Case Managing 504 Plans

One of the first memories I have from my first days of a School Psych was searching for  504 plans.  You see, my school didn't have an electronic list anywhere, and the former psych left no indication of a list of students with 504's.  As case manager of 504 plans in my building, this posed a significant problem.   So, I did what any dedicated newbie would:  I searched the file drawers for the correct folders, and went from there.

Because of this, I was determined to be set up for my second year in the easiest way possible, so, part of my end of year routine involves prepping all my plans for the next year.

I created a cover sheet my first year that I have been using ever since.  I usually copy it in a bright color so that it's easy for teachers to locate, and clip it to a copy of the plan.  I've seen teachers pull it out at meetings, so I assume it's working pretty well.  I also make a copy of every students accommodation pages for the specials teachers.  At the beginning Of the year, I am good to go!


Here is the Cover Sheet I use:  (download it from google docs here)

I also send a letter out to all parents of my 504's at the beginning of the year, using this template:

And here is the letter I send to special area teachers, who get copies of multiple plans:

As I do with all meetings, I schedule all meetings at the beginning of the year, and mark all dates off on  my SPED organization chart.  I get the above going in June, so it's one less thing to do at the start of the year.  What do you all use to help case manage?

Wrapping it up: End of the Year checklist

At the end of the year, I try to do as much as possible to prep for the upcoming year before running for the door and yelling "school's out for the summmmmmmerrrr!!!"

Mainly, this consists of the following:

• Getting my office cleaned up and organized as much as possible (aka finding tiny families of spiders in corners, collecting all the little lego pieces hiding under furniture).
• Organizing all of my computer files:
• You never know what can happen over the summer, and I always make sure that before I leave, I have all my student files organized on my drive, as well as folders that contain activities, etc.
•  Making our SPED chart for next year:
• The beginning of the year is always a crazy time, and I like to make sure that I'm prepared going in with a list of kids we have, and what evaluations and meetings we need to start prepping for immediately.  I feel one step ahead every Fall for doing this, and it's completely worth it.
• Prepping my 504 Plans for the next year:
• It seems like there are so many 504 plans now, and at the beginning of the year, I like to check in with my teachers about students with 504's before the year starts.  Since there are only like 3 days to do this, I don't know how I would get it done beforehand without doing this ahead of time.  Every June, I print out all of the plans and a cover sheet for the  next years teachers.  I also print out a copy of each one for our specialists.  In August, I just have to do through and update them with any easy changes that happened over the summer.  This has been SUCH a timesaver.

What do you do to prepare?