(1) The board of education or trustees of each school district shall conduct a census in accordance with Education Law, sections 3240, 3241 and 3242, to locate and identify all students with disabilities who reside in the district and shall establish a register of such students who are entitled to attend the public schools of the district or are eligible to attend a preschool program in accordance with section 4410 of the Education Law during the next school year, including students with disabilities who are homeless or who are wards of the State. The register of such students and others referred to the committee as possibly having a disability shall be maintained and revised annually by the district committee on special education or the committee on preschool special education, as appropriate. Procedures shall be implemented to assure the availability of statistical data to readily determine the status of each student with a disability in the identification, location, evaluation, placement and program review process. Census data shall be reported by October 1st to the committee on special education or committee on preschool special education, as appropriate.

(2) Data requirements.

(3) Data collection. All persons involved in the collection of data shall have received prior training and written information regarding the procedures to be followed in collecting the data.

(4) Data reporting. The reporting of data shall be conducted in accordance with the following policies and procedures:

(5) The board of education or trustees of each school district shall keep on file the register and related summary reports which shall be available to the district superintendent of the supervisory district in which the district is located or other representatives of the State Education Department.

(6) Paragraphs (1)-(5) of this subdivision shall not apply to schools and students subject to the provisions of articles 81, 85, 87 and 88 of the Education Law and chapter 1060 of the Laws of 1974. Schools subject to the provisions of such articles and chapter shall keep their own census of students, and shall submit such census directly to the commissioner on forms prescribed by the commissioner.

(7) Procedures to locate, identify, and evaluate all nonpublic private elementary and secondary school students with disabilities, including religious-school children as required by the Education Law must be established to ensure the equitable participation of parentally placed private school students with disabilities and an accurate count of such students. The child find activities must be similar to activities undertaken for students with disabilities in public schools and must be completed in a time period comparable to that for other students attending public schools in the school district. The school district shall consult with representatives of private schools and representatives of parents of parentally placed private school students with disabilities on the child find process.

(1) to ensure that students with disabilities residing in the district have the opportunity to participate in school district programs, to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of the student including nonacademic and extracurricular programs and activities, which are available to all other students enrolled in the public schools of the district, which may include counseling services, athletics, transportation, health services, recreational activities, special interest groups or clubs sponsored by the school district, referrals to agencies that provide assistance to individuals with disabilities and employment of students, including both employment by the school district and assistance in making outside employment available;

(2) to ensure that each preschool student with a disability residing in the district has the opportunity to participate in preschool programs, including timely evaluation and placement;

(3) for appointing and training appropriately qualified personnel, including the members and chairpersons of the committee on special education and the committee on preschool special education, to carry out the functions identified in this Part;

(4) to implement the provisions of section 200.6(a) of this Part and to provide special services or programs, to the extent appropriate to the needs of the student, to enable the student to be involved in and progress in the general education curriculum;

(5) for the purpose of ensuring that parents have received and understand the request for consent for evaluation of a preschool student;

(6) for the purpose of ensuring the confidentiality of personally identifiable data, information or records pertaining to a student with a disability. Such personally identifiable information shall not be disclosed by any officer or employee of the State Education Department or any school district, or member of a committee on special education or committee on preschool special education to any person other than the parent of such student, except in accordance with sections 300.500 through 300.536 and sections 300.610 through 300.625 and part 99 of title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations (Code of Federal Regulations, 2009 edition, title 34, sections 300.500-300.536, sections 300.610 through 300.625, and part 99, Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-0001; 2009 - available at the Office of Counsel, New York State Education Department, State Education Building, Room 148, 89 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12234);

(7) for implementing schoolwide approaches, which may include a response to intervention process pursuant to section 100.2(ii) of this Title, and prereferral interventions in order to remediate a student's performance prior to referral for special education;

(8) for the selection and board appointment of an impartial hearing officer consistent with the procedures in paragraph (e)(1) of this section and section 200.5(j) of this Part;

(9) and establishes a plan, pursuant to sections 1604(29-a), 1709(4-a), 2503(7-a) and 2554(7-a) of the Education Law, to ensure that all instructional materials to be used in the schools of the district are available in a usable alternative format, which shall meet the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard; in accordance with appendix C to part 300 of title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations (Code of Federal Regulations, 2009 edition, title 34, part 300, appendix C, Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-0001; 2009 - available at the Office of Counsel, New York State Education Department, State Education Building, Room 148, 89 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12234), for each student with a disability in accordance with the student's educational needs and course selections at the same time that such materials are available to nondisabled students. For purposes of this paragraph, alternative format is defined as any medium or format for the presentation of instructional materials, other than a traditional print textbook, that is needed as an accommodation for a student with a disability enrolled in the school district, including but not limited to Braille, large print, open and closed captioned, audio, or an electronic file. An electronic file must be compatible with at least one alternative format conversion software program that is appropriate to meet the needs of the individual student. The plan shall:

(10) to ensure that:

(11) that identify the measurable steps it shall take to recruit, hire, train and retain highly qualified personnel, as defined in section 120.6 of this Title and 34 CFR 300.18 (Code of Federal Regulations, 2009 edition, title 34, section 300.18, Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-0001; 2009 - available at the Office of Counsel, New York State Education Department, Room 148, State Education Building, 89 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12234), to provide special education programs and services;

(12) that describe the guidelines for the provision of appropriate accommodations necessary to measure the academic achievement and functional performance of the student in the administration of districtwide assessments;

(13) that identify how the district, to the extent feasible, will use universal design principles in developing and administering any districtwide assessment programs; and

(14) to ensure that the school district publicly reports on revisions to its policies, procedures and/or practices upon a finding by the department that the district has inappropriate policies, procedures or practices resulting in a significant disproportionality by race/ethnicity in the suspension, identification, classification and/or placement of students with disabilities.

(1) Each board of education which receives an apportionment for eligible students with disabilities, pursuant to section 3602 of the Education Law, or preschool students with disabilities pursuant to section 4410 of the Education Law shall use such apportionments for special education programs and services which are in accordance with the provisions of this Part. Each board of education which receives such apportionment shall keep on file and make available for public inspection and review by the commissioner an acceptable plan as required by subdivision 8(b) of section 3602 of the Education Law.

(2) Each such plan shall include, but need not be limited to, the following:

(3) Any change to the allocation of space for special education programs shall be made in consideration of the needs of participating students with disabilities for placement in the least restrictive environment and for the stability and continuity of their program placements.

(4) The district plan, with personally identifiable student information deleted, shall be filed and available for public inspection and review by the commissioner.

(1) Approval of services for students with disabilities. The board of education or board of trustees of each school district shall, upon completion of its review of the recommendation of the committee on special education for special education programs and services, including changes to the committee on special education's recommendation made pursuant to section 200.4(g) of this Part, in accordance with section 200.4(e)(1) and (2) of this Part, arrange for the appropriate special education programs and services to be provided to a student with a disability as recommended by the committee on special education. The board shall notify the parent of its action in accordance with section 4402(2)(b)(2) of the Education Law.

(2) Approval of services for preschool students with disabilities. The board of education or the board of trustees of each school district shall, upon completion of the recommendation of the committee on preschool special education for special education programs and services, including changes to the committee's recommendation made pursuant to section 200.4(g) of this Part, arrange for appropriate special education programs and services for a preschool student with a disability, as recommended by the committee on preschool special education, from among the services and programs approved for such purpose by the commissioner. The board shall notify the parent, the municipality and the commissioner of its action in accordance with section 4410 of the Education Law.

(1) the name and statement of the qualifications of each impartial hearing officer who is:

(2) persons from whom the district shall choose a surrogate parent pursuant to section 200.5(n) of this Part; and

(3) preschool programs within the county in which the district is located and preschool programs in adjoining counties, or, in the case of districts located in the City of New York, preschool programs within the City of New York and preschool programs within counties adjoining the City of New York. The list of preschool programs shall be available for dissemination at appropriate sites including, but not limited to, prekindergarten, day care and head start programs within the district, and Early Childhood Direction Centers.

(1) Responsibility for ensuring the availability of instructional materials in alternative formats for students with disabilities. By July 1, 2002, each BOCES shall establish a plan to ensure that all instructional materials to be used in the programs of the BOCES are available in a usable alternative format, which shall meet National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard in accordance with appendix C to part 300 of title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations (Code of Federal Regulations, 2009 edition, title 34, part 300, appendix C, Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-0001; 2009 - available at the Office of Counsel, New York State Education Department, State Education Building, Room 148, 89 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12234), for each student with a disability in accordance with the student's educational needs and course selections at the same time that such materials are available to nondisabled students. For purposes of this subdivision, alternative format is defined as any medium or format for the presentation of instructional materials, other than a traditional print textbook, that is needed as an accommodation for a student with a disability enrolled in a program of the BOCES, including but not limited to Braille, large print, open and closed captioned, audio, or an electronic file. An electronic file must be compatible with at least one alternative format conversion software program that is appropriate to meet the needs of the individual student. The plan shall:

(2) Responsibility to identify and take measurable steps to recruit, hire, train and retain highly qualified personnel. Each BOCES shall identify and take steps to recruit, hire, train and retain highly qualified personnel to provide special education programs and services to students with disabilities served by the BOCES.