July 2024

Steve Ormbrek

Jul 10, 2024

SIRAS Newsletter June 2024

IMPORTANT Information for all users in SIRAS

No new form changes went into effect on July 1. In August we will introduce “Degree of Support” designation on the MIS Summary page. This information will be entered during the 2024-25 school year and required for Fall 2025.
All active SIRAS records (IEP, 504 and SST) will be grade advanced on the weekend of July 13^th-14^th and Next Year's Data will be applied.
The SIRAS Training server will be copied over from production at a later date. This means that any documents that you may have created in the training server will be deleted. Download and save items you need from the training server in advance.
SIRAS Office Hours with SELPA for Training of Trainers (ToTs)/Advanced Users/District Administrators have been scheduled for the 2024-25 school year, starting August 14. Check the SIRAS 4 Ventura Padlet for the flyer & zoom link.

IMPORTANT Information for SIRAS Data Administrators in SIRAS

The grade rollover and advancement of Next Year’s Data will occur on the weekend of July 13^th- 14^th. See the instructions posted on the SIRAS User Manual for procedures prior to and following the rollover.
Prior to the rollover, finalize all meetings with dates on/before the rollover date.
Students with Pending IEP status and open Initial IEP meetings that will be transferring to another district, where parent consent is in one district and the Initial IEP will happen in another, close the meeting as abandoned and have the new district open a new Initial IEP with the same referral dates. Request assistance from [email protected] to open the new initial in the new district.
After the rollover, search for students who you anticipated would have been transferred upon the rollover. For example, review the Statistical Reports for students with Active/Pending status by grade to see if you have students in 9^th grade (and you are a K-8 district). If a student will not be continuing with you, inactivate the record and contact the next LEA to have them request the record.

After the rollover, search for open IEP meetings with dates prior to July 15th. It is best practice that they are finalized by Census Day. Remind staff they will need to be continued when school begins and that the team MUST contact the SIRAS Data Administrator when the meeting is finalized. After the meeting is finalized, manually advance the grade level, and update the school and providers if needed. See the instructions posted on the SIRAS User Manual.
After the rollover, search for students without a Case Manager and assign one. At that time, update your caseloads with new providers and school changes.
After the rollover, continue to follow up on IEP meetings finalized last year that did not have parent consent. Print a list from Reporting/Meeting Reports/Predefined/Parent Contacted, No Response. Narrow the meeting date range in the Search Query Criteria, e.g., 8/1/2023-current date, to limit meetings in the list from last year only. Remember that meetings finalized this way last year, do not have the new year’s goals approved yet. If parent consent is received because of your follow up, upload the signed document and update the parent consent. Do NOT reactivate the meeting to complete these tasks. Review your associated archive(s) and current data to make sure they were properly updated to reflect the new parent response.
Add Block Access and reassign student associations for staff who are not returning in the fall. Make sure that remove their email address, phone number and district/school assignments.
Enter Progress Report dates and School Holidays in excess of 5 days in Tools/SELPA-District-School Admin for the 2024-2025 school year. You do not need to enter all your school holidays for the year, only school holidays that are in excess of 5 school days.

The SELPA’s Fall 1 training meeting is scheduled for September 9th, in-person at VCOE. All SIRAS, CALPADS and Admin staff are welcome to attend. Registration is now open on the SELPA website.

The SIRAS Data Network meetings (Office hours with SELPA for Data Specialists) have been scheduled for 2024-2025. Check the SIRAS 4 Ventura Padlet for the flyer and zoom link.
The schedule of SIRAS Support Webinars is posted on the SIRAS4CALPADS Padlet.