Changes to the State-Required Special Education Written Notice Form (effective June 22, 2009)

INFORMATION LETTER NO: 5
POLICY CODE: BGB

TO: Superintendents of Schools; Child Development Services Regional Board Chairs; Directors of Special Education; Child Development Services
Regional Site Directors; MADSEC; Maine Parent Federation; Southern
Maine Parent Awareness
FROM: Susan A. Gendron, Commissioner
DATE: July 24, 2009
RE: Changes to the State-Required Special Education Written Notice Form (effective June 22, 2009)

Per my Informational Letter #113, Policy Code BGB, issued on June 25, 2009, I notified you of emergency amendments that the Legislature made to the Maine Unified Special Education Regulations (MUSER), Birth to Age 20.

In response to the change to MUSER on page 109, §X.2.A(7)(c), a bracketed reminder has been added at the end of the set of check boxes on page 1 of the Written Notice form. It reads

[Reminder: Per LD 489, the Individualized Educational Program (IEP)
Team for children identified under IDEA, Section 619 must make a determination about
extended school year (ESY) services at every IEP Team meeting; the IEP
Team may make a determination about ESY services based on available
data, including information about a child’s disability, even if an interruption
in service has not occurred; and, in accordance with the federal Individuals
with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, 20 United States Code,
Sections 1400 to 1485 (2008), a regional site may not unilaterally limit the
duration of ESY services.]

The effective date of June 22, 2009 has been put at the end of the form.

Other changes, unrelated to the newly-revised MUSER, have also been made to the Written
Notice form. They are:

On page 1, the phrase “Date Amendment(s) sent if parent requested a copy” has been changed to “Date Amended IEP/IFSP sent if parent requested a copy”;
A check-off box for “Other” has been added to the set of boxes on page 1; and
The phone number for Southern Maine Parent Awareness has been corrected.

The amended Written Notice form can be found at

www.maine.gov/education/forms/specialservices/progreview/writtennotice.doc .

If you have questions about the written notice, please contact Susan Parks at 624-6646 or susan.parks@maine.gov . or Jaci Holmes at 624-6669 or jaci.holmes@maine.gov .