Report 2015-112 Recommendation 11 Responses
Report 2015-112: Student Mental Health Services: Some Students' Services Were Affected by a New State Law, and the State Needs to Analyze Student Outcomes and Track Service Costs (Release Date: January 2016)
Recommendation #11 To: Mt. Diablo Unified School District
To ensure that it complies with federal and state requirements, Mt. Diablo should develop a process to ensure that IEP teams record, in student IEP documents, the rationale for residential treatment and any potential harmful effects of such placement.
1-Year Agency Response
The district provided a directive to staff to document explicitly on all IEPs the reason a student requires residential treatment and the potential harmful effects of such placement. This was in effect in fall 2017.
MDUSD has established a process by which the IEPs of students receiving residential treatment are reviewed monthly at the District Manager's meeting to ensure the IEPs contain the required documentation. If the IEP is found to be out of compliance the administrator case managing the student is directed to amend the IEP to include the information.
MDUSD will submit documents via the secure portal to illustrate the process and the examples of IEPs that contain the information explicitly stated along with examples of documents that were amended as part of the process to ensure the IEPs correctly identify the reason for residential treatment and the harmful effects of the placement.
- Completion Date: January 2017
- Response Date: January 2017
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented
Mt. Diablo submitted evidence that it is reviewing the IEPs of students receiving residential treatment and ensuring that the rationale for residential treatment and the potential harmful effects of that placement are documented. Additionally, Mt. Diablo formalized its policy to revise IEPs that it determines do not include this information and demonstrated that it amends IEPs to include those details.
6-Month Agency Response
The District has provided a directive that all reasons students are placed into residential treatment should be documented in the IEP, along with the potential harmful effects of such placement. At this time, IEPs have been held for two students where this has occurred.
- Completion Date: July 2016
- Response Date: October 2016
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Partially Implemented
Mt. Diablo did not submit evidence demonstrating that the rationale for residential treatment and the potential harmful effects of that placement were recorded in student IEPs. Accordingly, we continue to assess this recommendation as partially implemented.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
60-Day Agency Response
Staff placing students into residential programs have been provided with a directive stating that students being placed into residential programs will have an IEP which includes not only the reason for the placement but also the harmful effects of such placement.
Students placed in residential programs have quarterly reviews to this will take three months to implement fully.
- Estimated Completion Date: June 2016
- Response Date: March 2016
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Partially Implemented
All Recommendations in 2015-112
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.