Definitions
Child or Student with Disabilities – Students eligible for special education and related services
pursuant to Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and applicable law.
Parentally Placed Private School Children with Disabilities – Children with disabilities enrolled in
private schools or facilities by their parents. This does not include students placed in private schools
or facilities when the local district's offer of a free appropriate education is rejected.
Agency Placed Private School Children with Disabilities – Children enrolled or referred to private
schools or facilities by court order, by a state department or division or by the North Kansas City
School District.
Approved Private School/Facilities – Those facilities and schools approved by the Missouri State
Board of Education to provide special education and related services.
Private School – Nonpublic secular, religious or home schools.
Parentally Placed Private School Children
Child Find
In order to ensure the equitable participation of parentally placed private school children with
disabilities in the district’s special education program and an accurate count of those children, the
superintendent or designee will conduct a thorough and complete child find process to determine the
number of parentally placed children with disabilities who are attending private schools located in
the district after consultation with representatives from private schools and parents of parentally
placed private school children with disabilities. The process will include publication prior to
November 1 of each year of the district’s obligations under the IDEA in accordance with law and
Board policies and procedures.
The superintendent or designee will consult with representatives of private schools in the district to
determine the best method for conducting the count, which will be taken between October 1 and
December 1 of each year. This count will provide the basis for next year's obligation.
The superintendent or designee will maintain records of parentally placed private school children
with disabilities, including an accurate count of such children and provide the Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) records concerning the number of parentally placed
private school children evaluated, the number of those children determined to be children with
disabilities and the number of children then served by the district.
Consultation
In order to ensure the timely and meaningful consultation with representatives from private schools
and representatives of parents of parentally placed private school children required by law, the
special education director will meet with those representatives at least twice annually.
These two (2) meetings will include discussion of:
1. The child find process, including how parents, teachers and private school officials will be
informed of that process and how students suspected of having a disability can participate
equitably.
2. The proportionate share of funds available to serve parentally placed private school children,
including how the proportionate share was calculated.
3. How the consultation process involving the district, private school officials and parents will
work throughout the school year to ensure that parentally placed children with disabilities
can meaningfully participate in special education and related services.
4. A plan for delivery of services, including how, where and by whom special education and
related services will be provided. The plan must include the types of services offered,
whether the services will be provided directly or through an alternative delivery mechanism
and how funds will be apportioned if insufficient. The plan must also specify how and when
these decisions will be made.
5. An assurance that the district will provide a written explanation should the district and
private school officials disagree on the provision of services or types of services provided.
6. An explanation of how the consultation process will operate throughout the school year.
The private school official shall provide the district with a written affirmation that consultation has
taken place. Should the private school officials fail to provide such affirmation at the conclusion of
the meeting or within a reasonable time thereafter, the special education director will forward
documentation of the consultation process to DESE.
Provision of Services
No parentally placed private school child with a disability has an individual right to receive some
or all of the special education and related services the child would receive if enrolled in a public
school. However, pursuant to Board policy, the North Kansas City School District will provide
equitable special education and related services to eligible students to the extent required by state
and federal law.
The special education director or designee will direct the development and implementation of a
service plan for eligible children in consultation with parents and representatives from the private
school where the child attends. The service plan must, to the extent appropriate, be developed,
reviewed and revised consistent with the procedures used to develop, review and revise an
Individualized Education Program (IEP), and a representative of the private school must be included.
Services may be provided directly by the North Kansas City School District or through an individual,
association, agency, organization or other entity through contract with the North Kansas City School
District. Personnel providing services by contractual arrangement will meet the same certification
standards as district personnel. Service plans will, to the extent appropriate, meet the same standards
as an IEP.
Services will be provided at the district or at a neutral local site determined by the district in
consultation with the parents and representatives of the private school. The Missouri State Plan for
Special Education prohibits the provision of services, equipment and personnel on-site at a private
school. If necessary to implement the service plan, the district will provide transportation from the
child's private school to the site where services will be provided or from the services site to the
child's private school.
Special education and related services provided to parentally placed private school children with
disabilities, including materials and equipment, will be secular, neutral and nonideological.
The district will spend an amount equal to a proportionate share of the federal money received by
the district for provision of special education and related services.
Complaint Resolution
The district will make the final decision with respect to services provided. However, if the district
and private school representatives disagree regarding the provision of services, the district will
provide a written explanation of its decision regarding services to the private school representatives.
If private school representatives believe that the district has not engaged in timely, meaningful
consultation or did not give due consideration to the views of private school representatives, the
private school representatives may submit a complaint to DESE in accordance with law. Board
policy AC prohibits retaliatory actions based on making complaints of prohibited discrimination or
harassment based on participation in an investigation, formal proceeding or informal resolution
concerning prohibited discrimination or harassment.
The due process procedures provided to students with disabilities in public schools do not apply to
complaints brought by parentally placed private school children with disabilities unless the complaint
relates to child find activities.
Children Placed in or Referred to Private Schools/Facilities
A child with a disability placed in or referred to an approved private school or facility by the state
or the North Kansas City School District as a means of providing special education and related
services will be provided a free and appropriate public education, including special education and
related services, by the district where the private school or facility is located in accordance with the
child’s IEP and at no cost to the child’s parents. A representative of the school or facility where the
child is enrolled will be a member of the IEP team.
These children are subject to the same policies, procedures and practices as other students with
disabilities served in district facilities.
Children Enrolled in Private Schools by Their Parents as a Rejection of the District’s Offer
of a Free and Appropriate Public Education
The district is not responsible for the cost of special education and related services for eligible
children in situations where the district has offered a free and appropriate public education but the
parents have rejected that offer and elected to place the student in a private school without district
referral or consent. A parent may seek reimbursement for the cost of private school placement by
utilizing due process procedures.
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Note: The reader is encouraged to review policies and/or forms for related information in this
administrative area.
Implemented: 12/13/2005
Revised: 03/08/2011
North Kansas City School District, Kansas City, Missouri
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