Grades K–12
Special Education
Summit Learning Charter is a free public school, and we proudly support students with IEPs in grades K–12. Our support is built directly into daily online learning — never tacked on as an afterthought — so your child learns right alongside their peers. Every plan is created in true partnership: your child’s advisor, teacher, special education team, and you as the home learning coach work as a unified team to ensure your student is understood, supported, and empowered to thrive. Every learner has a unique path, and we are here to partner with you to build it.
- We are a public school Summit Learning Charter is sponsored by the Estacada School District. Every federal special education protection you have now, you keep here. Services are in accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to ensure the student continues to receive a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE).
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Services
Delivered in ways that fit an online learning environment. Ask us how your
child’s services would work.
- Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)
- Speech and Language Services
- Occupational Therapy (OT)
- Physical Therapy (PT)
- Other related services
- Accommodations
- Learning at home Online learning allows for flexibility and individualized scheduling, and is best suited with an adult at home as the learning coach. How much support your child needs from that adult depends on their grade and their plan — we’ll talk through what it would look like for your family.
The question we hear most
“My child already has an IEP. What happens if we enroll?”
Short answer: nothing lapses. Your existing IEP transfers with your child and stays in effect. Here is the actual sequence.
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Day 1
We request records and get started
We request special education records from the previous school immediately, and we do our best to provide services in the interim. We collaborate with you from the beginning. Nothing waits on paperwork.
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First days of enrollment
A case manager calls you, and services are scheduled
Once a licensed special education teacher is assigned to your child, they will call you to hear what has worked, what hasn’t, and what you want the team to know. Your student’s services will be scheduled into their week so you know when they are happening.
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10 days and ongoing
An IEP team meeting is scheduled
Depending on your child’s situation, this may be an amendment meeting, an annual IEP meeting, or another team meeting. Together, the family, the student, and the student’s IEP team members discuss how services will be delivered in an online setting.
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Ongoing
Progress reports and an annual review
You receive written progress toward IEP goals each grading period, and the team reviews the full IEP at least once a year. You can request a meeting any time — you never have to wait for the annual date.
Continuum of Services
Special education is not one program. It’s a range. Select a level to see what it looks like at Summit.
Key Features and Important Considerations
Your child takes the same courses as their peers. A special education case manager works with their teachers to make sure accommodations and/or modifications are happening, contacts your child/student on a regular basis, and tracks progress on IEP goals.
Important considerations
- In-person social interaction with peers and adults is limited in a virtual environment
- The learning coach at home is the primary day-to-day learning support
- Direct contact time with licensed educators may be limited
Key Features and Important Considerations
A special education teacher collaborates alongside the content teacher, helping them create, adapt, and guide coursework and learning.
Important considerations
- In-person social interaction with peers and adults is limited in a virtual environment
- The learning coach at home is the primary day-to-day learning support
- Direct contact time with licensed educators may be limited
Key Features and Important Considerations
Your child has a specialized class built into their learning week, taught the skill directly by a special education teacher, EA, or related service provider, in a small online group at their instructional level.
Important considerations
- In-person social interaction with peers and adults is limited in a virtual environment
- The learning coach at home is the primary day-to-day learning support
- Direct contact time with licensed educators may be limited
A team discussion about the virtual environment
Some supports are hard to deliver online, and we would rather talk it through now than six months into an enrollment that isn’t working. Online learning at Summit requires an adult at home during the school day. If your child needs constant hands-on instruction, physical assistance, in-person nursing care, or intensive behavior intervention to make progress, that is a conversation for the IEP team.
We will have an honest conversation to determine how and what services and supports are necessary to provide FAPE.
A student can be in more than one of these at once, and can move between them. The level is set by the IEP team based on your child’s needs — not by their diagnosis, and not by a staffing formula.
From a Summit family
Someone called me over a week before the first IEP meeting just to check in and ask what I wanted to bring up. In four years at our old school that had never happened once.— Parent of a 7th grade student
Know your rights
These aren’t our documents. We link them because an informed family makes the IEP team work better.
Language Decoder: IEP, FAPE, LRE, SDI
- IEP — Individualized Education Program. A legal plan describing the specialized instruction and services your child receives, and the goals they’re working toward.
- FAPE — Free Appropriate Public Education. Your child’s right to an education that meets their needs, at no cost to you.
- LRE — Least Restrictive Environment. Your child should learn alongside peers without disabilities as much as is appropriate for them.
- SDI — Specially Designed Instruction. Teaching adapted in content, method, or delivery for your child specifically.
- Case manager — The one special education teacher responsible for your child’s IEP. Your main point of contact.
- Learning coach — The adult at home who helps keep the school day on track. Usually a parent or guardian.
Suspect your child needs support?
You can ask for help. You don’t need a doctor’s note, a diagnosis, or a teacher’s permission to start. Tell us what you’re seeing and we’ll walk you through the options.
Talk to a person first
Brady Atwell
Director of Special Services
- Email Brady
- 503-630-5001 ext. 2235
You do not need to enroll, apply, or share records to have this conversation. Many families call just to find out whether we’re a fit.
Necesita esta información en español? Llame al 503-630-5001. Ofrecemos interpretación telefónica y traducción de documentos, incluidos los documentos del IEP, sin costo alguno para su familia. Interpretation and translated IEP documents are available at no cost in any language your family speaks. Ask and we’ll arrange it.