Menu
JFABE Educational Opportunities for Military Children

JFABE

SHUTESBURY SCHOOL COMMITTEE

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR MILITARY CHILDREN

To facilitate the placement, enrollment, graduation, data collection, and provision of special services for students transferring into or out of the District because of their parents or guardians being on active duty in the U.S. Armed Services, the District supports and will implement its responsibilities as outlined in the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children.  The district believes it is appropriate to remove barriers to educational success imposed on children of military families resulting from frequent moves required by parents' or guardians' military deployment.

Definitions

Children of military families:  School aged children, enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade, in the household of an active duty member of the uniformed service of the United States, including members of the National Guard and Reserve serving on active duty.

Deployment:  The period one month before the service members' departure from their home station on military orders through six months after return to their home station.

Education(al) records:  Official records, files, and data directly related to a student and maintained by the school including, but not limited to, records encompassing all the material kept in the student's cumulative folder.

Eligible students are children of military families as well as the children of veterans who have been severely injured and medically discharged, and children of active duty personnel who died on active duty.  Children of retired active duty personnel are also eligible to receive services for one year following the discharge due to severe injury, or the retirement or death of an active military parent.  The Compact does not apply to children of inactive Guard or Reserves, veterans and retired personnel not included above, or U.S. Department of Defense personnel and other federal civil service employees and contract employees.

The District's responsibilities to eligible students include the following:

•  Sending schools must send either official or unofficial records with the moving students and District receiving schools must use those records for immediate enrollment and educational placement.

•  Upon enrollment of an eligible student, the receiving school must request official records and the sending schools shall respond within 10 days with the records.

•  Immunization requirements of the District may be met within 30 days from the date of enrollment (or be in progress).

•  Receiving schools must initially honor placement of students in all courses from the sending school.  These include, but are not limited to, Honors, International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, vocational-technical, and career pathway courses if those courses are offered in the receiving school and space is available. The receiving schools must also initially honor placement of like programs to those of the student in the sending state, including, but not limited to, Gifted and Talented programs, and English as a Second Language programs. Receiving schools are not precluded from performing subsequent evaluation to ensure the appropriate placement and continued enrollment of the student in courses and programs.

•  In compliance with federal law, the district will assume financial and programmatic responsibility for the special education programs of students with existing IEPs drafted in other states.

•  As appropriate, the District will exercise the right to waive prerequisites for all courses and programs, while also maintaining its right to re-evaluate the student to ensure continued enrollment, also as deemed appropriate.

•  Students of active duty personnel shall have additional excused absences, as necessary, for visitations relative to leave or deployment.

•  An eligible student living with a noncustodial parent or other person standing in loco parentis shall be permitted to continue to attend the school in which he or she was enrolled while living with the custodial parent or guardian, without any tuition fee imposed.

•  The District high school will accept exit or end-of-year exams required from the sending state, national norm-referenced tests, or alternate testing instead of testing requirements for graduation in the District (receiving state.)  If this is not possible, the alternative provision of the Interstate Compact shall be followed to facilitate the on-time graduation of the student in accordance with Compact provisions.

LEGAL REFS:  M.G. L. 15E;

SOURCE:  MASC October 2019

Reviewed by Shutesbury School Committee:  11-21-19
First Reading by Shutesbury School Committee:  01-16-20
Second Reading by Shutesbury School Committee:  02-13-20
Final Vote by Shutesbury School Committee:  04-16-20