Student Services

Welcome to Valley View Schools' Student Services Department.  Kevin Phillips is the Student Services Director and he can be reached at (937) 855-6581, dial 5 for student services, then dial 2 for his office.  He can also be reached through Lisa Minton, the Student Services Administrative Assistant at (937) 855-6581, dial 5 for Student Services, then dial 1 for her office.  

School Psychologist services are provided through the Montgomery County Educational Service Center (MCESC) for preschool - 12th grade.  To reach our school psychologists please contact Lisa Minton at (937) 855-6581, dial 5 for student services, then dial 1 for her office or email her at Lisa.minton@valleyview.k12.oh.us.

MCESC also provides our Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapist, a part-time Adapted Physical Education teacher, some of our Speech/Language Pathologists and other related services.

For assistance, please contact us at one of the phone numbers or email addresses listed above.  

The Student Services department serves students who have been identified as having disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA 2004). Services are provided in accordance with Ohio’s Operating Standards for Children with Disabilities and the Special Education Model Policies and Procedures.

Valley View is focused on locating and evaluating, and possibly identifying all children in the community who may have a disability from birth through 21 years of age.  

For infants and toddlers, a disability means that a child has a delay in one or more of the following developmental areas: adaptive behavior, cognition, communication, physical development, vision, hearing, and/or social-emotional functioning.  

Children ages 3 through 5 may have a disability if a child has a documented deficit in one or more of the following developmental areas: communication, motor skills, adaptive behavior, social emotional functioning, hearing impairment, visual impairment, developmental delay, cognitive ability and/or autism. 

For school age students, a disability means that a student has been identified as having one or more of the following disabilities: autism, deaf-blindness, hearing impairment including deafness, orthopedic impairment, multiple disabilities, cognitive disability, emotional disturbance, specific learning disability, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, other health impairment and/or visual impairment including blindness.

According to Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act, any student with a handicap will not be discriminated against and may qualify for special services. An individual with a handicap means a person who has, or had, or is regarded as having a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of his/her major life activities.

Valley View Local Schools continues to seek the assistance of parents and guardians of children with suspected disabilities who are not presently served. District personnel will request information about the child. Information may be collected in several ways including interviews, observations, screenings and testing. 

School-age students, ages 5-21, who qualify for special education services, under IDEIA, are identified as having disabilities in the following areas: Autism, Deaf-Blind, Emotional Disturbance, Hearing Impairment, Intellectually Disabled, Multiple Disabilities, Orthopedic Handicapped, Other Health Impairment, Specific Learning Disabilities, Speech/Language Impairment, Traumatic Brain Injury, Visually Impaired. Preschool students can be identified with these same disabilities and the additional category of Developmental Delay can also be considered.

Special education services for each student with disabilities are written into each student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). Services may be provided in a variety of settings, with the goal being to educate each student in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE); which means providing services in the regular classroom environment to the maximum extent possible.

Preschool children with disabilities, beginning on their third birthday, are entitled to the same type of services as are school age students. Preschool students can be served in a center based delivery model or an itinerant delivery model with a visiting teacher. Questions concerning this program should be addressed to Denise Kovacs at (937) 855-6581.

Each building operates under an Intervention Model to help determine if a disability exists. Our schools utilize MTSS (Multi-Tiered System & Supports) to help teachers design and document the use of interventions in their classrooms.  These interventions are designed by the building MTSS team to positively impact the student’s educational program by enhancing his/her chances to make progress in the general curriculum.  Screeners are in place to look at all children to determine the need for tiered intervention.  However, parents who have concerns about their child’s educational progress should contact their child’s principal or classroom teacher to discuss those concerns.  

Sometimes the interventions designed by the MTSS team are not enough to meet the needs of an individual student. Based upon the student’s response to the interventions or the student’s apparent need for special instruction, the student may need to be referred for an evaluation to determine eligibility for special education.  In such cases, the school psychologist will become involved and relevant data will be collected including the various interventions tried and the results of those interventions.  If the information seems to warrant it, a meeting is held and a building team, including the student’s parents, meets to determine if the student is suspected of having a disability.  If that is the case, parent permission is received and the process for a multi-factored evaluation is started.  After completion of this evaluation, the team (including the parent) reconvenes to determine if the child meets legal criteria for eligibility for a specific disability.  If the child meets eligibility criteria, the team (including the parents) will develop an Individualized Education Program (IEP) with specific goals and objectives, specialized services, accommodations as needed and a determination of where the services will be provided for the child. 

Valley Local School District has a duty to locate, evaluate and identify students with disabilities. The beginning of the Child Find process starts with a staff member, agency or parent suspecting a child may have a disability.

Referral Process

A referral for special education services may be made by a parent of a child, staff member or a public agency by initiating a request for an initial evaluation to determine if the child is a child with a disability.

●     Parents can submit a referral letter any time in writing. If a staff member receives a parent referral they should forward the letter immediately to the Student Services Director. The request for an evaluation may be received in writing or verbally.

●     Staff can submit a Referral for Evaluation (PR-04) to the school psychologist and the Student Services Director. Referral for evaluation must be filled out entirely and include a record of interventions.

The district has 30 days to respond to the referral and determine if the district agrees with suspecting a disability. A PR-01 will accompany this decision and describe next steps.

Special Education Evaluations (ETR) Planning for comprehensive evaluations

The school psychologist ensures prior written notice is provided to the parents of a child with a disability that describes any evaluation procedures the school district proposes to conduct and the disability that is being suspected.

All ETRs should start with a comprehensive planning meeting using the evaluation planning form.

Each member of the evaluation team should participate in the planning process including the parent.

The school will follow the reasonable attempts procedure to ensure parent involvement. Participants should sign the planning form.

In most cases, the school psychologist will lead the meeting and ensure the evaluation is in compliance with the Evaluation Procedures in Special Education Model Policies and Procedures:

●  If existing data is already present and will be used in the evaluation, specify the information already exists and identify who will report the existing data in the planning form.

●  If new data is needed, the school psychologist will indicate a new assessment is required and identify who will be responsible for the assessment and record it in the planning form.

●  The school psychologist is responsible to specify who is responsible for each evaluation procedure. The person responsible is the person who will write the Part 1 report.

●  Any assessment, whether the data exists prior to the report or whether it is a new assessment, data must be included in Part 1 of the ETR and summarized in Section 2.

Parent Consent

Prior to any evaluation procedure, informed parental consent must be granted in writing using the PR-05 form. It is the responsibility of the school psychologist to obtain written consent after the parent has participated in the planning process.

Written parental consent is required before an initial evaluation procedure can begin. If the evaluation is a reevaluation, the team can proceed without consent as long as the conditions outlined below (Reasonable Attempts) are met.

Reasonable Attempts

If the evaluation is a reevaluation, multiple attempts in multiple ways must be documented prior to conducting any assessment.

After the Student Services Director is notified, a PR-01 will be issued to the parents with a copy of the OP-09.

Document interventions and support

The Student Services Director uses a MTSS Process to ensure that evidence based interventions are provided to students that are performing below grade level.

To refer a student for evaluation, the PR-04 Form needs to be completed. In addition to the referral form, district staff needs to provide the following:

1. A description of the research-based interventions used;
2. How long the intervention was provided (how many weeks);
3. The intensity of the intervention-how often, and for how many minutes;
4. A description of the results compared to the baseline data;
5. The decision as a result of the intervention(s).

If interventions have not been implemented prior to the initial evaluation process they must be implemented during the evaluation period.

The data from interventions is an important part of any comprehensive evaluation.

Description of assessments, educational needs and implications for progress monitoring.

Eligibility Statement

The ETR team will determine eligibility and provide a statement of justification. The statement will describe how the student meets or does not meet the eligibility.

The statement must include how the disability affects the child’s progress in the general education curriculum.

If the planning form has 2 or more suspected disabilities listed, the Eligibility Determination Statement must indicate how the student meets the selected disability category and how the student does not meet the eligible disability category.

Valley View Local School makes every effort to ensure parents participate in their child’s Evaluation Team meeting.

The district works with the parents to schedule a meeting that fits their availability.

If parents are unable to attend in-person the district provides alternative means of meeting participation such as a phone conference, home visit, and/or a virtual meeting.

Initial Evaluations need to be completed within 60 calendar days of the date the district receives written parent consent.

If the ETR is not able to be completed in the 60 day time due to parent refusal, the district will document the attempts in the PR-09 and use an appropriate EMIS code. Other timeline exceptions include:

Adoption Process

When a new student with disabilities enrolls in the district the ETR/IEP Adoption Process will be followed.

The IEP team will specifically use the In-State and Out-of-State process to complete the adoption.

Required ETR Team members

All members of the ETR team are expected to be in attendance for the evaluation. Personal information regarding required team members reference CF-7 in the Record Review Guide.

Observations

All initials and reevaluations, for any and all suspect disabilities, must include an observation on the evaluation planning form.

The observation should take place in the environment where the student is having difficulties to help determine if there is an adverse impact. Include the date, time and location of the observation.

See Observation Memo.

Evaluation Team Report Checklist

The School Psychologist/Speech Therapist is responsible for finalizing the ETR using the ETR Checklist.

The document will be verified by the Special Education Administrative Assistant and finalized within the IEP software program.

Copies of the ETR will be provided to the parents in the format that works best for them.

ETR Resources:

• IDEA Monitoring Process Guide- 2024 Record Review Guide
• ETR Roadmap
• Adding/Deleting a Related Service
• Observation Memo
• Universal Support Materials

For special education or psychological records, please contact Lisa Minton at (937) 855-6581, Option 5 Student Services, before 1:00 pm or email her at Lisa.minton@valleyview.k12.oh.us. She will need the date of birth of the person you are requesting records for, and that person will need to come in and sign a “Release of Records” in order to get copies.

Reference “A Guide to Parent Rights in Special Education” and more information on the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce website at https://education.ohio.gov/.

Parent Notification of Scholarship Programs for Students with Disabilities

Your child may be eligible for a scholarship under the Autism Scholarship Program or the Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship Program to attend a special education program that implements the child’s individualized education program and that is operated by an alternative public provider or by a registered private provider.

Information on scholarship programs is available from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce website at www.education.ohio.gov. Or for additional information or questions on these scholarship programs, contact: Office of Nonpublic Educational Options (614) 466-5743 Toll Free: (877) 644-6338 or e-mail autismscholarship@education.ohio.gov or peterson.scholarship@education.ohio.gov