Special/Gifted Education

• Participates on the Student Assistance Team and/or Instructional Support Team Activities.
• Participates in Individualized Education Program (IEP) planning for all exceptional students in out-of-district placements, all original placements, and any other IEP request of teachers, administrators, or parent.
• Provides in-service training to district staff on matters of special education programs and psychological services.
• Develops districts special education plan in coordination with the Superintendent and Director of Education.
• Coordinates itinerant and other Intermediate Unit 08 services with the appropriate IU personnel.
• Participates in the hiring process of professional and non-professional special education staff.
• Represents district at interagency conferences and/or planning meetings.
• Observes and evaluates the in-class performance of all tenured/non-tenured special education teachers.

The school psychologist provides support and interventions to students; consults with families, teachers, administration, staff, and other school-employed mental health professionals (i.e., school counselors, school social workers) to improve support strategies; works with school administrators to improve school-wide practices and policies; and collaborates with community providers to coordinate needed services. Some specific duties of the school psychologist include:

• Participates in Student Assistance Team activities and/or Instructional Support Team activities.
• Works with administration and staff to develop screening procedures that will identify exceptional children as well as reduce inappropriate referrals to special education.
• Assists the professional staff in generating referrals for multi-disciplinary evaluations.
• Responds to parental requests for multi-disciplinary evaluations.
• Conducts psychological and academic assessments.
• Collects and interprets student and classroom data.
• Assesses diverse learning needs.
• Observes students during classroom and other activities as necessary.
• Serves as chairperson and/or member of the multi-disciplinary evaluation team (MDT) for initial evaluations and mandated re-evaluations.
• Aids in planning appropriate Individualized Education Programs for students with disabilities. 

The Special Education office is located in the Junior-Senior High School at: