We promote inclusion and believe that all children and youth with disabilities can be educated in the general education environment alongside nondisabled peers. All students with and without disabilities can engage in learning and benefit from meaningful instruction, have friends and be full members of their school communities.
The Division of Special Education offers a variety of resources for districts implementing programs for students with varying abilities. Our department values all learners, infants to adult transition, and works through a lens of access, equity and inclusion. Learn more about the different types of support available to you and your teams, and visit our Special Education Canvas Resource page for more materials.
INCLUSION IS A MINDSET
Join us for Special Education Director quarterly meetings and stay up to date on legislative issues, current research and best practices. Job-Alike Meetings also offer this content by discipline. All meetings allow participants to build connections that strengthen our amazing special education community in the County and beyond.
Our team has experienced staff ready to tackle any issue related to special education and the IEP process. Services including: consultation, data interpretation, program planning and staff trainings on everything from Alternative Dispute Resolution to Writing a Legally Defensible IEP. Whatever your needs, contact our team today, for a student-centered solution.
Our team can help your busy site staff with supporting your newer teachers. We offer:
· Virtual or In-Person Trainings
· Bi-monthly Lunch and Learn
· Virtual Coffee with Colleagues
The LACOE Vision Services Program offers a full range of vision services from contracts for Teachers of the Visually Impaired and Braille Translations. Contact Nic Frank for all your VI needs.
Are you ready to move your program, school or district to an inclusive model? Research shows inclusion for all students, regardless of disability, is a benefit for everyone. We have a range of services wherever you are on the inclusion spectrum.
As classrooms move towards more inclusive practices, general education teachers can be supported by becoming proficient in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and foundational literacy. We can connect your team to the right resources and training.
Additionally LACOE has compiled several resources to support inclusive early childhood education (Inclusive ECE) expansion. Learn more about this ongoing work.
Our team has a menu of training for all your needs. If we don’t already have it, we can make it. Training can be held in-person or virtually. We are proud to offer topics like:
· AB1172 (Required for NPS staff)
· New & Returning Para-educators.
Are you engaged in an IEP conflict or have issues with a service provider or vendor? We have student-centered problem-solving services to help. Contact us for ADR or Mediation Services.
Access curricular and program development materials and resources on our team's Canvas webpage.
SELPAs ensure that educational programs and services are provided to meet the needs of students with disabilities. A SELPA may include one school district or multiple districts, which are organized by geographic region and pool resources to provide for all the special education service needs of students residing within the region.
LACOE operates its own SELPA to serve students with disabilities in its Juvenile Court Schools, Alternative Education programs, International Polytechnic (iPoly) High School, the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and certain charter schools.
Click here to access the LACOE Schools SELPA
Click here for contact information for other SELPAs in Los Angeles County.
LACOE maintains Juvenile Court and Community Schools (JCCS) inactive student records at one location for the purpose of filing transcript and records requests, monitoring and maintaining inactive stored files. In addition, LACOE-authored Charters (ONLY) that have closed have sent their records to LACOE for storage.
Review guidelines for requesting LACOE student records.
The LACOE Special Education Resource Lead (SERL) grant team is honored to partner with CDE and CCEE.
Our goal is to build capacity by providing supports for systemic, continuous improvement to County Offices of Education (COE) and Local Educational Agencies (LEA) for the inclusion of students with the most significant support needs.
For contact and detailed grant project information, please click HERE.
CONNECT WITH US
Division of Special Education
Special_Education@lacoe.edu
(562) 803-8300
________________________
Jovan Jacobs, Ed.D.
Director II
Jacobs_Jovan@lacoe.edu
Tristin Eros
Division Secretary
eros_tristin@lacoe.edu
Karen Voigt
Administrative Assistant
voigt_karen@lacoe.edu
DIFFERENTIATED ASSISTANCE (DA)
Matthew Roper
Coordinator II
Roper_Matthew@lacoe.edu
Vacant
Coordinator III
EMBEDDED INSTRUCTION FOR EARLY LEARNING (EIEL)
Ann Lim
Coordinator II
Lim_Ann@lacoe.edu
EmbraceAbilities (SPECIAL EDUCATION RESOURCE LEAD)
Marcia Reily, Ed.D.
Coordinator III
Reily_Marcia@lacoe.edu
Kristen Danhour Standke
Senior Program Specialist
danhour_kristen@lacoe.edu
INCLUSIVE EARLY EDUCATION EXPANSION PROGRAM (IEEEP)
Gloria Brennick, Ed.D.
Coordinator II
brennick_gloria@lacoe.edu
Thitaporn Acosta
Senior Program Specialist
Acosta_Thitaporn@lacoe.edu
Katherine Jaimez
Senior Program Specialist
Jaimez_Katherine@lacoe.edu
VISION SERVICES UNIT
Nic Frank
Coordinator III
frank_nic@lacoe.edu
Nicole Abshear
Teacher of the Visually Impaired
abshear_nicole@lacoe.edu
Yvette Casas
Teacher of the Visually Impaired
Casas_Yvette@lacoe.edu
Kathryn Fazzi
Orientation & Mobility Teacher
fazzi_kathryn@lacoe.edu
Maria Javier
Teacher of the Visually Impaired
javier_maria@lacoe.edu
Gayané Grigoryan
Braille Transcriber
grigoryan_gayane@lacoe.edu
Adriana Munoz
Braille Transcriber
munoz_adriana@lacoe.edu
