SPECIAL EDUCATION AT WHITMAN INFORMATION FOR PARENTS OF STUDENTS
WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS, IEPS AND 504s
From the Whitman PTSA Students with Accommodations Committee - August, 2014
LISTSERV - Keep informed by signing up for the snpn listserv for the special ed community (parents,
teachers and staff) in the Whitman cluster. The listserv announces meetings and lectures being held at
Whitman and in the local area, as well as being a forum for discussion on academic and non-academic
issues of relevance to families with students with IEPs, 504s, and special learning needs.
To subscribe, send an email to [email protected] (leave the body and subject blank).
BOOKSHARE is a free resource for students with a wide variety of reading, language and print disabilities
to give them access to thousands of books for downloading. In addition to other tools, students can
listen to books with high quality text-to-speech voices and see and hear words as they are being read
and highlighted. More information at https://www.bookshare.org/
Contact Cindy Williams, who handles the Bookshare program at Whitman, to complete the paperwork
to get your Bookshare account. Phone 301-320-6608; email [email protected]
WHOM TO CONTACT AT WHITMAN if problems arise during the year. Staff directory http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/whitmanhs/staff/directory.aspx
Case Manager - All students with an IEP have a case manager. Families should have been
contacted by their case manager the week before school started. The case manager makes sure
the IEP is implemented, monitors goals and accommodations, and informs teachers about
students in their classes and their accommodations.
Counselor - All students are assigned a guidance counselor. They monitor student credits,
scheduling, their four year plan, and any issues that need counseling support. Contact them if
schedules need to be changed. The first three weeks of each semester is the window for
changing classes, though exceptions can be made for IEP-related reasons. For more
information, see the CAC tip sheet on Talk to your Counselor When . . .
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/whitmanhs/counseling/tipsheets.aspx
Teacher - For issues related to class work and assignments. For more information, see the CAC
tip sheet on Talk to your Teacher When . . .
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/whitmanhs/counseling/tipsheets.aspx
HOW TO CONTACT WHITMAN STAFF if problems arise. Always include the case manager in any
correspondence. Email is recommended as the fastest means of communication.
First level - The student is encouraged to contact the appropriate staff in person or by email.
Second level - The parent can send an email, call or request an in-person meeting.
Third level - If the problem persists, include in the correspondence, the department chair (listed
in the staff directory as the subject resource teacher). Diane Long is the head of the Special Ed
Department and Frances Landau is the head of the Guidance Department.
Fourth level - Contact Kathy McHale, the Assistant Principal for Special Education.
If the problem is not specific to an individual student or if you would like informal advice, please contact
Teresa Jones [email protected], Elise Browne Hughes [email protected], or
Cindy Campbell [email protected], the Co-chairs of the PTSA Students with
Accommodations Committee.
ACCOMMODATIONS - Case managers are charged with giving teachers and co-teachers a grid with the
accommodations listed for each student in their classes. High school students are encouraged to remind
teachers and staff of their accommodations, even though the school expects that teachers will provide
the required accommodations.
When students have testing accommodations for the county-wide final exams, High School Assessments
(HSA) and Common Core tests, Kathy McHale, the school test coordinator, ensures the accommodations
are in place and any required special materials have been ordered and received.
If issues related to accommodations arise, please contact the case manager for students with IEPs or the
guidance counselor for students with 504 plans.
For the PSAT, SAT, ACT and AP tests, the counselors and case managers work with parents to ensure
they request submission of proof of the need for accommodations and complete the paperwork to send
to the testing service. For students with IEPs, this often occurs during the IEP meeting in 9th grade. The
College Board and the ACT make their own determinations on accommodations for their tests. For the
PSAT and AP tests that take place at Whitman, the school must follow the accommodations from the
College Board.
ACADEMIC INTERVENTIONS - A complete list of interventions for each subject was compiled recently
and gives the breadth of options for helping students.
http://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/whitmanhs/ptsa/Interventionlist%20Walt%20
Whitman%20High.pdf