Page 109 - Special Education in Ontario, Kindergarten to Grade 12: Policy and Resource Guide

Draft PART D: The Identification, Placement, and Review Committee (IPRC) Process The Parents’ Guide
Each school board is required to prepare a parents’ guide to special education.
(See Ontario Regulation 181/98, subsection 13(1))
At a minimum, the parents’ guide to special education must contain the information set out in the sample guide that is included in Appendix D-1 in this part of the guide.
Once an IPRC has been requested, parents must be provided with a copy of the guide, which contains information on the IPRC and the decision- making process.
The parents’ guide provides information on the following topics:
• the function of the IPRC and the IPRC review;
• the procedure for identifying a student as exceptional and for deciding
the student’s placement;
• the IPRC’s duty to describe the student’s strengths and needs;
• the IPRC’s duty to include the student’s exceptionality and the category
and definition of that exceptionality in its statement of decision;
• the function of a special education appeal board (SEAB) and the parents’
right to appeal the decision of the IPRC to such a board;
• the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the Provincial and
Demonstration Schools;
• whether and to what extent the school board purchases special
education programs and/or services from another school board;
• a list of local parents’ organizations eligible to be on a Special Education
Advisory Committee (SEAC);
• the fact that an IPRC placement decision cannot be implemented unless
a parent has consented to the decision or has not filed a notice of appeal within the required time limit.
All parents should be informed by means of an item in the school newsletter, or by other appropriate means, at least once each year, of the availability of the school board’s special education guide for parents. At the same time, parents should also be informed of their right to request that their child be referred to an IPRC.
Upon request of the parents or the student, the parents’ guide must be made available in Braille, large-print, or audio format. Copies of the
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