Common use of Advisory Panel Clause in Contracts

Advisory Panel. (A) PDE will establish the “Bureau Director’s Advisory Panel on Least Restrictive Environment Practices” (the Advisory Panel), a special advisory group to the Bureau Director. The purpose of the Advisory Panel will be to review system-wide progress in the delivery of individualized specially designed instruction in regular education classrooms to students with disabilities in Pennsylvania, to analyze and report periodically on the status of implementation of this agreement, and to advise PDE on implementation. (B) The Advisory Panel will consist of fifteen members, at least nine of whom will be parents of children with disabilities who are not employed by PDE or by any school district or other local educational agency in Pennsylvania. During the life of the Settlement Agreement, the members will be selected annually as follows: (1) Twelve members will be selected by the organizational plaintiffs, as provided in Section IV.2(B)(5) of the Settlement Agreement. (2) Three members will be selected by the Bureau Director. (3) All members will serve for terms of one year, and will be eligible for reappointment to additional terms up to a maximum of five terms in succession. (4) The membership of the Advisory Panel will be representative of the population of children served in special education in Pennsylvania with respect to race, ethnicity, cultural characteristics, geography, and age. (5) The organizational plaintiffs will be responsible jointly for selecting twelve members of the Advisory Panel. These members will include persons with recognized expertise in research and practices related to the provision of a free appropriate public education to children with disabilities in the least restrictive environment. The names of the organizational plaintiffs’ initial representatives will be forwarded to the Bureau Director by no later than the sixtieth day following the effective date of the Settlement Agreement, and by no later than March 31 of succeeding calendar years during the life of the Settlement Agreement. (6) In the event of a vacancy, the party or parties who selected the member will designate a replacement. (C) Advisory Panel members will receive reimbursement at Commonwealth rates for their travel costs to participate in the work of the Advisory Panel. (D) The initial meeting of the Advisory Panel will be held no later than ninety days following receipt by PDE of the names of the organizational plaintiffs’ twelve initial nominees. (E) The Advisory Panel will meet quarterly to review and evaluate all relevant data on system-wide progress in implementation of all components of the Settlement Agreement and to make recommendations for continued progress. (F) The Advisory Panel will develop a committee structure to facilitate the effective performance of its work. (G) The Advisory Panel will select from among its members a Chair and a Vice Chair. The Advisory Panel will develop its own operating rules and procedures (which will be consistent with state law and PDE policies applicable to the deliberations of advisory panels), designate the committees it considers necessary to its effective operation, and appoint Advisory Panel members to committees. (H) PDE will make data available to assist the Advisory Panel in assessing the efforts of school districts and other programs in assuring a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment for schoolchildren with disabilities. The Advisory Panel will review samples of student IEPs to determine whether school district staff understand and are following the policies on compliance monitoring set forth in Section IV.4 of the Settlement Agreement. (I) Data made available to the Advisory Panel will include the number of special education students in each school district who begin first grade outside the regular education classroom in their neighborhood schools. (J) Data provided to the Advisory Panel will be in a form that complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-191, 110 Stat. 1936 (1996); the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g; IDEA; and other applicable federal and state privacy laws. (K) The Bureau will provide a reasonable level of support, including staff support, to the Advisory Panel consistent with PDE’s budgetary resources and as determined by the Bureau Director. (L) The Advisory Panel will assist in the design of an assessment of the needs of school district and intermediate unit personnel in research-based practices and the provision of supplementary aids and services in regular education classes. The needs assessment will evaluate actual practice in districts against standards for good practice in the field. (M) The Advisory Panel will assist the Bureau Director in identifying school districts in Pennsylvania that have developed exemplary programs and practices in the area of education in the least restrictive environment, recognize these districts through awards, and assist them in developing materials for dissemination that will assist other districts in replication of their work.