Temecula Preparatory School’s special education staff is committed to providing specialized academic and behavioral support and instruction to students with exceptional needs. Student Support Services staff challenges students to be engaged in high quality learning while preparing and inspiring them to find truth, beauty, and goodness in classical education curriculum and school culture at TPS and community.
Student Support Services Directory
Ken Goltara, Director
To email the following staff members, please click on the name of the employee.
Timothy Dotta, Upper School RTI Coordinator- Ex. 1044
Sarah Hansen, Upper School Education Specialist – Ex. 1031
Student Support Services
At Temecula Preparatory School our Student Support Services Department (SSS) is built upon the belief that our rigorous academic program should be accessible to all students and our instructional practices and other educational activities need to facilitate access and success for special needs students.
Student Support Services takes a holistic approach to caring for its students by considering the physical, emotional, and mental needs of all students while in the classroom, on the playground and even at home.
Public Forms
Child Find
TPS must implement an ongoing system to locate, identify and evaluate all children birth to 21 residing within its jurisdiction who have disabilities and need early intervention under Part C or special education under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act. TPS is required to identify all children with disabilities, regardless of the severity of their disabilities, including children who are:
- Highly mobile, such as migrant and homeless children; 2024-2025 Annual Notifications and Required Postings
- Wards of the State;
- Suspected of having a disability even though they advance from grade to grade.
TPS child find efforts must include:
- Communication to Parents/Guardians. Inform parents and guardians about the availability of special education and related services and provide them with information about initiating a referral for a special education evaluation, including information about early intervention under Part C and special education under Part B.
- Staff awareness. Ensure that staff members are knowledgeable about the characteristics of children with disabilities and in need of special education, and the referral process for all children, including infants or preschool children, suspected of having disabilities.
Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS)
Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) is a method for systematically providing interventions that are proportional to students’ needs. Multi-Tiered System of Supports is an integrated, comprehensive framework that focuses on core instruction, differentiated learning, student-centered learning, individualized student needs, and the alignment of systems necessary for all students’ academic, behavioral, and social success. Student Support Services will identify at-risk students, monitor student progress, and provide quality interventions. Response to Intervention (RTI) and positive behavior supports are used to assist students with behavioral and social needs.
Response to Intervention (RTI)
Response to Intervention is a form of the Academic Systems of the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) program at TPS. Response to Intervention is a multi-tiered problem-solving approach to ensure academic success for all students. RTI is based on providing tiers of interventions based on progress monitoring of student progress and response to provided interventions.
Section 504 Eligibility Determination
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protects students with disabilities from discrimination based on their disabilities. The Section 504 regulations require a school district to provide a “free appropriate public education” (FAPE) to each qualified student with a disability who is in the school district’s jurisdiction, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability.
Your child may be eligible for services under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. You have the right to request a Section 504 eligibility determination meeting by contacting your School’s designated Section 504 Chairperson or the District’s Section 504 Coordinator. Parents of children diagnosed with or suspected of having any type of anxiety disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, i.e. impulsive, attentive or hyperactive, or other disabilities, who, in the past, were determined to be ineligible under Section 504 or the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), are not precluded from requesting a Section 504 meeting or individualized education program (IEP) meeting to discuss current eligibility.
Parents and/or Students have rights and procedural safeguards under Section 504. You may use the following link to access rights and procedural safeguard: Click here.
Positive Behavior Support
Positive Behavior Supports is a Behavior Systems approach of the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) program at TPS. The purpose of this behavior system is to assist with establishing the social culture and individual behavioral supports needed for school to achieve both social success for all students. It is a collaborative approach amongst student, parent, teacher, staff, and administration. Interventions are designed to meet the needs of students who have been identified as needing additional support to address their behavior or social/emotional needs.
At-Risk Students
To make sure we give each student the attention he or she needs we consider all new students “At Risk” for their first month at TPS. If a student has adjusted to TPS successfully they are no longer considered At Risk unless a parent or faculty member brings concerns to Student Support.
If a student does struggle after their first month, they are maintained as “At Risk” and entered into the Response to Intervention (RTI) program. A student will stay in RTI until they have made the adjustment successfully or it is determined that there are greater needs that can be addressed through a Student Support Team (SST), medical plan, 504 plan, or IEP. During this process Student Support works closely with students and parents to ensure that all stakeholders are involved.
High Achieving Students
Again, TPS has a very rigorous curriculum. For the majority of the students and parents this curriculum is sufficiently challenging. In grades 9-12 students can take a number of Advanced Placement (AP) courses for an additional challenge at a higher level in their education and to better prepare them for college.
As the success of the school has grown it has become apparent that there is a growing population of students and parents who would enjoy additional challenges. For these students, Student Support Services is able to work with individual faculty members to create alternative and more challenging assignments for reading, writing, problem solving, and inquiry for gaining a deeper understanding of course content.
English Language Learners
As required by California law, TPS administers the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) to all new students with a home language other than English and to all English Learners annually to determine each student’s individual proficiency level and to reclassify students to Fluent English Proficient (FEP) when appropriate. Student Support also services students with ELL needs as well.
ELLs benefit from instructional approaches that treat language and content in an integrated way. The instructional program at TPS is designed to help ELLs build language skills that they need to succeed in content classrooms, college and careers.
Over 90% of our teachers are certified to work with English Language Learners.
Foster Youth
Under LCFF, the term foster youth includes;
– Any child who is the subject of a juvenile dependency court petition, whether or not they child has been removed from his or her home;
– Any child who is the subject of a juvenile delinquency court petition and who has been removed from his or her home by the court and placed into foster care under a “suitable placement” order. This includes youth who have been placed in a foster home, relative home, or group home.
– Any youth age 18 to 21 who is under the transition jurisdiction of the juvenile court
Foster youth qualify for assistance and will benefit from Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). They change schools more frequently, are placed in more restrictive education settings and have poorer quality of individualized supports than their non-foster care peers. Because foster youth may not have stable advocates at home, schools must be sensitive to their distinct needs in order to provide a quality and supportive educational experience. Student Support Services will assist in this process.
Homeless Students
Unaccompanied youth and homeless include individuals who are not living with a parent or guardian, who are residing with a caregiver who does not have legal guardianship, who are living on their own, and who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.
It is the primary responsibility of TPS to enroll and educate homeless children and youth. It is not our requirement to make judgments about the validity of why a student is not living with a parent or guardian but it is our duty to ensure these students have equal access to the classical curriculum at TPS. Student Support services will assist unaccompanied and homeless students in this process by working closely with the student, teachers, school staff, school administrators, and school community.
Special Education Program
Temecula Preparatory School does not discriminate and acknowledges its obligation to offer eligible students a free appropriate public education (“FAPE”) in the least restrictive environment (“LRE”) in compliance with state and federal laws. The provision of FAPE in the LRE may include offering a program operated by Temecula Preparatory School. However, if Temecula Preparatory School cannot provide a student a FAPE in the LRE in one of its existing programs, then in compliance with state and federal laws, it will contract with another public school, such as another charter school or public school as close as possible to the child’s home, or private provider, to provide the required services and/or placement. In these cases, Temecula Preparatory School remains responsible for providing the student with a FAPE and at no cost to parents.
Temecula Preparatory School also acknowledges that parents must be given the opportunity to participate in any decision-making meeting regarding their child’s special education program and that parents have the right to participate in an IEP meeting concerning the identification (eligibility), assessment, educational placement, or other matters relating to their child’s FAPE. Therefore, it will be the student’s IEP team who will determine the appropriate program where he or she can receive special education and related services that will meet his or her unique needs. Should you have any questions regarding your and your child’s right to receive a FAPE in the LRE, then please do not hesitate to contact:
Mr. Ken Goltara
TPS Director of Student Support Services
35777 Abelia Street
Winchester, CA 92596
(951) 926-6776
El Dorado Charter SELPA
6767 Green Valley Rd.
Placerville, CA 95667
(530) 295-2462
California Department of Education
1430 N. Street, Suite 2401
Sacramento, California 95814
(916) 319-0800
A copy of these rights can be found by clicking here. Additionally, if you have questions about Temecula Preparatory School’s
special education program, services and supports, please contact Mr. Ken Goltara, Director of Student Support Services, by using the information listed above.
Before your child is enrolled in Temecula Preparatory School, you are not required to disclose to us whether your child has a disability or provide a copy of his/her IEP or Section 504 plan to our school. However, soon after your child is enrolled in our school, we will ask for this information to ensure your child is offered a FAPE in the LRE. So, we recommend that parents be ready to provide us with a copy of a student’s last agreed upon and implemented IEP as soon as they are notified their child has been enrolled in Temecula
Preparatory School.