The Weighted Incident Exemption Process - Other Circumstances (WIEP-0C) Option for SCHOOL DISTRICTS

Purpose

The WIEP is the process by which a school district demonstrates to the New York State Education Department (NYSED) that it should not be designated as persistently dangerous or identified as potentially persistently dangerous because some or all of the violent incidents reported in the Uniform Violent and Disruptive Incident Reporting System (VADIR) are attributed toa student offender classifiedwith disabilities under Special Education Regulations.

The WIEP-OC process has been developed for use by a school district to submit evidence in support of an exemption when a student offender is NOT classified with disabilities.

When is the WIEP-OC used?By March 15th of each year, the Commissioner notifies district leaders that a school or schools within the district has been identified as Potentially Persistently Dangerous (PPD).The district leader is given an opportunity to present evidence that the conditions in the identified school do not threaten the safety of students because appropriate actions have been taken following reported incident(s).Similarly, when a school is designated persistently dangerous(PD), the district leader is given an opportunity to petition for removal of the PD designation when the school no longer meets the threshold for designation. The WIEP-OC process is one way for a district or school leader to provide evidence regarding school safety and intervention.

What types of supportive evidence will be considered and when is the evidence due? When a non-classified student has committed a weighted violent incident(s) under VADIR regulations,as defined in the glossary,the Commissioner will consider any evidence presentedby the deadline indicatedin the PPD/PDnotification to the district. The WIEP-OCprocess requires that the district submit fourtypes of documentssupporting the request for exemption of incidents committed by each non-classified student offender.

The four types of appropriate, supplemental, and supportive documents required in order to be considered for the WIEP-OCexemption are listed below:

  • School’s System of Behavioral Supports(Form #1) in place for all students;
  • The Targeted Behavioral Action Plan (Form #2) developed by a Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT)[1]and including three short-term goals based on evaluation(s), as well as frequent reviews and progress monitoring ofimplemented interventions and supports to determine next steps;
  • The Progress Monitoring of Outcomes and Summary Analysis of Three TBAP Goals (Form #3); and
  • Behavioral, medical, or other type of formal evaluative documents indicating a review of inappropriate student behavior related to reported serious incidents[2]

Other supportive evidence may be submitted, as appropriate, to support incomplete sections of the WIEP-OC such as documentation indicating that a student has transferred from the school; an audit trail of investigation outcomes indicating a legitimate change of an originally reported weighted incident to a non-weighted incident category[the investigation must be conducted within two weeks of the incident and should include statements from the offender, victim, and any witness(es)]; etc.

Form #1: Attach or provide adescription of the school’s system of Behavioral Supportsin place for students.Submission of this document is only needed once for this school site, even if multiple exemptions arebeing soughtfor several students.

Form #2: Targeted Behavioral Action Plan (TBAP)

  • Description of the behavior(s) resulting in the weighted violent incident(s) to be addressed in the TBAP;
  • Three short term goals;
  • Describe the desired measureable outcomes for each goal;
  • Behavioral interventions and supports provided by school/district staff or community partnership;
  • Describe the schedule, strategy, and frequency (weekly or bi-weekly, etc.) of monitoring and assessment to inform progress toward achieving outcomes - include the name(s) of school district staff responsible for each monitoring and assessment notation; and
  • List the results of monitoring and assessment as well as next steps to be taken to achieve desired outcomes

Form #3: Progress Monitoring of Outcomes and Summary Analysis of Goals

Completeforms and attach required supplemental documents for each incident and each student

  • Analyze and summarize the outcomes of the three short term goals, interventions, and supportsbased on the

monitoring and assessment strategy listed on Form #2

  • Attach a copy of each weighted incident and the reported VADIR incident category for each student offender
  • Provide an audit trail for each incident that the school has re-classified from a weighted incident category to a less

serious VADIR category; and

  • Provide supportive documentation for consideration when an offending student has (or students have)transferred

from the school following the weighted incident

It is important to provide complete and accurate information on Forms #1, 2, and 3, and to include all supplemental documents to fully benefit from the WIEP-OC process

Completed forms and all required supportive documents should be collated and organized for each student prior to submission. Please mail all documents by the prescribed dateprovidedin the letter of notificationfrom the Commissioner or designee.

Submission Date: Per Commissioner’s notification

Questions

Questions regarding the submission of required documentation related to non-classified students and/or use of the attached forms may be directed to:

New York State Education Department

Student Support Services

(518) 486-6090

Required WIEP-OC Formsfor each Student

Form #1: School’s System of Behavioral Supports

Form #2: Targeted Behavioral Action Plan (TBAP) that includes the following:

(a) three short term goals;

(b) desired measureable outcome(s) for each goal;

(c) types of interventions and supports provided by district/school staff or community partner; and

(d) schedule, strategy, and frequency of monitoring and assessment to evaluate outcomes

Form #3:Progress Monitoring of Outcomesand Summary Analysis of Three TBAP Goals that includes the following:

(a) restatement of the goals;

(b) findings and outcomes of goals;

(c) summary of findings and outcomes; and

(d) next steps related to analysis of the findings and outcomes

Form #1

Description of the School’s System of Behavioral Supports

Attach a copy of the school’s system of behavioral support or provide a complete description of the school’s system of behavioral supports for students on the form below

School District:

School/Site Name(s):

Contact Person:

Telephone/e-mail of Contact Person:

Date Submitted to NYSED: ______

Describe,or attach a copy of, the behavioral system of supports implemented in the school to instruct all students in behavioral expectations, as well as to provide classroom behavioral supports and behavioral interventions

2-26-161

The Weighted Incident Exemption Process - Other Circumstances (WIEP-0C) Option for SCHOOL DISTRICTS

Form #2

Targeted Behavioral Action Plan (TBAP) that includes the following:

(a) three short term goals;

(b) desired measureable outcome(s) for each goal;

(c) types of interventions and supports provided by district/school staff or community partner; and

(d) schedule, strategy, and frequency of monitoring and assessment to evaluate outcomes

To be completed for each student offender’s TBAP submitted to NYSED

Student Name: ______DateSubmitted to NYSED: ______

School/Site Name: ___

Behavior(s) resulting inweighted violent incident(s)addressed in the TBAP:

[Example(s)- physical aggression, biting,throwing common objects at peers, etc.]______

Attach a copy of each weighted incident related to behavior types above for each studentoffender; indicate the VADIR category for each incident

Targeted Behavioral Action Plan Goals(please complete all required information for each goal below) / Desired measureable outcome for each goal / Specific Interventions and Supports that will be implemented. Please identify who is responsible, district or community partnership / Schedule, strategy, and frequency of monitoring toevaluate goal (weekly, bi-weekly, etc.) / Results of Progress Monitoring of Outcome and Next Steps related to findings
Goal #1:
Date Implemented:
Name of Staff/partnership
Goal #2
Date Implemented:
Name of Staff/partnership
Goal #3
Date Implemented:
Name of Staff/partnership

2-26-161

Form #3

Progress Monitoring of Outcomes and Summary Analysis of Three TBAP Goals

To be completed for each student offender’s TBAP submitted to NYSED

Student Name: ______Date of Report:______

School/Site Name: ______

Behavior(s) addressedin TBAP:

[Example(s) - physical aggression-biting; throwing common objects at peers]

Incident date(s): ______

Name of district staff responsible for evaluation and assessment of TBAP: ______

Name of community partnership responsible for providing supports and or interventions:______

Goal / Findings and Outcomes / Summary / Next Steps

School Administrator’s Conclusion:

FOR NYSED USE ONLY – DO NOT WRITE BELOW THIS LINE!

Decision WIEP-OC approved/denied:______NYSED Staff Reviewer’s Comments:

Checklist For Submission

Before you submit the WIEP-OC documents to NYSED you should ensure that all the required forms and supplemental documents are completed as instructed for each student. The supporting evidence includes, but is not limited to, the following items:

  • Form #1: School’s System of Behavioral Supports;
  • Form #2: Targeted Behavioral Action Plan (TBAP);
  • Form #3: Progress Monitoring of Outcomes and Summary Analysis of Three TBAP Goals;
  • Documentation of behavioral, medical, or other type of formal evaluation indicating a review of inappropriate student behavior related to reported serious incidents;
  • A copy of the original weighted incident with full description and the VADIR incident category the school district applied for each student offender; and
  • Other supportive evidence as appropriate to support incomplete sections of the WIEP-OC, such as documentation indicating that a student has transferred from the school; an audit trail of investigation outcomes indicating a legitimate change of an originally reported weighted incident to a non-weighted incident category [the investigation must be conducted within two weeks of the incident and should include statements from the offender, victim, and any witness(es)]; etc.

Completed forms and all required supportive documents should be collated and organized by individual student prior to submission.

Please mail all documents by the prescribed date and in the letter of notification from the Commissioner or designee.

Questions regarding the submission of required documentation in support of consideration for exemption, and/or use of the attached forms may be directed to:

New York State Education Department

Office of Student Support Services EB – 318M

(518) 486-6090

Last page of WIEP-OC application

2-26-161

[1]This is an unofficial label of a team of school professional responsible for reviewing individual student data and progress on a regular basis to develop appropriate supports and interventions; some schools may refer to this as a “child study team”, “student support team”, etc.

[2]If the underlying behavior(s) that resulted in the first weighted incident by the offender has resulted in additional weighted incidents, only one evaluation (e.g. FBA) and behavioral plan addressing these behaviors must be submitted. However, if additional behaviors not addressed by the offender’s initial evaluation lead to additional incident(s), documentation must be submitted showing that the student's evaluation and behavioral plan have been revised to include the newer behaviors that resulted in additional weighted incidents.