Special Education Services During the COVID-19 School Closures
Most youth with special needs thrive on a predictable and structured daily routine. Pandemic-driven school closures and remote learning are formidable challenges for these students. It is important for parents and other caregivers to remind educators that despite emergency changes to special education laws, children with disabilities require special education services now more than ever. Senate Bill 98, Section 66 of California’s 2020 Budget Act amended a section of the Education Code to require that an “Individualized Education Plan (IEP) include a description of the means by which the IEP will be provided under emergency conditions, during which, instruction or services, or both, cannot be provided to the pupil either at the school or in person for more than 10 school days.”
Parents are advised to request an IEP (or 504 accommodation) meeting by phone or video conference to talk about what remote learning strategies are working for your child and which are problematic. Before an IEP or 504 meeting, plan what you want to say. You might want to write a list of your requests to keep in front of you during the meeting, so you don’t forget anything. Be ready to talk about how the changes you request will help your child meet their IEP goals more effectively. If the school tells you that it will be unable to provide some or all of the services that your child was receiving before the school closure, ask the school to give you a written list of those services. This list can be attached to your child’s IEP and will help you to determine if you should ask for “compensatory services” when school resumes. Keep a written record of every service your child misses during the school closure. Recognizing that these are tough times for everyone and working collaboratively with the school system is key to achieving creative educational solutions. Plain talk on ‘what to know and where to go’ can be found in YMA’s Advocacy Tips for Parents of Students Receiving Special Education Services During the COVID-19 School Closures in California, prepared in collaboration with Tara Ford, Clinical Supervising Attorney, Youth & Education Law Project, Mills Legal Clinic, Stanford Law School, and Rachel Velcoff Hultz, Equity and Access Attorney, Health, National Center for Youth Law.
In response to inquiries concerning implementation of services in the current COVID-19 environment, the California Department of Education (CDE) posted a Q&A clarifying the provisions for in-person specialized supports and services to students with disabilities in April 2020, which was subsequently updated on September 28, 2020. The latest version of the CDE’s Q&A can be found here.
Posted 11.9.20 Young Minds Advocacy Staff