N.J. Admin. Code § 6A:14-4.2 - Placement in the least restrictive environment

(a) Students with disabilities shall be educated in the least restrictive environment. Each district board of education shall ensure that:

1. To the maximum extent appropriate, a student with a disability is educated with peers who are not disabled;

2. Special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of a student with a disability from the student's general education class occurs only when the nature or severity of the educational disability is such that education in the student's general education class with the use of appropriate supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily;

3. A full continuum of alternative placements according to N.J.A.C. 6A:14-4.3 is available to meet the needs of students with disabilities for special education and related services;

4. Placement of a student with a disability is determined at least annually and, for a student in a separate setting, activities necessary to transition the student to a less restrictive placement are considered at least annually;

5. Placement is based on his or her IEP;

6. Placement is provided in appropriate educational settings as close to home as possible;

7. When the IEP does not describe specific restrictions, the student is educated in the school he or she would attend if not a student with a disability;

8. Consideration is given to:

i. Whether the student can be educated satisfactorily in a general education classroom with supplementary aids and services;

ii. A comparison of the benefits provided in a general education classroom and the benefits provided in a special education classroom; and

iii. The potentially beneficial or harmful effects which a placement may have on the student with disabilities or the other students in the class;

9. A student with a disability is not removed from the age-appropriate general education classroom solely based on needed modifications to the general education curriculum;

10. Placement in a program option is based on the individual needs of the student; and

11. Determinations regarding the restrictiveness of a particular program option are based solely on the amount of time a student with disabilities is educated outside the general education setting.

(b) Each district board of education shall provide nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities in the manner necessary to afford students with disabilities an equal opportunity for participation in those services and activities.

1. In providing or arranging for the provision of nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities, each district board of education shall ensure that each student with a disability participates with nondisabled peers in those services and activities to the maximum extent appropriate.

Notes

N.J. Admin. Code § 6A:14-4.2

Amended by R.2000 d.230, effective 6/5/2000.
See: 32 N.J.R. 755(a), 32 N.J.R. 2052(a).
Added (b).
Amended by R.2006 d.315, effective 9/5/2006.
See: 38 N.J.R. 2253(a), 38 N.J.R. 3530(b).
In (a)2, substituted "general education" for "regular" throughout; rewrote (a)4; in (a)7, substituted "a student with a disability" for "disabled" and deleted "and" at the end; added (a)9 through (a)11 and substituted ";" for "." at (a)8iii. Amended by 52 N.J.R. 1822(b), effective 10/5/2020