DRO and YRJ Sign Agreement with PPS to Provide Full School Days to Transition-Aged Students with Disabilities
On September 18, 2012, Portland Public Schools (PPS), Oregon’s largest school district, signed an agreement with Disability Rights Oregon (DRO) and Youth, Rights, and Justice (YRJ), another nonprofit law firm, regarding the district’s Community Transition Program (CTP). The agreement will end CTP’s practice of providing school programs of 12-15 hours per week to students with disabilities in violation of state and federal laws that require 990 hours of educational and transition services per year. The agreement requires PPS to provide full day programs of 990 hours per year to all 18-21 year old students with disabilities who are able and want to attend full-time but have not earned a regular diploma.
To support and ensure that result, the agreement also requires the district to retrain staff, revise all of the documents that it sends to parents and students regarding their right to receive full day programs, and provide academic skill instruction for students who need and desire it. Finally, PPS will provide data to DRO and YRJ that will allow them to monitor whether current and future CTP students are provided with 990 hours of services that are required by law.
You can access a copy of the agreement, a press release describing it, some of the revised materials that PPS will now send to parents, and a letter that we are sending to parents across the state whose children may have experienced similar problems by clicking on the appropriate links below. It is our hope that these documents can be tools that are useful for parents of transition-aged students in PPS and other districts.
DRO and YRJ now intend to focus on convincing the Oregon Department of Education that it should use the agreement as the model for effective oversight of this statewide problem. Until we are successful in that effort, parents of transition-aged students with disabilities can contact DRO for assistance with individual problems regarding special education services.
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