Erskine Academy offers a comprehensive Resource Room program staffed by three special education teachers and two educational technician IIIs to serve students with identified learning disabilities. The main goal of this program is to assist students in the area(s) of their identified disability so that they may benefit from the course offerings at Erskine. This special education service is a positive, motivational approach that encourages and supports students to realize their full potential, which is achieved through an appropriate Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and proper placement in mainstream classes. The IEP Team meets at least once during the academic year to review each student’s progress. Erskine Academy has three dedicated Special Education teachers supported by two education technicians.
Child Find for Special Education Eligibility
In accordance with the special education regulations of the State of Maine, each sending school administrative unit is responsible for identifying, locating, and evaluating all students within its jurisdiction who are in need of special education and supportive services, including students with disabilities attending private schools and home schools, regardless of the severity of their disabilities. This Child Find responsibility shall be accomplished through a unit-wide process which, while not a definitive or final judgment of a student’s capabilities or disability, is a possible indicator of special education needs. Each sending administrative unit shall ensure that all resident and other eligible students, including students who are enrolled in private schools or home schools, highly mobile students (migrant or homeless), students incarcerated in county jails and who are suspected of being a student with a disability and in need of special education even though they are advancing from grade to grade, are identified, located, and evaluated.
All students enrolled in the public schools of the unit or educated at public expense of the sending unit shall be identified, located, and evaluated. A unit that tuitions (on a tuition or contract basis) some or all of its students is responsible for child find either through appropriate arrangements with the receiving unit or school or through direct child find services by unit personnel or contracted personnel. Erskine Academy assists sending units’ Child Find obligations by screening all records of incoming students to gain knowledge of the needs of all enrolled students. Although this screening is informative and thorough, it is not intended to replace the sending school unit’s Child Find procedures.