[esd-dir] OSE - Sped Training Info

[CORNELISON Tonya]

On behalf of Nancy Latini
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

November 19, 2003

TO:	School District and ESD Superintendents
School District and ESD Special Education Directors

RE:	ORS 343 and Dissemination of Special Education Training Materials


ORS 343.151 states that "(2) The Department of Education shall distribute to
all school districts administrative guidelines, technical assistance
materials, practice guidance materials and other training materials it
develops for the purpose of assisting school districts and education service
districts in complying with the provisions of this chapter and with rules
adopted by the Department under this chapter. (3) Upon receipt of any
materials described in subsection (2) of this section, a school district or
education service district shall distribute copies of the materials to all
instructional staff."

Until recently, the Department of Education has distributed these materials
through a CD that has proven to be costly and cumbersome for everyone
involved.  A great deal of time and money has been invested in the
development and dissemination of this CD to school districts and ESDs.
Staff have identified a more timely dissemination of information via the
website.

The Office of Special Education engaged the Office of the Attorney General
for an informal opinion on expected responsibilities under this statute.
The opinion received indicates that dissemination of the required
information through electronic transmission meets the requirements of law,
and that school districts and educational service districts can meet the
intent of the law by then electronically disseminating this information to
all instructional staff.

In view of this opinion, we wanted to inform you of a change in how the
Office of Special Education will fulfill its responsibilities under this
specific statute.  The Office of Special Education will send district
special education directors a listing of all required and relevant
information under this ORS by way of the Special Edition listservs.  Items
specific to training and training opportunities of instructional staff will
be flagged.  The district special education director will then be
responsible for disseminating this information to district instructional
staff in any manner appropriate for the district.  The Office of Special
Education will send these messages twice a year, in December and May.

Thank you, in advance, for your attention to this matter.  Please feel free
to contact Eric Richards at 503-378-3600, Extension 2330, if you have any
questions.




Nancy J. Latini, Ph.D.
Associate Superintendent
Office of Special Education
(503) 378-3600, Ext. 2361