Intensive Interagency (IIA)

Pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. §1401, et seq., and the litigation known as Cordero, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (Department) has participated with other child-serving agencies in developing a system for providing intensive interagency coordination to students with disabilities whose local educational agencies (LEAs) have determined that they cannot be appropriately educated in a public educational setting and who have waited more than 30 days for the provision of an appropriate educational placement. This system is also aimed at providing assistance to students who are at substantial risk of waiting more than 30 days for an appropriate educational placement.

Interagency collaboration is ‘the process of agencies and families joining together for the purpose of interdependent problem solving that focuses on improving services to children and families'. Collaboration occurs when people from different organizations produce something through joint effort, resources, and decision making, and share ownership of the final product or service.

Intensive interagency coordination is designed for rare situations when local teams are not able to arrange for the placement of students in the public educational setting and the students have waited, or are at risk of waiting, more than 30 days for an appropriate educational placement.

Active:

The school district has determined that the student cannot currently be appropriately educated in a public educational setting and have been waiting for more than 30 days for the provision of an appropriate educational placement.

At-Risk:

All children who are in substantial jeopardy of becoming active students. Please refer to the BEC for a full definition of “at risk”. If you have a pre-at risk student, reach out to the MIU IV for support.

LEAs must also report students with disabilities who are placed on instruction conducted in the home or who receive homebound instruction in accordance with BEC 34 CFR §300.26(a)(1), in the Special Education Students @ Home Reporting System, so that the Department can determine whether these students require intensive interagency coordination.

The IIA team is made up of stakeholders from different organizations as it relates to the student and their individual needs. Here is a list of potential team members:

• The student's parents/caregivers
• School district personnel (LEA)
• County CASSP coordinator
• PaTTAN IIA Regional Interagency Coordinator
• IU Special Education Supervisor
• IU IIA Coordinators (Butler, Lawrence, Mercer Counties)
• Any other relevant individuals working with the student (case managers, behavioral health services, etc.)

LEAs have a crucial role in identifying which students require intensive interagency coordination, since these are students whom the LEA has determined cannot currently be served in the public educational setting.

Once identified, it is the LEAs responsibility to report the student by completing the required form located in the Special Education Students at the PDE Integrated Monitoring System.

The MIU IV School Social Work Team (Bryda Drumm, Sara Joseph, and Jennifer Guthrie) serve as the Interagency Coordinators for the MIU IV catchment area (Mercer, Butler, and Lawrence Counties).

The MIU IV IIA Coordinators receive notification that a TAP record has been created/reported by the district LEA and begin collecting information by consulting with the student's parents/caregivers, the school district, etc. and reviewing pertinent records. The MIU IV IIA Coordinator then plans and facilitates an IIA meeting with the team members within 30 days.

The MIU IV IIA Coordinator will follow the four-step approach (as outlined in the above linked document), and continue to track progress of the action plan steps. The coordinator will remain in contact with the team members, and facilitate additional meetings as needed until the IIA case is closed.

Mercer County

Bryda Drumm, LSW, H&SV, C-SSWS

bryda.drumm@miu4.org

724-458-6700 ext. 1218

Butler County

Sara Joseph, LSW, C-SSWS

sara.joseph@miu4.org

724-458-6700 ext: 1588

Lawrence County

Jennifer Guthrie, LSW, C-SSWS

jennifer.guthrie@miu4.org

724-458-6700 ext: 1213