Overview

Hospital/homebound students, whose schedules and Individual Education Plans (IEP) specify the number of minutes per week that hospital/homebound services will be provided, should be reported during survey week like other students. These services can be provided at the student’s home, in a hospital, through telecommunications, computer devices, or other specified settings. If the student is scheduled to receive services, and has received services during survey week or one of the six days preceding survey week, the student’s scheduled time should be reported. The district should keep proper documentation to verify that the student received appropriate services, as stated in the IEP.

The purpose of this article is to outline data entry and verification procedures in Focus for students receiving these services.

Demographics

Under the ESE tab in student info, these students have an ESE Exceptionality of "Hospital Homebound”, in most cases this should be marked as the primary ESE Exceptionality. The IDEA field on ESE screen should also be marked H - Hospital Homebound.

Since the student is hospital/homebound their zoned school/district needs to be entered on the Fed State tab.

Note: HH student should not have an ESE FEFP code in the ESE tab unless they are receiving ESE services in all of their courses

Sections

On the master schedule, use one of the following course numbers applicable for the student’s grade level: 7755020 - PK-5; 7855020 - 6-8; 7900030 - 9-12.

For the room number, it should correspond to the fish number: 09001O090010900109001. Facility Type should indicate Hospital or Home as applicable.

Student Schedule - FEFP, FTE Reporting & Class Weekly Minutes

On the student’s schedule, enter 999 on all current regular school courses so they are reported but do not earn any FTE.

Enroll the student in the Hospital Homebound course and verify the correct days of the week are checked and class minutes weekly are entered. FEFP Code should be 255 on the Hospital Homebound course, do not enter on the ESE screen. Focus will automatically report 255 if it is not indicated as such on the schedule for these courses.

If the student is scheduled to receive services, and has received services during survey week or one of the six days preceding survey week, the student’s scheduled time should be reported. The district should keep proper documentation to verify that the student received appropriate services, as stated in the IEP. As long as they actually received the services at some point during the survey week or the six days prior, the full scheduled time can be reported even if they are only seen for part of the scheduled time.

If the student did not receive services at any point during survey week or the six days prior, the hospital homebound class on the student's schedule must be marked Exclude from FTE in order for it to not be reported for funding. (Do NOT mark the class 999 this will not work).

Intermittent Hospital/Homebound Students

Students who are alternately assigned to the hospital/homebound program and the school-based program are reported for FTE based on their schedule during the survey week. If the student is scheduled to receive services, and has received services in either setting during survey week or one of the six days preceding survey week, the student’s scheduled time in both settings should be reported.

If the student did not receive HHB services at any point during survey week or the six days prior AND did not attend on-campus regular classes during survey week or the six days prior, the H/H class on the student's schedule must be marked Exclude from FTE in order for it to not be reported for funding (Do NOT mark the class 999 this will not work). The student should be marked absent the entire 11-day window for their on-campus regular classes and districts should confirm those are reported as 999.

Grades

If the student is full-time hospital homebound, this is likely the only course that should be on their schedule. Some schools choose to keep the regular classes on the student’s schedule but mark them 999. This way they can still be used for entering grades.

Otherwise, when final grades are entered, they should be entered individually on the student’s final grades screen with the actual course of instruction rather than the Hospital/Homebound course number.

Attendance

The Automated Student Attendance Recordkeeping Handbook outlines specific instructions for Hospital/Homebound students. Since Hospital/Homebound students are provided instruction, even though it is not in a regular setting, districts are required to maintain daily attendance in their automated system. How the attendance and the indication of teacher visits are collected and how often they are entered into the automated system is the district’s option. This may be once a week or once a month so long as accurate and complete information has been entered prior to the four FTE survey periods.

One procedure commonly used by districts is to maintain a manual work document that is maintained by the teacher and serves as the input document for attendance. Some districts require the parent/guardian to initial the days the teacher is present. (Such a document could also serve as the work record for the district payroll department if the Hospital/Homebound teacher is a part-time employee or a full-time teacher receiving supplemental pay for work beyond the regular school day.)

Since FTE auditors require additional information for students in Hospital/Homebound programs, the manual work document must be signed and dated by the Hospital/Homebound teacher and must be maintained for three years or until all appropriate FTE audits have been completed. The manual work document must contain the following information:

Student’s Name
Student Number Identifier, Florida
Grade Level
Home School and/or Cost Center
Student’s Schedule – Course Number, Course Title, Section Number, Period Number
Teacher’s Name
Times and Days of Scheduled Visits

Data Verification

There are two reports available in FOCUS to verify students that will be sent as Hospital Homebound.

Florida Reports > Survey Accuracy Reports > Full Time Hospital Homebound

Note: To be considered full-time hospital home bound on this report, a student would need:

Has Primary Exceptionality of M
ESE FEFP is 255 or 254
All active schedule records must have an FEFP of 255 or 254

Florida Reports > Survey Accuracy Reports > Intermittent Hospital Homebound

Note: To be considered intermittent hospital home bound on this report, a student would need:

Has Primary Exceptionality of M
ESE FEFP must be NULL/Empty or either 111, 112, or 113
Student has non-255 FEFP schedule records mixed in with 255 FEFP schedule records

For more information see DOE Policies and Procedures Manual