800-222-3353 or visit their website at http://odr-pa.org/.