IPRC (Identification, Placement and Review Committee) Information Guide
Serving The Needs of Exceptional Pupils
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Table of Contents:
Purpose
The purpose of this parents’ guide is to provide you with information about the Identification, Placement, and Review Committee (IPRC). It sets out for you the procedures involved in identifying a pupil as “exceptional”, deciding the pupil’s placement, or appealing such decisions if you do not agree with the IPRC. It addresses the most commonly asked questions from parents. (Note: “Parent” includes Guardian)
What is an IPRC?
It is a committee that makes recommendations and decisions relating to the identification and the placement of exceptional pupils. Regulation 181/98 requires that all school boards set up IPRCs. An IPRC is composed of at least three persons, one of whom must be a principal or supervisory officer of the board. Other members may include the following: vice principal, resource teacher and classroom teacher. The Ontario Student Record will be included as documentation presented at an IPRC.
May parents attend the IPRC meeting?
Regulation 181/98 entitles parents and pupils 16 years of age or older:
• to be present at and participate in all committee discussions about your child; and
• to be present when the committee’s identification and placement decision is made.
Who else may attend an IPRC meeting?
The following people may attend:
• the principal of your child’s school;
• other resource people such as your child’s teacher, special education staff, board support staff, or the representative of an agency, who may provide further information or clarification;
• your representative – that is, a person who may support you, or speak on behalf of you, or your child; and
• an interpreter, if one is required (You can request the services of an interpreter through the principal of your child’s school).
Who may request that others attend?
Either you or the principal of your child’s school may make a request for the attendance of others at the IPRC meeting.
What is the role of the IPRC?
The IPRC will:
• decide whether or not your child should be identified as exceptional;
• identify the areas of your child’s exceptionality, according to the categories and definitions of exceptionalities provided by the Ministry of Education and Training;
• decide an appropriate placement for your child;
• review the identification and placement at least once in each school year.
The Limestone District School Board provides a range of placement options to meet the varying needs of exceptional pupils:
• regular class with indirect support
• regular class with resource assistance
• regular class with withdrawal assistance
• special education class with partial integration
• special education class full-time
Who is identified as an exceptional pupil?
The Education Act defines an exceptional pupil as “a pupil whose behavioural, communication, intellectual, physical or multiple exceptionalities are such that he or she is considered to need placement in a special education program”. Students are identified according to the categories and definitions of exceptionalities provided by the Ministry of Education and Training.
What is a special education program?
A special education program is defined in the Education Act as an educational program that is based on and modified by the results of continuous assessment and evaluation; and includes a plan (called an Individual Education Plan or IEP) containing specific objectives and an outline of special education services that meet the needs of the exceptional pupil.
What are special education services?
Special education services are defined in the Education Act as the facilities and resources, including support personnel and equipment, necessary for developing and implementing a special education program.
What is an IEP?
The IEP (Individual Education Plan) must be developed for your child, in consultation with you. It must include:
• specific educational expectations;
• an outline of the special education program and services that will be received;
• a statement about the methods by which your child’s progress will be reviewed; and
• for students 14 years and older (except those identified as exceptional solely on the basis of giftedness), a plan for transition to appropriate post secondary school activities, such as work, further education, and community living.
Based on the decisions of the IPRC, the IEP must be completed within 30 days after your child has been placed in the program. The principal must ensure that you receive a copy of it.
How is an IPRC meeting requested?
The principal of your child’s school:
• must schedule an IPRC meeting for your child, upon receiving your written request;
• may, with written notice to you, refer your child to an IPRC when the principal and the child’s teacher or teachers believe that your child may benefit from a special education program.
Within 15 days of receiving your request, or giving you notice, the principal must provide you with a copy of this guide and a written statement of approximately when the IPRC will meet.
What information will parents receive about the IPRC meeting?
At least 10 days in advance of the meeting, the chair (principal) of the IPRC will provide you with written notification of the meeting and an invitation to attend the meeting as an important partner in considering your child’s placement. This letter will notify you of the date, time, and place of the meeting and it will ask you to indicate whether you will attend.
Before the IPRC meeting occurs, you will receive a written copy of any information about your child that the chair of the IPRC has received. This may include the results of assessments or a summary of information.
What if parents are unable to make the scheduled meeting?
If you are unable to make the scheduled meeting, you may:
• contact the school principal to arrange an alternative date or time; or
• let the school principal know that you will not be attending.
As soon as possible after the meeting, the principal will forward to you, for your consideration and signature, the IPRC’s written statement of decision noting the decision of identification and placement and any recommendations regarding special education programs and services.
What happens at an IPRC meeting?
• The chair introduces everyone and explains the purpose of the meeting.
• The IPRC will review all available information about your child. The committee will:
- consider an educational assessment of your child;
- consider, subject to the provisions of the Health Care Consent Act, 1996, a health or psychological practitioner if they feel that such an assessment is required to make a correct identification or placement decision;
- interview your child, with your consent if your child is less than 16 years of age, if they feel it would be useful to do so; and consider any information that you submit about your child or that your child submits if he or she is 16 years of age or older.
• The committee may discuss any proposal that has been made about a special education program or special education services for your child. Committee members will discuss any such proposal at your request, or at the request of your child if the child is 16 years of age or older.
• You are encouraged to ask questions and join in the discussion.
• Following the discussion, after all the information has been presented and considered, the committee will make its decision.
What will the IPRC consider in making its placement decision?
Before the IPRC can consider placing your child in a special education class, it must consider whether placement in a regular class with appropriate special education services will:
• meet your child’s needs; and
• be consistent with your preferences.
After considering all of the information presented to it, and if the IPRC is satisfied that placement in a regular class will meet your child’s needs, the committee will decide in favour of placement in a regular class. If the IPRC is not satisfied that the regular classroom will meet your child’s needs the committee will select one of the other placement options (See page 2).
If the committee decides that your child should be placed in a special education class, it must state the reasons for that decision in its written statement of decision.
What will the IPRC’s written statement of decision include?
The IPRC’s written statement of decision will state:
• whether the IPRC has identified your child as exceptional;
• where the IPRC has identified your child as exceptional;
- the categories and definitions of any exceptionalities identified, as they are defined by the Ministry of Education and Training;
- the IPRC’s description of your child’s strengths and needs;
- the IPRC’s placement decision; and
- the IPRC’s recommendations regarding a special education program and special education services
• where the IPRC has decided that your child should be placed in a special education class, the reasons for that decision.
What happens after the IPRC has made its decision?
• If you agree with the IPRC decision, you will be asked to indicate, by signing your name, that you agree with the identification and placement decisions made by the IPRC. The statement of decision may be signed at the IPRC meeting or taken home and returned.
• If the IPRC had identified your child as an exceptional pupil and you have agreed with the IPRC identification and placement decision, the board will promptly notify the principal of the school at which the special education program is to be provided of the need to develop and Individual Education Plan (IEP) for your child.
Once a child has been placed in a special education program, can the placement be reviewed?
• A review IPRC meeting will be held within the school year, unless the principal of the school at which the special education program is being provided receives written notice from you, the parent, dispensing with the annual review.
• You may request a review IPRC meeting any time after your child has been in a special education program for 3 months.
What does a review IPRC consider and decide?
• The review IPRC considers the same type of information that was originally considered.
• With your written permission, the IPRC conducting the review will consider the progress your child has made in relation to the IEP.
• The IPRC will review the placement and identification decisions and decide whether they should be continued or whether a different decision should now be made.
What can parents do if they disagree with the IPRC decision?
• If you do not agree with either the identification or placement decision made by the IPRC, you may:
- within 15 days of receipt of the decision, request through the principal that the IPRC hold a second meeting to discuss your concerns; or
- following the second IPRC meeting if you continue to disagree with the decision of the committee or have concerns you may initiate a mediation process through the Principal of Educational Services;
- subsequent to the completion of the mediation process, you may file a notice of appeal within 15 days.
• If you do not consent to the IPRC decision and you do not appeal it, the board will instruct the principal to implement the IPRC decision.
How do I appeal an IRPC decision?
If you disagree with the IPRC’s identification of your child as exceptional or with the placement decision of the IPRC, you may, within 15 days after the mediation process is concluded give written notification of your intention to appeal the decision to Mr. Ron Sharp, Director of Education and Secretary. Postal Bag 610, 220 Portsmouth Avenue, Kingston, Ontario K7L 4X4.
The notice of appeal must:
• Indicate the decision with which you disagree; and
• Include a statement that sets out your reasons for disagreeing.
What happens in the appeal process?
The appeal process involves the following steps:
• The board will establish a special education appeal board to hear your appeal.
• The appeal board will be composed of three persons (one of whom is to be selected by you, the parent) who have no prior knowledge of the matter under appeal.
• The chair of the appeal board will arrange a meeting to take place at a convenient time and place, but no later than 30 days after he or she has been selected (unless parents and board both provide written consent to a later date).
• The appeal board will receive the material reviewed by the IPRC and may interview any persons who may be able to contribute information about the matter under appeal.
• You, the parent, and your child, if he or she is 16 years old or over, are entitled to be present at, and to participate in, all discussions.
• The appeal board must make its recommendation within 3 days of the meeting ending. It may:
- agree with the IPRC and recommend that the decision be implemented; or
- disagree with the IPRC and make a recommendation to the board about your child’s identification, placement, or both.
• The appeal board will report its recommendations in writing, to you and to the school board, providing the reasons for its recommendations.
• Within 30 days of receiving the appeal board’s written statement, the school board will decide what action it will take with respect to the recommendations (boards are not required to follow the appeal board recommendation).
• You may accept the decision of the school board, or you may appeal to a Special Education Tribunal. You may request a hearing by writing to the secretary of the Special Education Tribunal. Information about making an application to the tribunal will be included with the appeal board’s decision.
What special education programs and services are provided by the board?
Most exceptional pupils receive special assistance in their regular classroom. Support may be provided through school staff as well as the district resource team. Some pupils may require support through withdrawal from the regular classroom. Listed below is an overview of programs & services available in The Limestone District School Board:
• Youth Access
• Speech/Language Assessment
• L.D. Resource Assistance
• Clinical Assessment
• School to Community
• Attendance Counselling
• Hearing/Visual Impairment
• Student Support Counselling
• English as a Second Language
• Home Instruction
• Behaviour Learning Centres
• Community Living
• Challenge Programs
• Transitions Planning
• Early Intervention & Literacy
• Community Partnerships
• District Programs Secondary School
• S.A.L.E.P.
• Autism Resource Support
Further assistance is available upon request with parental consent for involvement in community and government agencies, i.e. Pathways for Youth; Sagonaska Demonstration School.
What organizations are available to assist parents?
Many parent organizations are available to provide information and support to parents of exceptional children.
Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC)
The Board has a Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC) made up of trustees and representatives from local associations of parents, including:
• Kingston & District Association of Parents of Physically Handicapped Children
• Community Living Kingston
• Community Living Napanee
• Learning Disabilities Association of Kingston (L.D.A.K.)
• North Frontenac Association for Community Living
• Epilepsy Kingston
• Autism Society of Kingston (A.S.O.)
• Parents for Children’s Mental Health
• Kingston Down Syndrome
• The Community-at-Large*
*(Members who are not representative of a local association and are not members of the Board or of a committee of the Board.)
The mandate of SEAC is to make recommendations to the school board in respect to any matter affecting the establishment, development and delivery of special education programs and services for exceptional students of the board. In addition, SEAC is provided the opportunity to participate in the annual review, budget process and review of financial statements of the board. SEAC meets monthly and meetings are open to the public. Dates and times may be confirmed by calling Educational Services.
Contact phone numbers are available through Educational Services at 542-9871 and the Limestone District School Board directory.
Referral to Provincial Schools
Beyond the school board, another possibility that exists to meet student needs is a referral coordinated and submitted by the school board to a Provincial School for students who are deaf, blind, or deaf-blind or to a Provincial Demonstration School for students who have severe learning disabilities.
What are the Ministry’s provincial and demonstration schools?
The Ministry operates provincial and demonstration schools throughout Ontario for deaf, blind, deaf-blind, severely learning-disabled students, as well as those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Residential programs are offered at the schools Monday to Friday, for students who live too far from school to travel daily.
Demonstration schools for English-speaking students with ADHD and severe learning disabilities:
Sagonaska School
350 Dundas St. W.
Belleville, ON K8P 1B2
Phone: (613) 967-2830
Amethyst School
1090 Highbury Ave.
London, ON N5Y 4V9
Phone: (519) 453-4400
Trillium School
347 Ontario St. S.
Milton, ON L9T 3X9
Phone: (905) 878-2851
Schools for the deaf:
Ernest C. Drury School
255 Ontario St. S.
Milton, ON L9T 2M5
Phone/TTY: (905) 878-2851
Sir James Whitney School
350 Dundas St. W.
Belleville, ON K8P 1B2
Phone/TTY: (613) 967-2823
Robarts School
1090 Highbury Ave.
London, ON N5Y 4V9
Phone/TTY: (519) 453-4400
School for the blind and deaf-blind:
W. Ross Macdonald School
350 Brant Ave.
Brantford, ON N3T 3J9
Phone: (519) 759-0730
Francophone school for the deaf and for those with learning disabilities:
Centre Jules-Leger
281 rue Lanark
Ottawa, ON K1Z 6R8
Phone: (613) 761-9300
TTY: (613) 761-9302, (613) 761-9304
Contact Us:
Educational Servics
153 Van Order Drive Kingston, ON K7M 1B9 Phone: (613) 542-9871 Fax: (613) 542-1727 TTY: (613) 542-8526 |
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This information guide is available in Braille and audio-cassette format.
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