General Guidance


The Continuation of Services (COS) verification report contains data on students with greater than 10 school days of disciplinary exclusion who were reported as not receiving services beginning on the eleventh day of exclusion. For an individual student, the number of days reported in the data may not represent a cumulative total of all suspension days. The count of days of suspension shown in this application are days for which ‘N’ was reported for COS minus the 10 days which do not require COS.


The IEP team determines what constitutes educational services for students with disabilities. Exclusions reported with “Continuation of Services” indicator of ‘Y’ are not included in this report. The ‘Y’ (Yes) reported by your LEA signified that the LEA did provide services to the student during the suspension or expulsion beyond 10 days. 


Services are not required for the first ten days of exclusion; therefore, all students in the Continuation of Services Verification Report have more than ten days of exclusion reported as not receiving services. Exclusions reported with “Continuation of Services” indicator of ‘N’ (No) signified that the LEA did not provide services to the student during the suspension or expulsion. The designation is only required for ACTION CODES of ‘30’ or ’40.’ Anything beyond 10 days is considered FAPE denied days and additional documentation is required.


Compensatory Services, as used in this application, are services provided to compensate for the LEA failure to provide those services during the suspension beyond 10 days.


For example, a student was reported with 15 days of suspension. Twelve days were reported with COS = ‘N.’ Three days were reported with COS = ‘Y.’ In the COS application the twelve total COS = ‘N’ days will show. Continuation of Services or Compensatory Services must be provided for two of those days. 


Data Source

All data used in the Continuation of Services application come from the LEA. Each LEA enters discipline incidents in their Student Information System (SIS) (e.g., Infinite Campus or Power School or other SIS). Those individual incidents are reported to GaDOE in the Student Record data collection. Student Record (SR) provides a year-end, cumulative record of student program participation and various activities including discipline. GaDOE uses the data from the Student Record data collection to create the Continuation of Service report in the SE Applications Dashboard.


The CONTINUATION OF SERVICES field in Student Record indicates whether a student received educational services during the out of school suspension or expulsion. CONTINUATION OF SERVICES must be provided for SWD after 10 days of cumulative suspension. The CONTINUATION OF SERVICES flag applies to all students but can be blank for students without disabilities.


Due Dates

If your LEA reported incidents of failure to provide FAPE for cumulative exclusions of greater than ten days in the Student Record Student Safety collection, you must respond to the Continuation of Services report no later than August 31. The application opens in early July. 


Definitions

FAPE - Free Appropriate Public Education (Sec. 300.17)

FAPE means special education and related services that:

  1. Are provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge;
  2. Meet the standards of the SEA (state educational agency), including the requirements of this part; 
  3. Include an appropriate preschool, elementary school, or secondary school education in the State involved; and
  4. Are provided in conformity with an individualized education program (IEP) that meets the requirements of §§300.320 through 300.32.


LEAs Response to Denial of FAPE

For LEAs with students in the Continuation of Services application, a response is required along with supporting documentation uploaded to the application. The LEA will select one of the six responses that best fits the events for each student.


  • Continuation of Services is defined as providing services during the time of exclusion. 


  • Compensatory Services is defined as providing services after the period of exclusion.


Please choose one of the following options in the COS verification report:


  1. Continuation of Services was offered, but the parent declined the offer, or the student did not attend. 
  2. Continuation of Services was provided but not reported *
  3. Continuation of Services was not offered; the student was not suspended for 11 days. *
  4. Continuation of Services was not offered, the student was suspended for 11 or more days, but the student was not a SWD or suspected SWD for 11 or more suspension days. **
  5. Compensatory Services were offered, but the parent declined the offer, or the student did not attend. 
  6. Compensatory Services were provided. 
  7. Compensatory Services were not offered and have not been provided. *** 


* Selecting options #2 or #3 represents inaccurate reporting. This will negatively impact the LEA’s Timely and Accurate score.


** A student is suspected to be a student with disability if: i) the parent expressed concern in writing to supervisory or administrative personnel or teacher that the child was in need of special education services, ii) the parent requested an evaluation for special education, iii) the teacher of the child or other personnel expressed specific concerns about a pattern of behavior of the child to the special education director or supervisory personnel of the LEA.



*** Option 7 will represent a finding of noncompliance for the LEA.


After selecting the best response, upload the appropriate documentation. See the Example section for sample submissions.