Special Education

Special Education Resources

Child Find Letter to Community

Dear Mill River Schools Community:

My name is Coral Stone and I serve as the Director of Student Services for MRUUSD.  I am reaching out to you today in order to introduce myself and to provide you with information about our district’s process for and commitment to conducting special education evaluations of students, which falls under a legal umbrella known as “Child Find”.

In my role, one of my primary responsibilities under Child Find is to ensure that all children and students with disabilities who are in need of special education and/or related services and who are legal residents of the towns of Clarendon, Shrewsbury, Tinmouth or Wallingford, be identified, located, and evaluated by the Mill River Unified Union School District, at no cost to the parent.  To help meet this goal, each Spring we circulate an annual Child Find notification to our local newspaper(s), and post it within prominent locations in the community including each of our schools, to inform the parents and the public about their right to seek an evaluation.  (You may soon see some of these postings and paper listings.)

We additionally maintain close collaborative partnerships with multiple community agencies who often assist parents with obtaining evaluations and/or services through the school district.  Ultimately, the main goal of these comprehensive efforts is to provide information directly to families and community agencies to help us identify students who are in need of special education and related services to meet the needs resulting from a disability.

An additional process that we utilize throughout the school year on an ongoing basis within each of our schools is known as the Educational Support Team. Theprimary function of our EST is to receive referrals relating to individual students and to design and implement accommodations and/or interventions to meet those needs.  The EST considers all available supports and resources within the school, and in so doing may also make a referral for a special education evaluation where the student is suspected of both having a disability and a need of special education and/or related services.  The EST submits their referral to me to then review and act upon accordingly.

Partnerships between schools and parent are crucial to the success of our efforts to support and education all students within our community.  It is my hope that this communication provides you with additional information to help you better understand how special education evaluations can be sought in our district.  I would also welcome the opportunity to speak with anyone who might have questions or wishes to receive additional information on anything that is related to special education in our district.  I can be reached via email at cstone@millriverschools.orgor by phone at the MRUUSD Central Office at (802)-775-3264.

Best Regards,

Coral Stone, M. Ed.

Director of Student Services

Mill River Unified Union S.D.