Individualized Education Overview

The Individualized Education Team provides care and service to our students, families, and staff to help meet students’ individualized needs and goals. The team's primary purpose is to meet district, state, and federal requirements surrounding education through the following programs and services:

Programs

• Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education - The Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education Development (CLDE) program offers language acquisition skills for students who are non-native English speakers. Services and supports are offered to the students’ families through parent engagement nights, adult English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction, and summer camps.

• Gifted Education - The Gifted Education (GE) program offers enrichment opportunities to students who are formally identified as gifted in one of thirteen areas. Opportunities for GE students include direct instruction, camps, and other school and out-of-school events.

• Special Education - Our Special Education programs offer services and interventions across a variety and levels of students’ needs serving preschool through a post-secondary transition.  
  • Preschool - The district offers preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-old children. The programs are available either in the morning or afternoon at every elementary school.
  • Child Find (3-5 year olds) - Parents concerned about their child’s developmental progress may utilize the district’s Child Find process. Child Find administers a variety of assessments to identify areas of need for early intervention.
  • School-based programming includes identification, eligibility, and provision of individualized services for students with disabilities, and are provided through various programs within our district-operated and district chartered schools.

Services

• Community Care 
  • District 49 is dedicated to creating a district that cares for all of its stakeholders. Community Care supports the social and emotional needs of students, staff, and the community.

• Health Services
  • Nursing services in District 49 provide professional services relevant to the medical needs of students and are provided through direct intervention within the scope of Registered Nurse professional practice.  District nurses deliver services to include disease prevention/education, promotion of good physical health and efficiency such as prescribed in the healthcare plan/medication orders for students in the school setting.  District 49 nursing team is composed of 12 Registered Nurses who also supervise health room paraprofessionals at each school. 
• PEAK Education Center 
  • District 49 strives to educate all students at their neighborhood school. At times, a student may require a smaller class size, a higher teacher (adult) to student ratio, specific therapies, or other services and programs outside of the neighborhood school’s programming. A student’s support team (IEP team), which includes parents, determines the educational placement to best meet the student’s needs. A PEAK program is one option when considering placement. At all times, PEAK staff work towards the return of the student to his/her neighborhood school.