Syracuse City School District
Foreign Language Exemption Rationale
Student Name _____________________________________
CSE Meeting Date ________________________ School _________________________
The Syracuse City School District Special Education Department believes that all students (with the exception of those students who are assessed with the New York State Alternate Assessment) shall have the opportunity to participate in Foreign Language classes at the middle school level. However, the department recognizes that there are some students who may not be able to complete the class work due to a documented disability. Therefore, we first recommend that students should be enrolled in a foreign language for at least 6-10 weeks at the middle school level or high school level. Should the coursework prove to be unmanageable and frustrating for the student despite appropriate effort by the student, the building may submit a referral to the committee on Special Education to exempt the student based upon the following documentation at a CSE meeting, as well as information provided by the foreign language teacher.
*In extreme cases of students that have a severe language disability, a meeting should be held with the school building liaison to determine overriding this process and going straight to exception.*
This student is exempted from the NYS foreign language requirement due to the following: (please circle one or more below):
· Severe Speech and Language Impairment (The student has a severe deficit in vocabulary, syntax, morphology, auditory memory, phonemic awareness, utilizes assistive technology for communication or a word retrieval deficit.) as measured by the:________________________________________________________________
· The student exhibits a significant hearing loss as demonstrated by an audiogram dated:
· The student is assessed by the NYSAA
· The student has a severe delay in reading, spelling, and written expression, (ie. student requires tests to be read.
· Auditory/Language Processing Disorder including poor auditory comprehension, lengthy response time and short term memory deficits.
· Other: ___________________________________________________
Parent is in agreement with exempting their son/daughter from the foreign language requirement. They have been informed this may limit the college their child is able to attend and the child may need to take a foreign language in college to graduate. The parent is also aware that their child needs to accumulate 22 credits to graduate from the Syracuse City School District with a general education diploma. Parent has been informed that their child may continue in a foreign language if the parent so chooses.
Parent signature ____________________________________
Student signature ___________________________________
Foreign Language Waiver Process
1. Student has completed 6-10 weeks of a foreign language at the Middle or High School Level, or in extreme cases the building liaison is contacted to determine if a FLW is necessary immediately, without having to complete any FL course work. If so proceed to step 5.
2. Student has experienced significant difficulty with the course work due to his/her disability. Poor attendance or motivational factors are not a basis for exemption. Ongoing discussion with parent is necessary.
3. Special Education Teacher and Foreign Language Teacher conference regarding student and determine student should be referred for a foreign language waiver through the building PST. Parent discussion regarding waiver is ongoing. Foreign language Rationale is signed by parent following discussion with Special Education teacher.
4. Building PST determines that a Referral to CSE for a COP will be initiated on behalf of the student. PST should ensure that the foreign language teacher is invited to the CSE meeting in the appropriate space on the Referral to CSE.
5. The Referral to CSE and Foreign Language Exemption form are submitted to the Special Education Department along with any documentation to support the exemption.
6. Committee on Special Education Meeting is held to determine if the student will be exempted from the Foreign Language Requirement. Minutes from the CSE meeting will document the rationale for exemption from a foreign language requirement as well as information provided by the Foreign Language teacher.
7. If an exemption is not found to be appropriate, “monitor foreign language” will be placed under special alerts section of the IEP.
Special Education Department
02/07/2017