August 2024

Steve Ormbrek

Aug 07, 2024

SIRAS Newsletter August 2024

IMPORTANT Information for all users in SIRAS

SIRAS Passwords: Although you will be prompted to change your password every 365 days, get ahead of the new school year and change your password now! Go to Tools > My Account and click on Edit Account Details. Enter your new password, confirm and then click Update User Account. If you have forgotten your password over the summer, the Email Password Reset button appears if/when you try to login with the wrong password. Click on the button to have a password reset link emailed to you.
Review (30 day) meetings: If you will be holding a Review (30 day) meeting, you will need to indicate if the meeting is a New Plan or if the district adopting the IEP BEFORE the meeting is created. See help doc.
Changes in SIRAS: Student Discipline is now found within the Student Profile. Remember that if a student is restrained, this must also be documented in your SIS system. Progress Reports can also be found under the Student Profile and this menu was streamlined.
Degree of Support: For grades TK - 12th, when doing an Initial Eval, Triennial, or Annual Review after you 'save and return' the IEP Student Info and Services form if the student has a disability, you will see a new filed called Degree of Disability. There are two options ‘Mild/Moderate Support Needs - MMSN’ and ‘Extensive Support Needs - ESN’ - use the tool tip next to the field on guidance on which to choose. This field is also on the MIS Summary Page. Click here for more information about this new field.
The grade change rollover occurred over the summer. If a meeting with a date prior to July 15 is open, the rollover is on hold until that meeting is finalized. Contact the SIRAS data administrator after finalizing and they will advance next year’s data/update the grade/school.
Review meetings finalized last year without parent consent. Go to Reporting > Meeting Reports > Predefined Reports tab > click Parent Contacted, No Response. Adjust the meeting dates on the query to (7/1/2023-6/30/2024). Students whose last meeting finalized without consent, will still be working on the previous year’s goals.
Share IEPs/Info for Gen Ed forms easily from SIRAS. IEP/Non-IEP forms are Savable and Printable in Batch. In the Tools menu/Document Library, click the ‘Fill in for student’ checkbox to enable the ability to save non-IEP forms. Print IEP and Non-IEP forms in batch by going to the Tools menu/Labels and Batch Forms/Batch Forms for your entire found set (your caseload or school).
Review your current student list in SIRAS. Use the ‘Manage Caseload’ button under the Student Info menu to request students to be added or removed from your caseload.
Use the Student Data Overview links on your home page to monitor your caseload. Review your students who have Overdue or Upcoming meetings (annuals due within the next 30 days and triennials due within the next 75 days.
SIRAS Office Hours with SELPA for Training of Trainers (ToTs)/Advanced Users/District Administrators and 504/SST Modules have been scheduled for the 2023-2024 school year, beginning August 15. Check the SIRAS 4 Ventura Padlet for the flyer and zoom link.

IMPORTANT Information for SIRAS Data Administrators in SIRAS

After Rollover Help can be found here and the following are some of the tasks to be aware of:
User account transfer processing. Sped Data Administrators can use the tab on the Home Page called User Transfers where you can ‘Reassign’ user accounts. Clicking ‘Reassign’ for that user will allow the transfer to the requested district. See help document for more information about this feature.
Select Deactivate User Accounts for staff who are not returning this year. This will clear associated district assignments to make the account easier to transfer to another district if required.

Enter Progress Report dates and School Holidays under Tools/SELPA-District-School Admin for the 2024-2025 school year.
Search for students without a Case Manager and assign one.

EOY Amendment Window: The EOY Amendment Window closes on August 16. Let SELPA know if you will be re-certifying to make further data updates. Reach out to SELPA, [email protected], and SIRAS support as needed far enough in advance to make this deadline.

SIRAS Trainings: Training flyers are on the SIRAS4Ventura Padlet. Registration is now open. Please get new staff registered.
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 criteria, e.g., 7/1/2023-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.
Degree of Support: As shared above, this feature is both on the IEP manager and the MIS Summary. Work with your administrator to determine who will be completing and monitoring this new data piece to keep it as accurate as possible. This data will be collected as part of Fall 1 2025 to our understanding at this time. We’ll keep you updated with any changes.

The SELPA 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 SPED 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/Zoominars is posted on the SIRAS4CALPADS Padlet. Attend regularly for to get the latest updates and ongoing support.