Region 7 Early Childhood Newsletter
January 2019
Welcome Back!
Kinder Readiness Entry Deadline Fast Approaching
How do the different Kinder Entry Assessments stack up?
How does your district compare to state kinder readiness levels?
There's still time to enroll in January online courses!
Virtual Coaching (open through mid February)
Closing at the end of January:
Save the Date! Early Childhood Summit, PK - 2nd
Thursday, Jul 25, 2019, 08:30 AM
Region 7 Education Service Center, North Longview Street, Kilgore, TX, USA
The dates below are available for coaching, classroom setup, or on site trainings
May: 13, 17, & 20
New teacher support and EC site trainings: August: 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, & 30
To schedule a date, please contact me at rlemon@esc7.net
Long Term Sub and/or Non-Certified Teacher
Texas law requires that parents be notified if their child is assigned for more than 30 consecutive instructional days to an uncertified substitute, inappropriately certified teacher, or an uncertified teacher. Inappropriately certified or uncertified teachers include individuals on an emergency permit (including individuals waiting to take a certification exam) and individuals, including substitutes, who do not hold any certificate or permit.
Districts must make a good-faith effort to ensure that the notice is provided in a bilingual form to any parent or guardian whose primary language is not English. Sample letters in English and Spanish that meet the state requirement are available in the Contracts and Assignment section of the HR Library.
Inappropriately certified or uncertified status does not apply if the individual:
- Has a temporary classroom assignment permit (TCAP)
- Is in an alternative certification program
- Is serving with a school district permit
- Holds an out-of-state/country one-year permit
- Has hearing impairment certificate
- Serves under a waiver granted by the commissioner of education
TASB, https://www.tasb.org/Services/HR-Services/HRX/HR-Laws/ESSA-Parent-Notification-Requirements.aspx
ECE suspension, expulsion, and exclusionary discipline
We would like to remind all schools to exercise caution when implementing ECE discipline policies and placement decisions. Make sure that your policies are in keeping with the U.S. Dept of Ed and TEA policy statements.
- This policy statement is part of a series of Federal actions that aim to prevent, severely reduce, and ultimately eliminate expulsion and suspension in early childhood settings, and more broadly, to improve school climates and discipline across the educational spectrum.
- Early suspension, expulsion, and other exclusionary discipline practices contribute to setting many young children’s educational trajectories in a negative direction from the beginning.
- In addition, early childhood programs must comply with applicable legal requirements governing the discipline of a child for misconduct caused by, or related to, a child’s disability, including, as applicable, implementing reasonable modifications to policies, practices, or procedures to ensure that children with disabilities are not suspended or expelled because of their disability-related behaviors.
- Preventive and discipline practices should be used as learning opportunities to guide children’s appropriate behavioral development. Children’s desired behavior should be reinforced and consequences for challenging behavior should be developmentally appropriate and consistent.
- To prevent, severely limit, and ultimately eliminate expulsion and suspension practices, all program staff should have a strong set of skills; equally essential, however, is ensuring that they have access to additional support from specialists or consultants, such as early childhood mental health consultants, behavioral specialists, school counselors, or special educators.
To read the document in full and access the included list of resources, click here.
Federal and State Least Restrictive Environment Requirements
- To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are nondisabled; 300.114(a)(2)(i)
- Special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability of the child is such that education in regular classes with the use of SUPPLEMENTARY AIDS AND SERVICES cannot be achieved satisfactorily. 300.114(a)(2)(ii)
- In providing or arranging for the provision of nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities, the LEA must ensure that each child with a disability participates with nondisabled children in the extracurricular services and activities to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of the child. 300.117
http://framework.esc18.net/display/webforms/ESC18-FW-Summary.aspx?FID=120