Title 14 Education
900 Special Populations
930 Supportive Instruction (Homebound)
1.0 Definition
“Supportive Instruction” is an alternative educational program provided at home, in a hospital or at a related site for students temporarily at home or hospitalized for a sudden illness, injury, episodic flare up of a chronic condition or accident considered to be of a temporary nature.
1.1 Procedures for eligibility shall be limited to appropriate certification that the student cannot attend school.
1.2 Services for children with disabilities as defined in the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and the State Department of Education's regulations on Children with Disabilities shall be provided according to the Administrative Manual: Special Education Services, and shall be processed under the district's special education authority. Nothing in this regulation shall prevent a district from providing supportive instruction to children with disabilities in a manner consistent with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Administrative Manual.
1.3 Nothing in this regulation shall alter a district's duties under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or the Americans with Disabilities Act to students who are qualified individuals with disabilities. Nothing in this regulation shall prevent a district from providing supportive instruction to such students.
2.0 Eligibility
A student enrolled in a school district is eligible for supportive instruction when the school receives the required certification that an accident, injury, sudden illness or episodic flare up of a chronic condition will prevent the student from attending school for at least ten (10) school days.
2.1 A physician must certify absences due to a medical condition.
2.2 Absences due to severe adjustment problems must be certified by a psychologist or psychiatrist and confirmed through a staff conference.
2.3 A physician must certify absences due to pregnancy complicated by illness or other abnormal conditions.
2.3.1 Students do not qualify for supportive instruction for normal pregnancies unless there are complications.
2.3.2 Students who remain enrolled in school are eligible for supportive instruction during a postpartum period not to exceed six weeks. Postpartum absences must be certified by a physician.
2.4 Supportive instruction can be requested as an in school transitional program that follows a period of supportive instruction that was provided outside of the school setting. If the supportive instruction is provided as an in school transitional program, it must be approved through a staff conference.
9 DE Reg. 402 (9/1/05)
3.0 Implementation
Supportive instruction for students shall begin as soon as the documentation required by 2.0 is received. Supportive instruction may continue upon the return to school setting only in those exceptional cases where it is determined that a student needs a transitional program to guarantee a successful return to the school program as delineated in 2.4.
3.1 Supportive instruction shall adhere to the extent possible to the student's school curriculum and shall make full use of the available technology in order to facilitate the instruction.
3.1.1 The school shall provide a minimum of 3 hours of supportive instruction each week of eligibility for students K to 5th grade, and a minimum of five hours each week of eligibility for students 6 to 12th grade. There is no minimum for in school transition.
3.1.2 Nothing in this regulation shall prevent a school district from providing additional hours of supportive instruction to eligible students from either its Academic Excellence allotment or other available funding sources.
3.2 Summer instruction is permitted for a student who is otherwise eligible for supportive instruction and as determined by the student's teachers and principal, needs the instruction to complete course work or to maintain a level of instruction in order to continue in a school program the following school year.
4 DE Reg. 344 (8/1/00)
4 DE Reg. 497 (9/1/00)
9 DE Reg. 402 (9/1/05)
