SPECIAL EDUCATION
The Brewer School Department seeks to ensure that all children within its jurisdiction who are school-age 5 and under the age of 22, and who are in need of special education and supportive assistance, including homeless children, state wards, state agency clients, students who have been suspended or expelled, children attending private schools, receiving home instruction, children incarcerated in county jails, children who have the equivalent of 10 full days of unexcused absences or seven consecutive school days of unexcused absences during a school year, highly mobile children (including migrant or homeless), and children who are suspected of being disabled and in need of special education and supportive assistance even though they are advancing from grade to grade are identified, located and evaluated.
The Brewer School Department’s Child Find responsibility shall be accomplished through a unit-wide process which, while not a definitive or final judgment of a student’s capabilities or disability, is a possible indicator of special education needs. Final identification of students with disabilities and programming for such students occurs only after an appropriate evaluation and a determination by the IEP Team.
This Child Find process shall include obtaining data on each child through multiple measures, direct assessment, and parent information regarding the child’s academic and functional performance, gross and fine motor skills, receptive and expressive language skills, vision, hearing, and cognitive skills. The Brewer School Department may schedule Child Find activities during its annual kindergarten enrollment to assist in planning for necessary special education and related service at the start of the school year. If screening occurs in the spring prior to school entry, The Brewer School Department will refer the child to the regional Child Development Services (CDS) site within 10 school days.
If the Child Find process indicates that a student may require special education and supportive services in order to benefit from regular education, the student shall be referred to the IEP Team to determine the student’s eligibility for special education services.
School staff, parents, or agency representatives or other individuals with knowledge of the child may refer children to the IEP team if they believe that the student, because of a disability, may be in need of special education and supportive services in order to benefit from regular education. Such a referral should follow the school unit’s pre-referral and referral policy.
Angela Moore, Director of Special Education – amoore@breweredu.org
Pam McGinn, Assistant Director of Special Education – pmcginn@breweredu.org
Dr. Alison Glanville, Director of Psychological Services – aglanville@breweredu.org
Kurt Forcier, IEP Coordinator, Brewer High School – kforcier@breweredu.org
Janelle Jundt, IEP Coordinator, Brewer Community School – jjundt@breweredu.org
Colleen Courbron, Special Education Secretary – ccourbron@breweredu.org
Special Education Office
261 Center Street
Brewer, ME 04412
Phone: (207) 989-8636
Fax: (207) 989-8622
The Procedural Safeguards set forth in the Maine Unified Special Education Regulations are the rights that apply when children are in the referral process for special education, already identified under special education, or whose parents believe should be identified under special education.