SET-BC District Partners

The special education administrator for each school district selects one or two district staff members to act as a liaison between the SET-BC Regional Centre and the school district.  The Office of the Inspector of Independent School appoints the District Partners for group 1 and group 2 independent schools.  These district professionals are familiar with the SET-BC mandate and service procedures.  They support the SET-BC collaborative approach to assessing student need and planning for the implementation of technology.  SET-BC recognizes the importance of the role, the experience and the expertise of district professionals.

District Partners enhance service delivery to students, parents and school staff, while providing greater autonomy to local professionals.  Major roles for district partners include:

• acting as a liaison between the school district and SET-BC
• providing a clear understanding of the SET-BC mandate to district and school based staff
• facilitating the identification of students and collaborative action planning
• identifying areas of inservice need for school district teams
• identifying sources of assistance for educational and technical support
• maintaining an educational focus and clarifying school needs

District Partners include representatives of a wide range of disciplines including teachers, vision specialists, speech language pathologists, school therapists, and administrators.  SET-BC District Partners are:

• district based
• familiar with SET-BC programs and services
• supportive of a community-based, collaborative approach
• supportive of the use of technology to support students with special needs
• active in their district’s SET-BC screening committee
• active in Assistive Technology planning in their district
• experienced in providing inservice and consultation

District Partners meet at their SET-BC regional centre for one or more planned meetings a year.  District Partners develop their individual roles through discussion based on provincial directions and on regional and district need.  The network of District Partners is a province-wide forum for sharing information and for supporting the implementation of technology for students with disabilities.

SET-BC Regional staff support their district partners by:

• providing opportunities for sharing information and resources through meetings and training
• providing support through online training and the SET-BC website
• providing short term loans of equipment for demonstration and assessment
• providing information about the allocation of service to the district