Contact your child’s school and make an appointment to meet/speak with the regular education classroom and/or special education classroom teacher of record. This may be accomplished by telephone or email. If email is your preference, it is suggested you also copy (Cc) the principal, school  psychologist and special education coordinator, to make them aware of your concern(s). If the issue remains unsolved or unanswered,

Contact your child’s school and make an appointment to meet/speak with your child’s Case Manager. You can refer to the Case Manager Notification letter you received at the start of the school year introducing your child’s IEP team for the contact information (i.e. email and phone) for your child’s case manager.

If your child receives only speech and language services, your child’s case manager is their Speech and Language Pathologist service provider.

If your child receives specialized academic instruction services, your child’s case manager is their Resource Specialist or Special Day Class teacher. If the issue remains unsolved or unanswered,

Contact your child’s school and make an appointment to meet/speak with the Principal. If the issue remains unsolved or unanswered at the school site level,

Call the NUSD District Office to schedule an appointment to meet/speak with the appropriate Special Education Coordinator:

Early Intervention
Alysse McDaniel [email protected]
415-493-4603

All Elementary TK-5th Grade
Sandy Kuzma
[email protected]
415-493-4272

All Secondary –Middle, High School, Post-Secondary 6th grade – age 22 years
Kevin Goyer [email protected]
415-493-4273

All Non Public Schools/
Marin County Office of Education
Kelly Hourigan [email protected]
415-493-4242

Call the NUSD District Office (415-897-4267) to schedule an appointment to meet/speak with Dawn Mawhinney, Director of Special Education. For additional support and assistance,

Attend a monthly meeting of the Novato Unified School District Special Education Advisory Committee (DSEAC). Address the panel members during the PUBLIC COMMENT segment of the meeting.

DSEAC provides outreach to families and the special education community with help in addressing issues related to students with IEPs.

 Meetings are held at the Novato Unified School District Office: 1015 Seventh Street, Novato, CA  94945. Please check this NUSD website Special Education District Advisory Committee page for dates and times.

DSEAC members include parents of children with special needs, teachers, administrators, in addition to the Director of Special Education and a School Board member. Current DSEAC members and email addresses are listed on the NUSD website, Special Education District Advisory Committee page. If, after attending DSEAC, the issue remains unsolved or unanswered,

Call the NUSD District Office (415-493-4211) to schedule an appointment to meet/speak with Dr. Tracy Smith, Superintendent of Novato Unified School District. If the issue remains unsolved or unanswered at the Superintendent level, the next step is to address the NUSD Board members

If NUSD is not able to resolve your concerns at this point, you can seek further assistance by contacting Marin County Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA). As a neutral party, Marin SELPA provides parent support and training to resolve issues, concerns, and disputes at the local level. 

As parent/guardian of a child with a disability, you are entitled to certain procedural safeguards set forth in 34 C.F.R. Section 300.504(c), For your convenience, a copy of these procedural safeguards can be found on the NUSD website (www.nusd.org > Departments > Special  Education > Notice of Procedural Safeguards)

If you require further assistance in understanding the procedural safeguards, in addition to the above mentioned NUSD staff, you may contact the following public agencies:

Marin SELPA
1111 Las Gallinas Avenue
San Rafael, CA 94913

(415) 499-5850