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Special Education

Department Contacts:

Director Special Education & Student Services
Michelle Dougherty
(831)623-4500 
(831)623-4907 (fax)
mdougherty@asjsud.org

Support Services Clerk
Aileen Solano-Garibaldi
(831)623-4500
asolano@asjusd.org

Every student is unique, and every learner deserves meaningful access to education. Through partnership with families and school teams, our Special Education services provide individualized supports that help students learn, grow, and thrive.

Special Education Services

The District is committed to ensuring that all students have access to a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. Our Special Education program provides individualized services and supports for students with identified disabilities, in partnership with families and school teams.

Through Special Education and our Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA), we work collaboratively to support student learning, inclusion, and success across all educational settings.

Special Education Instruction

Special education is instruction specially designed, at no cost to you, to meet your child's or youth's unique needs. Special education can include classroom instruction, home instruction, instruction in hospitals and institutions, or other settings. It can also include instruction in physical education and vocational education.

The federal law that supports special education and related services is called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Under IDEA, all eligible school-aged children and youth with disabilities are entitled to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE).

Notice of Procedural SafeguardsWhat is the Notice of Procedural Safeguards? This information provides you as parents, legal guardians, and surrogate parents of children with disabilities from three (3) years of age through twenty-one (21) and students who have reached age of eighteen (18), the age of majority, with an overview of your educational rights or procedural safeguards. The Notice of Procedural Safeguards is required under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)  and must be provided to you:

  • When you ask for a copy
  • The first time your child is referred for a special education assessment
  • Each time you are given an assessment plan to evaluate your child
  • Upon receipt of the first state or due process complaint in a school year, and
  • When the decision is made to make a removal that constitutes a change of placement

(20 USC 1415[d]; 34 CFR 300.504; EC 56301[d][2], EC 56321, and 56341.1[g][1]