South Buffalo Charter School

       The Special Education program and English as a New Language (ENL) program at South Buffalo Charter School (SBCS) receives its enrollment by way of a randomized lottery process, which is non-discriminatory in nature and selects students at random that have enrolled for the upcoming school year. There are no special recruitments that take place to enroll students with disabilities or students who are Limited English Proficient at South Buffalo Charter School.

       South Buffalo Charter School employs nine special education teachers who are integrated into general education classrooms to support students with disabilities through an integrated co-teaching model. There is one integrated classroom for each grade level. All students with IEP programs have their academic needs met through an integrated co-teaching program in the areas of reading, writing, math, social studies, and science. In addition to the instruction students receive in general education classrooms, related services such as speech/language, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and psychological counseling are also available as specified in their IEP's or 504 Plans.

       South Buffalo Charter School (SBCS) recognizes its responsibility to ensure that students of foreign birth or ancestry, who are Limited English Proficiency (LEP) are provided the services within an English as a New Language Program (ENL). These services are provided to assist identified students to acquire and develop English language skills to meet state standards in core subjects as expected for their grade and age level.  This program was developed in acknowledgement of the Part 154 of the Commissioner’s Regulations (CR Part 154).  

SBCS offers a Freestanding ENL Program which provides instruction comprised of two components: 

• Language Arts Instructional Component
• Content Area Instructional Component

     Instruction is structured to develop skills in understanding, speaking, reading, writing, and communicating in English as appropriate for the enrolled student’s age and grade level. 

     Mainstream content teachers utilize ENL methodologies during instruction to provide a learning classroom environment in efforts for the student to acquire academic content knowledge. 

     The goal of the Freestanding ENL Program approach is to provide services in which the ENL student acquires English and grade level academics in an environment conducive to succeed in an English only classroom.  The program features: 

• All instruction done in English 
• When possible, the student’s primary language is used to clarify instruction 
• English is taught through Reading, Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies 
• Instruction is provided by using a push in or pull out approach
   
   
   

What is Section 504?
Section 504 is a part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that prohibits discrimination based upon disability. Section 504 is an anti-discrimination, civil rights statute that requires the needs of students with disabilities to be met as adequately as the needs of the non-disabled are met.

Section 504 states that: “No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States, as defined in section 706(8) of this title, shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance...” [29 U.S.C. §794(a), 34 C.F.R. §104.4(a)].a 
 

Click here for A Parent’s Guide to Section 504 in Public Schools