Scenario #1 – Raj Brown – Middle School Student at Batesburg-Leesville Middle
Tracie (LEA POC for Lexington School District 3): It’s a wonderful day in Lexington School District 3…This is Tracie Sweet, how may I serve you?
Julie (DSS case worker): Hi Tracie. This is Julie Mong from DSS. I understand that you are the point of contact for foster care in Lexington 3.
Tracie: Hi Julie. Yes, I am the foster care point of contact in the district. How can help you today?
Julie: I’m calling to inform you that Raj Brown, a student who currently attends Batesburg-Leesville Middle School in your district has been removed from his home by DSS and placed in a foster home.
Tracie: I’m sorry to hear that. I remember teaching Raj when he was in first grade. Well, let me check the new address to determine if his new placement is still in his current school’s attendance area. What is the new address?
Julie: 104 Shealy Road., Batesburg-Leesville
We try very hard to place students so that they don’t have to also change schools, but’s not always possible. There just aren’t enough foster care homes, unfortunately. However, I think we got lucky this time. We found a great foster family near the school.
Tracie: That address is actually right down the road from the school!
Julie: I know. We were really very fortunate this time to find a loving foster family so close to Raj’s current school. We are really doing a much better job of taking the school of origin into consideration when placing students, but also making sure that we find a great family, as well. That’s also important.
Tracie: Well, in this case, I’m so excited that Raj is going to be able to remain in his school of origin. I know him personally, and I know how hard his teachers have worked with him over the past few years to help him overcome some of his reading obstacles. He also has a mentor that comes once a week to make sure he continues to make improvements.
Julie: That’s great! So, since his foster home is in the same attendance area as his current school, we don’t need to have a school of origin meeting do we?
Tracie: No, but I need to notify the school immediately so that they can update the student’s foster care status and address in the student database.
Julie: So we don’t really need to fill out these forms they gave us in the training??
Tracie: No ma’am. I’ll document for my records that I’m notifying the school of the change.
Scenario #2 – Raj Brown – Foster parents can’t keep him anymore –
Moving to another foster care home about 30 minutes away
Tracie (LEA POC for Lexington School District 3): It’s a wonderful day in Lexington School District 3…This is Tracie Sweet, how may I serve you?
Julie (DSS case worker): Hi Tracie. This is Julie Mong from DSS.
Tracie: Hi Julie. It’s been a while since I’ve heard from you. How can help you today?
Julie: I’m calling to inform you that Raj Brown is changing foster care homes.
Tracie: Oh, it seems like just yesterday you called to tell us that he was being placed into foster care. I thought things were going well in his foster care home.
Julie: It was, but the foster care parents aren’t able to keep him anymore. It’s complicated.
Tracie: What is the new address? Is it near his current school?
Julie: Unfortunately, we couldn’t find another placement near the school this time. The address is 231 Mooring Lane, Lexington. It is in the Lexington 1 school district.
Tracie: Okay, well that means we will need to have a best interest determination meeting. I wonder how far that is from Batesburg-Leesville Middle. Hold on..let me put it into mapquest……
It’s about 30 minutes.
Julie: I knew we would have to meet within 3 school days to determine whether it was in Raj’s best interest to remain at Batesburg-Leesville or attend Lexington Middle School, which is the school that he would be attending where he now lives in Lexington. So, I already talked to the foster parents and his parents to see if and when they could attend the meeting. We can meet either tomorrow or the day after in the afternoon.
Tracie: The day after tomorrow would be best for me. I’ll need time to talk with Raj’s teachers and maybe his guidance counselor to see if they are available to attend the meeting or at least provide academic and social information to help us determine what’s in his best interest. I like to gather as much information and answer as many questions as I can on the form in advance.
Julie: That sounds great. Let’s plan to meet the day after tomorrow around 3:30 pm.
Tracie: Great! I’ll see you in the conference room at the district office at 3:30 on Wednesday.
Scenario #3 – Sierra Chang – 2nd Grade – Batesburg-Leesville Elementary –
Going to live with relative in Walhalla
Tracie (LEA POC for Lexington School District 3): It’s a wonderful day in Lexington School District 3…This is Tracie Sweet, how may I serve you?
Julie (DSS case worker): Hi Tracie. This is Julie Mong from DSS.
Tracie: Hi Julie. It’s been a while since I’ve heard from you. How can help you today?
Julie: I’m calling to inform you that Sierra Chang from your school district is being placed with a relative who lives in Walhalla, SC. Her new placement is about 2 hours and 40 minutes from her current school, so obviously she will be attending the school.
Tracie: Okay. Well, we still need to hold a best interest determination meeting. Hold on one second. Let me grab a best interest determination form so that I can document all of the information. What’s the student’s name again?
Julie: Sierra Chang
Tracie: Where does she currently attend school?
Julie: Batesburg-Leesville Elementary, and she’s in 2nd grade there.
Tracie: Okay. I just need to add the date of our BID meeting. Since the new placement is 2 hours and 40 minutes away, we can add a note that we had a phone BID. I’ll need you to sign the signature page for our records. Can I fax it to you?
Julie: Sure. And I’ll add the date of our BID to the immediate enrollment forms with your name in case the new school has any questions.
Tracie: Great! I’ll make sure we expedite the transfer of her records to the new school.
Julie: Thank you so much!
Tracie: You are so welcome and thank you! This new process really isn’t as complicated as we thought!
