The Frenchtown School District has procedures in place to identify, locate, and evaluate children with disabilities age birth to 21 residing in the school district.  This includes children attending public school, private school, and registered home school, as well as children who are highly mobile, migrant, homeless, or wards of the state.

For infants and toddlers, please call the Special Services Coordinator, Jennifer Demmons, at 406-626-2775 for assistance in coordinating screenings with Western Montana Child Development Center and/or Vibrant Hearing.

For children age 3 through age 5 residing in the school district, Frenchtown SD offers free preschool developmental screening in the areas of vision, hearing, speech/language, motor, and cognitive skills.  Screening is comprehensive and by appointment.  Children scoring low on the screening may then be referred for a comprehensive disability evaluation. To schedule a free screening appointment, parents are encouraged to call Jennifer Demmons, Special Services, at 406-626-2775.

If you have a child age 6 to 21 whom you suspect may have a disability, please call Jennifer Demmons, Special Services Coordinator, at 626-2775 for assistance and information regarding the district’s referral process.

There are conditions under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) through which special education and related services may be provided to children with disabilities voluntarily enrolled by their parents in private schools, including religious and registered home schools. 

School-age children with IDEA-eligible disabilities not enrolled in public school for 100% of the school day are not entitled to receive some or all of the special education and related services that the child would receive if enrolled in a public school. However, the IDEA provides for the participation of private school children with disabilities in IDEA funded special education and related services. Decisions regarding the services to be provided, including which children will receive services, the type and location of such services, and how the services will be provided, are made by the public school district after consultation with representatives of private schools within the public school district’s boundaries.  If a child’s needs fall within the type of services to be provided to private schools, the public school district will make those services available.

If you have any questions regarding IDEA provisions for private-school/registered home school children with disabilities, please call Jennifer Demmons, Special Services Coordinator, at 406-626-2775 for additional assistance and information. 

The Frenchtown School District keeps data on the number of private school children evaluated, the number determined eligible for IDEA services, and the number served.  This data must be reported to the Office of Public Instruction.  Therefore, please call Jennifer Demmons at 626-2775 if you have any IDEA-eligible students enrolled at your school that reside in the Frenchtown District.