Each year special education placements are reviewed for all exceptional students. This review includes a discussion of the student’s exceptionality and placement.
For Grade 7 Students: In most cases no changes in exceptionality or placement will be recommended for the following school year for our grade 7 Gifted Program students. In these situations, the school and parents may choose to waive the annual review. The School Support Team (SST) at St. Andrew’s Junior High School has recommended that the annual review for all grade 7 students currently in the Gifted Program be waived at this time. This would mean that your son/daughter’s exceptionality and placement, as stated above, are maintained for the upcoming, 2012-2013, school year. A form requesting your signature was sent home with the Interim Report Card in November. An additional copy was sent home last week for students who had not yet returned a signed form. Please note that the receipt of this signed ‘Parent Option to Waive’ form is what is used by the TDSB to generate the class placement into our grade 8 Gifted Program for the 2012-2013 school year.
For Grade 8 Students: Since grade eight is the end of the elementary years and your son/daughter is transitioning into his/her secondary education, an IPRC Annual Review is required. (i.e., the Annual Review Meeting can not be waived) The Identification, Placement and Review Committee (IPRC) conducting this review will consider the current placement and identification as well as the progress. A letter was sent home in November asking if you would be able to attend the scheduled meeting on December 13, 2011. Every grade 8 student currently in the Gifted Program has to have a parent sign the Decision Sheet from this meeting. If you were able to attend on December 13th, you signed the Decision Sheet at the meeting and it is already being processed. Thank you to those parents who dropped into the school this week to sign the form. Please note that the receipt of this signed ‘IPRC Annual Review Decision Sheet’ is what is used by the TDSB to generate the class placement for the next school year. No offer will be made for a placement in a grade 9 Gifted Program without receipt of this signed sheet (original signatures only accepted) by the deadline. (N.B. Once the Co-Ordinator in charge of the Gifted placements has received the Decision Sheet, an “Offer of Placement” at a specific school will be sent to the school and given to your child. This will occur in the first half of February. It is at this point that you are asked to make the final choice as to whether you wish to accept the placement in the Gifted Program in grade 9, or you wish to go to an Optional Attendance school you applied to (if you receive a letter of acceptance), or you wish to go to your home school.)
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the homeroom teacher or me at 416-395-3090.
Sincerely,
Mrs. D. Drape, Vice-Principal
