Disaster Planning and Response: Indiana Department of Education
Special Education Guidance
Regarding Enrollment of Students With Disabilities
Affected by Hurricane Katrina

Families displaced by Hurricane Katrina are beginning to arrive in the State of Indiana.  Some of these families’ children received special education and related services in their previous school.  However, due to the circumstances of the hurricane, it is highly unlikely that these families will have copies of their children’s’ individualized educational programs (IEPs), and schools will in most cases not be able at this time to forward IEPs or other special education-related records to the children’s new schools in Indiana. 

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), which became effective on July 1, 2005, requires a local educational agency to implement the IEP (provide services comparable to those described in the IEP) of a student transferring to an Indiana school from another state until a new evaluation is conducted (if necessary) and the student’s case conference committee convenes to develop an IEP.  The student’s case conference committee must convene within 10 instructional days of enrollment. 

The Indiana Department of Education realizes that it will be difficult to implement the IEP of students who do not have access to their IEPs.  Accordingly, the Department strongly recommends that educational agencies take the following steps with respect to students with disabilities displaced by the hurricane.

1. When a student who received special education services is enrolled in school, meet with the student’s family to ascertain as closely as possible the types of special education and related services the student received in their previous school.
2. Place the student in a setting that is comparable to the setting in the previous school.
3. Convene the case conference committee within 10 instructional days of enrollment to develop an interim IEP.  At the same time, obtain consent from the family to conduct an educational evaluation.  Top priority should be given to the educational evaluations for students with disabilities affected by the hurricane.   

Do not hesitate to contact the Indiana Department of Education’s Division of Exceptional Learners at (317) 232-0570 or toll free at 1-877-851-4106 for further assistance.  Additional general guidance is also available on the Department of Education’s web site at: www.doe.state.in.us/exceptional.