Schools are governed by a wide variety of laws, regulations, and ordinances. California nonpublic, non-sectarian schools, which are certified to contract with public school districts to educate students with special needs, are governed by many more laws and regulations. All four of TIEE’s schools are certified by the California Department of Education as nonpublic, nonsectarian schools, so our schools must comply with a broad range of laws, regulations, and ordinances, and we make every effort so that they do. At TIEE, we believe that students and their parents have a right to expect more than is proscribed by law and regulation, so we offer the list below of the features of school and schooling that we believe parents can expect.
Parents have the right to expect certain things of schools
The following list of rightful parent expectations include those aspects of school and schooling that, as parents, we want, and we believe all parents have similar expectations:
Schools must be safe places.
Schools must be inviting places, organized and decorated to encourage attendance and positive behavior of all individuals who enter it.
School personnel should treat each student as an individual and in a manner like that of a caring family.
Schooling is the greatest helping hand that our society gives to its members, so it must include a curriculum that is relevant to the student as it is to the society at large and it must be imparted using effective and efficient methods, methods that have received empirical validation.
Schooling must also encourage students to be quality learners, respectful of their teachers, and friends with their fellow students.
Schooling must be free of bullying, and it must be free of “putdowns” or other disrespectful actions.
Schooling must be based on the practice of rewarding student effort and student achievement with praise and other favorable consequences.
Schooling must be a collaborative effort between school personnel and parents, an effort that involves open communication and frequent progress reports.
School personnel must be eager to be the best instructors they can be; they must be positive and supportive of their students, caring for them and their growth.
Learning more about student and parent rights
The following websites are provided for those interested in learning more about the laws and regulations governing schools, which constitute student and parent rights:
California Department of Education – www.cde.ca.gov
CA State Board of Education – www.cde.ca.gov/be
Office of Administrative Law: CA Code of Regulations – http://ccr.oal.ca.gov
CA Legislative Information – www.leginfo.ca.gov
CA State Assembly – www.assembly.ca.gov
CA State Senate – www.sen.ca.gov
U.S. Department of Education – www.ed.gov
Learning more about special education student and parent rights — California
CA Special Education Division: Information, Publications, etc. – www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/sr
Links to Sites Related to Special Education National and State Laws and Regulations – www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/sr/selinks.asp
CA Dept of Ed, Special Education Division – www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se
CA Special Education Programs: A Composite of Laws – www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/sr/selinks.asp
CA Advisory Commission on Special Education – www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/as/acse.asp
CA Quality Assurance Process – www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/qa
CA Focused Monitoring Technical Assistance Contact Information – www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/qa/fmtacncnt.asp
Transition to Adult Living: A Guide for Secondary Education – www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/sr/documents/transitiongde.pdf
Learning more about special education student and parent rights – Federal
U.S. Department of Education – www.ed.gov
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services – www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers
Code of Federal Regulations – www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/index.html
Other sites you may want to learn about
No Child Left Behind – www.cde.ca.gov/nclb
Western Regional Resource Center – www.rrfcnetwork.org/wrrc
National Dissemination center for Children with Disabilities – www.nichcy.org
Council for Exceptional Children – www.ideapractices.org
Special Education Procedural Safeguards
Student’s with special needs and their parents have numerous rights having to do with being assessed for special education eligibility, developing an Individualized Education Plan, and so forth. Click on the following site for a pdf document of current procedural safeguards: