Student Services, under the direction of Jennifer Abell, is responsible for the coordination of Nurses, English as a Second Language, Special Education, Preschool, School Counseling, School Psychologists, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy.

Students ages 3 through 21 identified as disabled under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act are provided services according to Ohio’s Operating Standards for Ohio’s Schools Serving Children with Disabilities.  Students receive specialized instruction both within a regular classroom setting and in resource classrooms by certified staff.  It is our goal to provide children with disabilities the best conditions for learning within our school system.  The State of Ohio Operating Standards for Students with Disabilities are implemented to ensure that all children with disabilities have available a free appropriate public education that emphasizes specially designed instruction to meet their unique needs.

Depending on the student's least restrictive environment, services range from full-time general education classroom participation with support, to self-contained classrooms.

SPECIAL EDUCATION PROCEDURAL SAFEGUARDS NOTICE 
Click here for a copy of A Guide to Parent Rights in Special Education
This guide can help you understand your rights and your child’s rights according to IDEA and the Ohio Operating Standards. It also gives you information and resources to help you understand your child’s special education supports and services. ODE is in the process of translating this document into the top 10 foreign languages in Ohio (Albanian, Arabic, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Somali, Ukrainian and Vietnamese). A link to the translated versions will be added as soon as available.

Although the above A Guide to Parent Rights in Special Education is replacing the formerly utilized WHOSE IDEA IS THIS (below), the WHOSE IDEA document will still be accessible here and may continue to serve as a valuable resource for parents.  Information related to steps to getting services, specific ETR and IEP information, disability terms and definitions, and other information relevant to special education Frequently Asked Questions can be accessed through this document.

Whose IDEA Is This?

(A Parent's Guide to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004)
To assist districts with meeting the requirement of providing the procedural safeguards notice to parents in their native language (3301-51-05 (H)(3)), ODE translated this document into the top 10 foreign languages in Ohio (Albanian, Arabic, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Somali, Ukrainian and Vietnamese). The translations are available here.

Memorandum to Amend whose IDEA Is This - January 21, 2014

At Fostoria Jr. Sr. High School, students may be placed in all general education classes with paraprofessional support or intervention specialist support or placed in a special education resource room within the smaller group setting with an intervention specialists. For more significant needs, there are two cross-categorical classrooms, a middle school classroom for grades 7-9 and a high school classroom for grades 10-12 where functional daily living skills are the focus along with Ohio's Extended Learning Standards.  In partnership with the Fostoria Learning Center, the high school students are learning daily living skills and getting hands-on practice with job skills focused on our community’s needs.  

For students with intensive social-emotional needs, we have a third cross-categorical classroom that provides a structured setting with a focus on teaching and fostering positive coping strategies .

The Fostoria Elementary School has programming similar to FJSHS where students may be placed in all general education classes with paraprofessional support or intervention specialist support or placed in a special education resource room within the smaller group setting for core academics where an intervention specialist provides the instruction. For more intensive needs, we have two cross-categorical classrooms, one for students in grades K-3 and one for grades 3-6 where students with moderate cognitive delays can focus on functional daily living skills and extending Ohio’s State Learning Standards. 

FES also has one self-contained Autism class. This class focuses on the unique needs of students with Autism based on Ohio’s Learning Standards.

Student Services has a second Autism unit and an additional self-contained classroom focused on behavior are housed at the Academy. Like the JSHS unit, the behavioral unit focuses on students with intensive social-emotional/behavioral needs and provides a structured setting with a focus on teaching and fostering positive coping strategies .

The purpose of the Fostoria City Schools Preschool Program is to provide an enriched environment that will foster enriched meaningful experiences for learning, exploring and peer involvement for both typically developing students as well as preschool students age 3-5 with identified delays.  Our preschool curriculum follows the Ohio Department of Education‘s Early Learning Content Standards in the areas of Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies.

Our program is built upon the belief that learning is a collaborative process that occurs between the home and schools.  Also, knowledge and skills are acquired by a child through “hands-on” experiences. Students are provided a rich learning environment with structured and unstructured activities designed to encourage exploration and discovery which are essential in helping young children learn basic academic skills while promoting positive social and behavioral growth.

Our Preschool Program is licensed by the Ohio Department of Education and is located at:

Fostoria Elementary School
1202 H. L. Ford Dr.
Fostoria, Ohio 44830
419-436-4125

Fostoria City Schools has a certified school psychologist on staff.    The School Psychologist conducts assessments to evaluate students on criteria such as intelligence, aptitude, and psychopathology related to a specific disability. Additionally, she often consults with teachers and other school personnel help to supply interventions to aid in student learning.

Jennifer Abell
Director of Student Services
jabell@fostoriaschools.org
Phone: 419-436-4101

Julie Steinhardt
School Psychologist
jsteinhardt@fostoriaschools.org
Phone: 419-436-4108

Gina Johnson
Secretary to the School Psych
gjohnson@fostoriaschools.org
Phone: 419-436-4108

Jessica Herr
Secretary to the Director
jherr@fostoriaschools.org
Phone: 419-436-4101