Special Education Department

The Renton School District Special Education program serves approximately 1,700 students with disabilities from ages three to twenty-one years. Renton has long recognized that educational needs of some students require specialized instruction and/or related services in order to achieve success in school. The district provides a continuum of special program placement and service options in order to provide appropriate educational opportunities for all students.

This means that across the district, we provide a wide spectrum of service options for the students we serve. As specified in federal and state law, students with disabilities to the maximum extend possible are served in the least restrictive environment (LRE). When visiting all schools in the district, you will find special needs students participating as appropriate in general education classrooms and general education curriculum.

Special education staff includes teachers, school psychologists, speech language pathologists, behavior specialists, mental health consultants, occupational therapists and instructional assistants.

Rebecca Lockhart is the Director of Elementary Special Education. If you have questions regarding your elementary child's progress that are not resolved by working with your child's special education teacher and / or building administrator, you should contact Ms. Lockhartl's office. If your child is in the Secondary Program, Rebecca Donnelly, Director of Secondary Special Education, can assist you with questions and/or concerns not resolved at the building level.

Special education services include individualized, specially-designed instruction in academic, self-help, communication, motor, vocational and social skill areas. Individual Education Programs (IEPs) are developed annually for each student that are eligible and enrolled in special education programs. Goals and objectives are written for each student based on the results of formal and informal testing and observations.

To be eligible for special education services a student must be identified as having a substantiated disability identified by the State Special Education Rules and Regulations (WAC-392-172). This determination involves an evaluation process by a school-based team that also includes the student’s parents. Fourteen categories are currently identified in special education.

• Autism
• Communication disordered
• Deaf/blindness
• Deafness
• Developmentally delayed
• Emotionally/behaviorally disabled
• Health impaired
• Hearing impaired
• Mental retardation
• Multiple disabilities
• Orthopedically impaired
• Specific learning disability
• Traumatic brain injury
• Visually impaired/blindness

Student Eligibility:

Students are found eligible when a multidisciplinary team evaluation documents a disability adversely that significantly affects the student’s educational performance and that the adverse effects of the disability cannot be addressed exclusively through general education classes, with or without individual accommodations.

There are some students with disabilities whose needs can be addressed through accommodations within general education. These children do not qualify for special education. Instead, an individual accommodation plan is developed for general education classes, with or without individual accommodations. There are some students with disabilities whose needs can be addressed through accommodations within general education. These children do not qualify for special education. Instead, an individual accommodation plan is developed for general education classes, with or without individual accommodations for each such student. These plans are known as 504 plans and are required of all school districts under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Once a student is identified as eligible for special education services, Renton provides a free and appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet his or her unique needs and prepare the student for transition from high school.

Questions regarding:

Elementary Special Education - Contact Rebecca Lockhart's office 425-204-2285

Secondary Special Education - Contact Rebecca Donnelly office 425-204-2285