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Non-Public Placements

Non-public special education schools are schools that are approved by the Maryland State Department of Education to serve students with disabilities. Students whose needs cannot be met in the local schools system, even with the provision of supplementary aids, services and supports may be referred for consideration of a non-public placement. This process requires the following:

  1. Review of the current IEP by the school-based IEP Team;
  2. Completion of the Special Education Case Review (SECR) process;
  3. Evaluation of all current goals and objectives, supplementary aids and services, behavior intervention plans and other program modifications;
  4. Consultation with the assigned building special education supervisor and;
  5. Referral to the St. Mary’s County Public Schools County IEP Team.

Non-public placements may only be approved by the County IEP Team. After approval, parents must authorize St. Mary’s County Public Schools to submit application packets to each individual school that may serve the student. Parents and students are also required to participate in an interview with the non-public school representatives. Placements in non-public programs are reviewed annually and are not intended to be permanent placements. It is always the goal of St. Mary's County Public Schools Department of Special Education to return a student enrolled in a nonpublic placement to a local school as soon as possible.

For more information on nonpublic school programming, contact:

Kristin Caton
Instructional Resource Teacher for Nonpublic Programming
kncaton@smcps.org

Carrie Smith
Supervisor of Special Education
cmsmith@smcps.org