Special Education: Southside Special Services of Marion County: Services, Staff, & Responsibilities
As part of the interlocal agreement, the FTCSC accepts students from the Beech Grove City Schools who require more intensive instruction than is available in their home school district. These students are placed by their case conference committee into either the Comprehensive Intervention Program (CIP) or in a program designed to serve students who have a significant emotional disability. The SSSMC also has a full time audiologist who assists the four corporations who comprise the SSSMC.
Also part of the interlocal agreement is that students from the FTCSC who require a more restrictive placement due to a hearing loss or require the capacity to communicate with peers using a signed language system will attend school have the option of attending the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) program located in the MSD of Perry Township. These programs are located at Mary Bryan Elementary, Southport 6th Grade Academy and Middle School, and Southport High School.
The RISE Learning Center (RLC) is also a part of the SSSMC and is considered the most restrictive placement we have available for our students. Students whose needs are so significant that the CIP cannot provide them with a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) may be placed at the RLC in what is referred to as the MOVE program (mobility opportunities via education).
The SSSMC provides occupational therapy and physical therapy to all eligible students within the FTCSC. The FTCSC provides office space for these therapists who work throughout all of the schools within the FTCSC. Services may be provided by a physical therapist or a physical therapy assistant under the direct supervision of a physical therapist; or by an occupational therapist or a certified occupational therapy assistant under the direct supervision of an occupational therapist. Per Indiana regulatory language, physical therapy may not be provided to a student unless there is a current attending physician’s statement on file indicating the student’s necessity for the physical therapy.
In addition, the SSSMC provides licensed teachers to work with students who are blind or have low vision (BLV) as well as licensed teachers for students who are DHH for whom the case conference committee has determined the school within the FTCSC is their least restrictive placement. These SSSMC teachers are the student’s teacher of record, and are therefore responsible for developing each eligible student’s IEP, but may only see the students once or twice a week. They therefore work consultatively and collaboratively with the FTCSC special education teachers in the student’s school who see the student on a daily basis.
These SSSMC teachers also attend all case conference committee meetings for students from the FTCSC who attend either the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired or the Indiana School for the Deaf. These SSSMC teachers ensure that our students from the FTCSC are provided with a FAPE while attending either of the two state-funded facilities. These SSSMC teachers also ensure that the student’s case conference committees are fully aware of what services the student could receive should the case conference committee decide to return the student to the FTCSC.
The SSSMC provides guidance and oversight assistance for all federally required special education indicators monitored by the Indiana Department of Education. In addition, the SSSMC provides a Manifestation Facilitator who attends all manifest determination case conference committee (MDCCC) meetings for any student with a disability who may be facing expulsion charges. The SSSMC Manifestation Facilitator is a neutral party to the MDCCC and provides guidance to the MDCCC as they review the circumstances which have led to the student with a disability facing an expulsion.