We are writing to you about your child’s special education services during this coronavirus crisis. As you know, our schools are now initiating alternative learning opportunities for all our students, which began – March 23/2020. We believe it is very important for you to understand what will be happening for your child during this time to address his/her educational needs.
Depending on your child’s individualized needs, we intend to provide distance access to the general curriculum at the same curriculum levels that he/she was receiving while schools were open. Special education teachers and educational technicians have been busy connecting with students through distance learning, and have continued to provide individual or small group instruction as much as possible. Service providers are also reaching out to families in hopes of scheduling weekly tele-therapy sessions. In some cases Teachers, Ed Techs. and therapists have prepared materials for student’s individualized learning needs in packets that are available for pick up or delivery. If you are unsure about which method is being used, please contact your child’s teacher.
With guidance from the Maine Dept. of Education we have made changes regarding evaluations. These include those recently referred for psychological, achievement, speech/language, occupational therapy or physical therapy evaluation, or students due for triennial evaluations this spring. We feel it is imperative to postpone these evaluations until schools reopen their buildings.
We have and will continue to hold annual IEP meetings virtually through Zoom platform and phone calls. We have held several over the last two weeks and have been pleased with their “virtual” success. There has been a learning curve in acquiring access, but all participants have been patient and together we were able to problem solve participation for all.
If we do not hear back from you, we will assume you are in agreement with the approach we are taking. If you are not in agreement, or if you simply need additional clarification of how this will work, all you need to do is call Lisa Smith at 633-6699, and we will do our best to address your concerns in a manner that is acceptable to you. We are trying to lessen the need for IEP team meetings because our personnel resources are stretched very thin. If you believe a team meeting is critical, let us know and we will do our best to conduct a team meeting remotely via telephone or the internet. Please forgive us if any necessary meetings take somewhat longer to schedule.
Our hope and expectation is that these opportunities will allow your child to benefit meaningfully from the programming. I want to assure you that we will be addressing at the end of the closure process, whether our children with disabilities have lost ground, and ways to remedy any such losses.
Thank you so much for your patience. I have been especially impressed by the commitment of school staff to ensure continuation of school services for our children, and with the wonderful patience and support we have been receiving from parents. We are there for you as best we can in difficult times.
Sincerely yours
Lisa Smith
Lisa Smith
Director of Special Services
lsmith@aos98schools.org
(207) 633-6699