• Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)

    RCSD practices align with NYSED (New York State Education Department expectations to Provide Students with Disabilities with Specially-Designed Instruction and Related Services in the Least Restrictive Environment.

    Students with disabilities have a fundamental right to receive their special education supports in a classroom and setting that, to the maximum extent appropriate, includes students without disabilities. Under federal law, the presumption is that students with disabilities will attend the same schools they would have attended if they did not have disabilities and that removal or restriction from their regular schools and classrooms can only occur for reasons related to the student’s disability when the student’s individualized education program (IEP) cannot be satisfactorily implemented in that setting, even with the use of supplementary aids and services.

    Least restrictive environment (LRE) means that placement of students with disabilities in special classes, separate schools or other removal from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that, even with the use of supplementary aids and services, education cannot be satisfactorily achieved. 

    The placement of an individual student with a disability in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) must:

    • provide the special education (specially designed instruction) needed by the student;
    • provide for education of the student to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of the student with other students who do not have disabilities; and
    • be as close as possible to the student's home.

    The individualized education programs (IEPs) of students with disabilities must be developed in conformity with the Least restrictive environment (LRE) requirements as follows:

    • placement must be based on the student’s IEP and determined at least annually at the Committee on Special Education
    • placement must be as close as possible to the student’s home, and unless the student’s IEP requires some other arrangement, the student must be educated in the school he or she would have attended if not disabled
    • in selecting the LRE, consideration must be given to any potential harmful effect on the student or on the quality of services that he or she needs
    • a student with a disability must not be removed from education in age-appropriate regular classrooms solely because of needed modifications in the general education curriculum

    The RCSD follows the Least restrictive environment (LRE) Implementation Policy of the Board of Regents.  This policy established that all students with disabilities must have equal access to a high-quality program based on their individual needs and abilities and designed to enable them to achieve the desired learning results established for all students. This policy applies to the full continuum of placements where students with disabilities may receive their special education supports and services. 

     

    CSE does not determine the location the special education services will be provided. Placement of students in RCSD schools is based on the availability of open seats at the time the student is being placed. Availability varies throughout the year based on student enrollment at any given time. Student placement into a school building is determined and  communicated through the Placement Office.