Transcript of “Rights Here, Rights Now –

Episode 20: Special Education in COVID Times”

Produced by the disAbility Law Center of Virginia.                                                            

[NARRATOR]: The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. Instead, all information, content and materials available are for general informational purposes only.

[Intro Music: Light rhythmic percussion beats, finger snaps & hand claps]

[REN]: Welcome to Rights Here, Rights Now: The podcast about disability, advocacy, and activism.

I’m your Advocate Host, Ren Faszewski –

[VIRGINIA]: and I’m your Advocate Host, Virginia Pharis.

[REN]: Every two weeks, we will dig into relevant issues, current events, and avenues for self-advocacy -

[VIRGINIA]: ‘cause someone has to -

[REN]: and it might as well be us!

[VIRGINIA]: This podcast is produced by the disAbility Law Center of Virginia, the Commonwealth’s protection advocacy agency for disability rights. Find out more at dLCV.org.

[REN]: Today we have something of a treat for you Virginia

[VIRGINIA]: I’m, I’m so excited it’s a surprise, it’s an actual surprise.

[REN]: Actual surprise and it’s about a topic like we say every week we know nothing about and that is Special Education.

[VIRGINIA]: Yaaaaaayy, now listeners to peel back the curtain a little bit, ummm Ren interviewed the fabulous Kerry Chilton, one of our staff attorneys on Special Education and school re-openings ummm, I was not able to be there for that recording so I get to listen to it for the first time with the rest of you.

[REN]: Yeah and we’ll jump right into that interview right after we check out disAbility in the news.

Federal officials are sending millions of dollars in rental assistance to help people with disabilities in a dozen states. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is distributing $74 million to state housing finance agencies to support about 2,400 housing units for up to five years. The rental assistance is marked for people with disabilities and is being provided through the agencies Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program.

Ben Carson, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development said, “we are committed to ensuring people with disabilities have access to safe, sanitary, accessible and affordable rental homes with the supportive services they need to live independently.” The housing agencies who have been awarded grants are working with Medicaid and other agencies to identify people with disabilities who need long-term services in order to live independently.

The states currently receiving these awards are, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Texas. We know this will dramatically help people with disabilities live independently in the community.

[REN]: Alright, now we are going to get into the meat of things, thanks again Kerry for joining us on a very important episode of the podcast.

[KERRY]: Of course happy to be here.

[REN]: So we’re talking about something I am sure is on a lot of parents minds, which is schools reopening in the midst of the pandemic. What kind of options are currently being discussed about how schools are going to reopen?

[KERRY]: So a couple of months ago the Virginia Department of Education (Media)? released really comprehensive guidance on return to school in anticipation of this new school year. They really left it up to school divisions to try to determine based on the health data and the needs of their local community, what the plan is going to be for returning to school. We are at the point now where schools are slowly starting to release their plans. So we are seeing a lot of different variety depending on the local and the rate of COVID cases and the needs in that community. We have a couple of school divisions Henrico and Richmond that have announced that they are planning to fully virtual for the first nine (9) weeks. We have other divisions like Virginia Beach City that are going to be basing when they start on health data. They have certain metrics and once those numbers have kind of been met for fourteen days (14) in a row they are going to start bringing in person instruction, and another thing with Virginia Beach is that parents are able to choose if they want to be part of that in person instruction for their children when it starts getting phased in or would they rather their child be part of fully virtual remote learning plan. So we are seeing a lot of different things here. Some divisions are really having one plan and parents aren’t having an option at this time and then other school divisions are trying to see how many parents would be interested in having some level of in person instruction option and how many are interested in just having their child learn remotely.

[REN]: So with so many different options and the different counties kind of taking on different plans, I imagine that could be very confusing for a lot of folks. How do parents find out about what their schools reopening plans are?

[KERRY]: So parents can look in a couple of different areas. The first place where a school division is going to decide what that plan is through a school board meeting where they will discuss it and vote to approve the plan. So if parents really want to be keeping an eye on this from the get-go they should be looking on the school division’s website to see what the agenda is for upcoming school board meetings and they can attend those meeting and listen in remotely.

In addition to that many school divisions are sending out communications about these plans via email and mail to parents, and all the plans that I have seen so far have been pretty immediately posted as well on the school division’s website. So those are all areas were parents can gather information and see a copy of a return to school plan. Now many parents as advocates as well they read these plans and they may have additional questions or maybe don’t understand exactly how this is going to work in practice.

So what a lot of school divisions are doing is they are hosting virtual information sessions for parents to be able to ask questions or learn a little bit more about practically how this plan is going to work, so I would definitely suggest that parents look on their school division website to see if any those information sessions are going to be available for their division.

[REN]: Yeah, that’s you know again I think everyone right now is really just trying to find the information and knowing where it is, is half the battle. But being the disAbility Law Center, obviously one of our interest is Special Education and ensuring that students with disabilities you know are are covered in these educational plans. How is Special Education fitting into this discussion right now?

[KERRY]: Well it’s really important for families who have a special education student to remember is that the “I” in IDA, stand for Individualized. So you know since the IDA was created there has been a focus on we need to meet as an IEP team and determine what support services accommodations are required for this specific student.

Um not what is student may get based on simply a disability or with all students with disabilities get. It has to be individualized to that student. Um and the federal government as well as the Virginia Department of Education has continually said that throughout this entire pandemic the tenants? of IDA are still there, IDA is still in force, and that is going to imply to return to school plans too.

So if parents are concerned that a certain return to school policy may make it so that their student because of their disability isn’t able to access the curriculum, parents really should be pro-active and request an IEP meeting to discuss that specific concern, and really determine well does that policy need to be adjusted for that student or maybe that student needs additional supports or accommodation in their IEP because of that policy, and really work with the IEP team to discuss how things need to be individually tailored to that student so that they can access they curriculum.

[REN]: I think you bring up a really good point because I now that we have heard concerns umm regarding IEP’s and whether the IEP that their, you know, folks(?) students had prior to the pandemic how that was going to be changed or effected based on the pandemic itself, and of course the re-opening, umm and whether, like you said, like meeting with IEP team and how, how that works is something I know a lot of parents are struggling with right now.

[KERRY]: Right, so in addition to those cases where a parent may (??) the re-entry plan and say, oooohh I have a concern about this particular policy. IEP teams really need to be meeting with families in advance of the beginning for the school year or as close to the beginning of the school year as possible to review those IEP’s. Umm that in light of maybe all virtual learning or a high bread (?) model what needs to be changed, do we need to change goals, do we need to change services support accommodations.

Umm they may need different supports, they may need additional supports, there may be certain supports that don’t make sense or are not needed in a virtual platform. Umm so IEP teams are really going to need again discussing what the family determining what is needed for that individual student to access the curriculum. Umm a really good example of a topic for discussion for probably many students with disabilities is those students who may have increased difficulty or behaviors in that virtual remote learning environment.

And for example in IEP there is related services that can include parent or teacher training. So IEP teams can discuss whether either a parent or a teacher who is now teaching remotely may need some training by maybe a Behavior Intervention Specialist, as to how to engage those students, tips and strategies for getting those students who may have more difficulty engaging in that virtual platform to participate. So that’s something that really should be looked at for students with that need and again the IEP team should be discussing that with the parent.

[REN]: Mmhum, and and as important as these discussions are regarding IEP I know that some parents, you know, are really focused on the fact that some kids have already missed so much of their education that you know, really critical parts of their education due to this pandemic, is there a plan on how to make up these you know, these lapses and education that have occurred and you know, kids making up what they’ve lost.

[KERRY]: So that’s a question that really a lot of families, schools, and advocates are all struggling with. And we are dealing with the school closure from last spring and the start of a school year that’s really unprecedented we do, we weren’t expecting what happened in the spring and we don’t know exactly what to expect moving forward.

So that’s something that everyone kinda in the community is bringing their heads together to try to determine what’s needed, and again that’s going to depend on the individual student. Umm so compensatory education making up services for gaps in education is a really positive concept for some kids tacking on time at the end of the school day may just not work for them they may be overwhelmed.

So again it’s going to be really based on the individual kid, umm it’s something that I think we’ll have more information on as we move forward. The Virginia Department of Education does intend to release a guidance document specifically on compensatory education or trying to make up for that gap in services that students with disabilities suffered in the spring umm, that has not been released yet, but it is the anticipation that it will be released soon and I would anticipate that that document will be put onto their website when that is released.

[REN]: So you know again it sounds like we’re all doing our best trying to get as much information as possible and from the schools boards and from districts and things like that and you know this is really an unprecedented time for all of us where can parents really find resources to support them in this transitional time?

[KERRY]: So I would say to look at three different resources, if you’re looking for division wide policies or updates you’re going to be looking on that school website for those updates, if you’re looking for specific updates or questions related to your student in special education services you’re going to be wanting to work with your students special education case manager or that IEP team if you need to bring in an IEP team together to discuss something or ask questions, umm outside of that the Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center, also known as PEATC, they are an organization that is really devoted to training parents, giving parents information and throughout this entire pandemic they have been continually releasing fact sheets, documents, worksheets that parents can fill out related to a lot of different areas of concern that have come up for parents related to special education and Corona Virus. So in the last week or so the Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center has released a back to school guide, and this is a really great document for parents to have an idea maybe what questions to ask or things to think about as their child is returning to school, and it’s in a worksheet format so that parents can write in answers to those questions or those thoughts as they go through it, and that’s a really easy document to be able to then put in with the rest of the documents you’re keeping regarding your child’s education, and that’s a really helpful guide. Umm so that is another resource I would suggest parents go take a look at online, their website is, p-e-a-t-c dot org, peatc.org, and they have a lot of really helpful resources.

[REN]: Well thank you again Kerry, for joining us on this episode, I know again this is a really weird time and being able to trying to answer these questions and provide information on what’s going on is really helpful to so many people, so thanks again for being here.

[KERRY]: Of course, again happy to have had this chat with you, and I really wish parents the best in navigating this very new landscape.

[REN]: And now a dLCV Highlight

[NARRATOR]: Two dLCV staff recently negotiated corrective action against an inaccessible towing lot. The corrective action plan included the addition of signage and a method of alerting staff that someone with a disability can use when on site and needing assistance. Prior to this the lot did not have any way to alert staff when customers with disabilities arrived and needed assistance. Great job dLCV staff Sophia and Zack!

[Highlight: energetic acoustic guitar]

[REN]: So Virginia I hope you enjoyed that interview as much as I did doing it.

[VIRGINIA]: Yes, you and Kerry are always just brilliant beings of wisdom and delightful banters. So thank you so much, umm thank you to Kerry for agreeing to be on with us and hopefully that has helped a lot of students and parents and umm folks out there figure out at least a little bit of what’s going on in these highly uncertain times.

[REN]: Yes, we definitely again shout out to Kerry for giving us information in like you said, it’s a very confusing time, and so we’re just glad that we’re able to provide as much information as we can to our listeners. And thank you all for listening to this episode of, “Rights here Rights Now”. Brought to you by the disAbility Law Center of Virginia. We’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Don’t forget to subscribe and leave us a review.

[VIRGINIA]: And if you need assistance or what more information about dLCV and what we do, visit us online at dlcv.org

[REN]: You can also follow us on Twitter at disability law VA and share with your friends

[VIRGINIA]: until next time I'm Virginia Pharis

[REN]: and I'm Ren Faszewski and this has Right’s Here

[VIRGINIA]: RIGHTS NOW!

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