FAQ - Eanes Independent School District

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Prospective Parent FAQs on Special Education in EISD
I’m considering moving to Eanes ISD. Who should I contact first?
For general inquiries about special education or to let us know you are considering enrolling your child at an Eanes
ISD campus, please contact Caroline Nelson, the District Child Find Coordinator, at (512) 732-9280 ext 20423 or
cnelson@eanesisd.net
For enrollment information, including forms and requirements, contact the specific campus your child will attend.
You can find the EISD boundary map at http://www.eanesisd.net/aboutdistrict/boundary-map.
Although we can provide general information about special education on a District-wide basis, please be aware
that special education services, resources and information specific to your child cannot become available until
he/she is actually enrolled in an EISD school.
After your child is enrolled, he/she will be assigned a Case Manager – one of the special education teaching staff on
his/her campus. From that point on, your point of contact for special education will either be the Case Manager or the
LSSP (Licensed Specialist in School Psychology) on your child’s campus. This person will facilitate the intake,
eligibility and/or transfer process, and from there, your child’s ARD/IEP team (of which you are an integral member)
will begin working on the individual educational planning for your child in his/her new school setting.
What kinds of special education services does EISD offer?
Eanes ISD serves children with a wide range of disabilities including learning, behavioral, developmental, medical
and emotional disabilities. We offer a full continuum of special education and related services to children with
qualifying disabilities. The services provided to individual students depend upon each child’s unique needs as
determined by his/her ARD/IEP committee.
The EISD focus in special education is not as much on programs as it is on individualized instructional planning. As
a result, not all students with the same diagnosis or disability receive the same special education supports, nor are
students assigned to a campus or class merely because they have been identified as having the same disability. Our
goal is to meet the individual educational needs of each child receiving special education support in as inclusive an
environment as possible, taking into account the student’s needs and goals.
Are students grouped by disability on different campuses/will my child be allowed his/her home campus?
We are committed to serving children in inclusive, natural and “real-world” settings to the greatest extent possible,
given each student’s unique needs. Because of this commitment, Eanes ISD has a strong preference for keeping
children on their home campus. In most cases, the mix of children receiving special education support on a given
campus is comprised of the children who live within the school’s geographical boundary area. At any point in time,
the individual campuses may have different distributions of children with varying disabilities and needs. Similarly, the
size of the special education population at each school varies. We staff the campuses to meet the needs of their
population, both in size and composition. Over time, the campus special needs populations shift somewhat as students
move up to the next school level and as families move in and out of the area.
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Prospective Parent FAQs on Special Education in EISD
Occasionally, a student needs a service that can only be provided on a campus that is not his/her home campus or
there is some other factor which makes placing a student off their home campus a necessity. In these cases, the
District might need to assign a child to a different campus. District administration will work with families in these
situations, but ultimately this is a decision made by District administration.
How can I find out what kind of program EISD will provide for my child?
Specific special education planning for your child begins after enrollment. At that point, your child’s ARD
committee/IEP team will begin planning for your child based on the current information available which could
include data and perspectives from home, reports from outside specialists and/or current and past school information.
Sometimes EISD determines that updated or further evaluation is necessary in order to plan for your child in his/her
new educational setting. If this is the case, new evaluation will be an ARD/IEP committee decision and subject to
your consent. The emphasis in Eanes is on planning services for your child based on his/her unique needs and not on
one-size-fits-all programs.
My child already has an IEP from another District. Will we have to start from scratch?
Usually not. In most cases, after enrollment, your new ARD/IEP committee will use the IEP from your former District
as a starting place for planning. The ARD/IEP committee may decide to carry over some or all of the evaluation,
goals, accommodations, modifications or services from the old IEP, or the committee may recommend or require new
or different ones. This is a case-by-case determination, and as parents and members of the ARD/IEP committee, you
will be an important part of this process. If you are moving to Texas from another state, be aware that state laws
govern certain elements of the IEP (i.e. some things that are required in Texas are not necessarily required elsewhere,
and vice-versa). Because of this, your child’s Eanes IEP may contain elements that are somewhat different from the
one you are bringing from out-of-state.
Can I take a campus tour? Can I observe a special education class?
Each EISD school has its own system for allowing prospective families to meet campus staff and see the building. To
find out if the campus you are interested in offers tours or other information for prospective parents, please call the
campus itself. Phone numbers for the campuses can be found at: http://www.eanesisd.net/aboutdistrict/schools.
Although we recognize parents’ desire to see special education services in action before choosing to enroll their child,
we are unable to offer tours to prospective parents of special education classes or locations on campus where
students receiving services would be identified as students with a disability. Federal law mandates that the District
protect the privacy of identified students with a disability and the information pertaining to them; because of this, we
cannot offer special education-specific tours or observations.
Please note that once your child is enrolled and receiving services as an EISD special education student, you will have
the right to visit your child in his/her educational setting, subject to campus and special education visitor guidelines.
Welcome to Eanes ISD! We look forward to working with you and your child!
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