Director outlines new 504 and special-education handbooks, para training and eligibility team

Jill Kenyon, the Pleasant Valley Community School District Director of Student Services, gave the board a comprehensive update on the district's Section 504 and special education work, saying the district is rolling out parent- and staff-focused handbooks and formalizing eligibility procedures.

Kenyon said the district developed a special-education parent handbook that will be posted on the district website this summer and given in hard copy to families of newly qualified students. "It's their handbook, not ours," she said, describing collaborative drafting with parents who helped write a welcome letter for the guide.

She also described a new 504 staff handbook and a district-level committee for eligibility decisions, created to avoid single-person determinations. "Instead of, like, 1 person kind of saying yay or nay, we have a team now," Kenyon said, adding the committee meets regularly and follows a seven-stage process for 504 referrals and determinations.

Kenyon reviewed efforts to clarify the intersection of 504 plans and health plans. She said the district brought nurses into the discussion and is reviewing state guidance to decide when an issue should be handled by a health plan and when it should trigger a 504.

On training and supports, Kenyon said the district will pilot more systematic paraeducator assignment and professional learning so paras can better support—and eventually fade supports for—students who need help. She described three district training sessions this year for paras (including de-escalation training) and said the district will offer a multi-module "building stronger brains" series next year with AEA facilitators.

Board members praised the work and asked for additional materials for families. One board member asked Kenyon to prepare a brief handout explaining how special-needs families can navigate the public-education system given uncertainty about Area Education Agency (AEA) services; Kenyon agreed to produce guidance when the district has more clarity.

Kenyon and other speakers noted that the district has been reviewing federal and state legal guidance and created an IEP compliance checklist and other tools to standardize practice. She also said staff are tracking eligibility and have seen families accept decisions reached through the new team-based process.

The presentation drew broad support from the board, which recommended continuing stakeholder engagement and said the district's approach could be useful to other districts.

The board did not take a formal action on the 504 update; Kenyon said the materials will be finalized for publication this summer.