(a) In order to facilitate parental choice of program, all parents and guardians must be informed of the placement of their children in a structured English immersion program and must be notified of an opportunity to apply for a parental exception waiver. The notice shall also include a description of the locally-adopted procedures for requesting a parental exception waiver, and any locally-adopted guidelines for evaluating a parental waiver request.
(b) School districts shall establish procedures for granting parental exception waivers as permitted by Education Code sections 310 and 311 which include each of the following components:
(1) Parents and guardians must be provided with a full written description and upon request from a parent or guardian, a spoken description of the structured English immersion program and any alternative courses of study and all educational opportunities offered by the school district and available to the pupil. The descriptions of the program choices shall address the educational materials to be used in the different options.
(2) Pursuant to Education Code section 311(c), parents and guardians must be informed that the pupil must be placed for a period of not less than thirty (30) calendar days in an English language classroom and that the school district superintendent must approve the waiver pursuant to guidelines established by the local governing board.
(3) Pursuant to Education Code sections 311(b) and (c), the school principal and educational staff may recommend a waiver to a parent or guardian. Parents and guardians must be informed in writing of any recommendation for an alternative program made by the school principal and educational staff and must be given notice of their right to refuse to accept the recommendation. The notice shall include a full description of the recommended alternative program and the educational materials to be used for the alternative program as well as a description of all other programs available to the pupil. If the parent or guardian elects to request the alternative program recommended by the school principal and educational staff, the parent or guardian must comply with the requirements of Education Code section 310 and all procedures and requirements otherwise applicable to a parental exception waiver.
(4) Parental exception waivers shall be granted unless the school principal and educational staff have determined that an alternative program offered at the school would not be better suited for the overall educational development of the pupil.
(c) All parental exception waivers shall be acted upon by the school within twenty (20) instructional days of submission to the school principal. However, parental waiver requests under Education Code section 311(c) shall not be acted upon during the thirty (30)-day placement in an English language classroom. These waivers must be acted upon either no later than ten (10) calendar days after the expiration of that thirty (30)-day English language classroom placement or within twenty (20) instructional days of submission of the parental waiver to the school principal, whichever is later.
(d) In cases where a parental exception waiver pursuant to Education Code sections 311(b) and (c) is denied, the parents and guardians must be informed in writing of the reason(s) for denial and advised that they may appeal the decision to the local board of education if such an appeal is authorized by the local board of education, or to the court.
(e) For waivers pursuant to Education Code section 311(a) and for students for whom standardized assessment data is not available, school districts may use equivalent measures as determined by the local governing board.
(Renumbered from 11303 and amended by Register 2003, No. 2.)
Authority cited:
Education Code 33031
Reference:
Education Code 305
Education Code 310
Education Code 311