Anyone may contact
Murphy & Dwyer Academy, Inc., directly or through email to
inquire about our school and admissions process.
Admissions policies and procedures are available to parents
and students at any time upon request.
MDA’s admission process proceeds smoothly when the
following steps are completed in order.
This allows us process your admission, review records and
meet with you to consider whether we can meet the needs of your
student. Copies of
MDA’s policies and procedures are provided to the student (as
appropriate), parents, and the placing public school district
prior to admission of the student.
1.
MDA Information:
Please request information about our program by phone, fax or
email. In response, we
will send an application packet or refer you to our website that
is designed to provide you an overview of our program.
2.
Application for
Admission: Complete the application form and return it with
the following information. Please
provide copies of documents only, no originals:
a)
Neuropsychological or psychological report (the most recent which
includes WISC-IV or WAIS IV).
b)
Achievement tests or any additional specialized testing (WJ III or
WIAT III).
c)
Most recent Individual Education Plan (IEP) and other pertinent
school records.
d)
Summer Camp reports (if applicable)
e)
Pertinent medical records
f)
Attach a check in the amount of $85.00, this is a non-refundable
application and processing fee.
Please make checks payable to Murphy and Dwyer Academy,
Inc. Please note when
a school district refers a student to MDA the $85.00 application
and processing fee is waived.
3.
School visit:
After reviewing the referral information, if the student is
assessed to be potentially appropriate candidate, we will contact
you to arrange an interview with the parent(s), guardians and/or
educators. MDA encourages both parents to participate in the
initial interview. This
appointment will take about an hour to an hour
and a half in order to give you an individual tour of the program,
a verbal description of how our program works and an opportunity
for MDA to learn more about the student's social, emotional, and
educational needs. The
visiting days are set to allow visitors to tour the school while
the students are involved in an out of the classroom activity and
to observe a lesson through live-video technology when
possible. The school’s priority is to
minimize the effect of visitors on current students and their
learning environment. Therefore,
we limit visits to the school.
4. Appropriate
Candidate: Following the school visit, if the parents and the
MDA team feel that the student may be an appropriate candidate, an
individual student interview will be arranged with the parents.
Prior to the interview, MDA will need to:
5. Student
Visit: After the parents have visited the school and want to
proceed in the process, a student interview will be scheduled.
The student interview typically
lasts from two to three hours.
6. Notification
of Decision: Students are accepted on a rolling admission
basis. After
the student’s visit, notification of MDA’s decision will be
sent out as soon as possible.
MDA will also send out the service contract and financial
arrangement agreement to the parent(s) and/or identified third
party or school system.
MDA does not maintain a waiting list, but accepts students
on the basis of its ability to provide appropriate services to a
student, and upon whether the student will fit into MDA’s
classroom configurations.
7. Acceptance
Date: After MDA has received a signed service contract and
financial arrangement agreement; we will arrange the date for the
student to begin attending school at MDA.
8.
Case Manager:
Once we accept a student, a staff liaison (case
manager) will be assigned to your family to help your family will
all aspects of the transition process to ensure that your student
makes a successful adjustment to the school.
Necessary
Information we must have:
·
MDA Application (MS
Word
or
Adobe PDF)
and Application Guide (Adobe
PDF)
·
All
permission forms signed
·
Copy
of a physical exam done within the last year
·
Copy
of immunization records
·
Medication
(if applicable): Please refer to the Medication
section of this handbook for important regulations pertaining to
the dispensing of drugs.
The Department of Education requires that
students have an annual physical exam carried out by a licensed
physician, the results of which must be reported to MDA on a
Massachusetts School Health Form. Included on that form must be a
complete, up-to-date history of immunizations. Students with
special requirements or modifications must obtain a listing of
those from the physician in writing. The Department of Health
requires that all medical and emergency forms be received by the
Academy prior to the student’s first day of school. No
exceptions are permitted.
Once the application process is complete,
the new student and parent will attend a New Student and Parent
Orientation. Students are introduced to the program and rules and
expectations are previewed as part of the orientation procedure.
Parent Orientation gives staff a chance to review the policies and
procedures contained in this manual, and to answer any questions
parents may have.
Murphy
and Dwyer Academy, Inc. a private school at
29 Regina Drive, Chelmsford, MA
01824
, admits students of any race, color, national, ethnic origin to
all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally
accorded or made available to students at this school. It does not
discriminate on the basis of race, color, national, or ethnic
origin in administration of educational policies, admissions
policies, scholarship and loan programs, athletic and other school
administered programs.
