A2IDEAS COVID-19 School Closures: “We should all be advocates now.”
Updated as of April 17, 2020 (7:00 am)
Over the past few weeks, we have all been doing our best to function as well as we can under daunting circumstances.
Health and well-being, both physically and mentally, are the fundamental starting point of everyone’s focus and concern.
What the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare are the inequities within and across our communities: people of color, people experiencing homelessness, people in poverty, people with disabilities, and more.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also magnified structural inequities in many of our systems, including education.
In addition to daily survival, there are important issues in education and disability rights taking place right now.
Being a person with a disability, the parent of someone with a disability, and/or engaging in special education advocacy has always required constant vigilance.
Advocacy is more necessary than ever.
This is not the time to go after civil rights that have taken decades to secure and move forward.
We recognize, value, and appreciate the heroic lengths many school personnel have undertaken to remain in contact with and support the immediate needs of families who belong to their schools. This is in addition to their efforts to keep their own families safe.
However, it is something of a ‘strawman argument ’ (fallacy) for school administrators and representatives of those groups to state that a fear of lawsuits from parents of special education students – if timelines or services are altered or delayed during the extended school closures – is driving them to seek waivers to federal education laws.
This gives the impression that ‘lawsuits from parents’ are something already happening in large numbers, as if the option of pursuing such remedy were readily available to a population of people who are currently trying to keep their families safe and who are generally operating in survival-mode under normal circumstances.
Even in the absence of a pandemic, the ability for families to utilize Procedural Safeguards in place (including seeking legal recourse) are out of reach for all but a very small minority – and this is particularly true in Michigan.
One of the national groups encouraging the U.S. Secretary of Education to seek waivers from Congress is the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) whose own survey data highlights the exact opposite of their publicly stated assertions.
CASE webinar polling conducted April 3, 2020 results include:
Do you have parents who requested a delay in a meeting timeline?
Yes 76.30%
No 23.7%
How many parents have requested to schedule an IEP meeting review?
0 68.30%
1-5 24.61%
6-10 2.98%
10+ 4.11%
Have you had parents file state complaints/due process over COVID-19 related service delivery?
Yes 3.50%
No 96.5%
And yet CASE, along with the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE), submitted a letter to the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) and Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) requesting changes to Timelines, Procedures, and Fiscal Management responsibilities.
The areas of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) law under which these request fall under 34 C.F.R. include:
- § 300.124 Transition of children from Part C programs to preschool programs
- § 300.152 Minimum State complaint procedures
- § 300.203 Maintenance of Effort
- § 300.301 Initial evaluations
- § 300.303 Reevaluations
- § 300.324 Development, review, and revision of IEP
- § 300.510 Resolution process
In a Michigan Department of Education (MDE) letter to the U.S. Department of Education, Superintendent Rice echoes the request being made by the national organizations of administrators.
In the April 4, 2020 letter, Dr. Rice includes a request for “interpretation, guidance on implementation, flexibility, or waivers from the U.S. Department of Education (USED) that would…”
- permit districts to pause Timeline requirements from the day schools closed due to the pandemic and extend them for up to 45 school days* after regular school year in-person instruction has resumed
*It is important to note that 45 school days is a quarter (25%) of an entire school year (180 days).
These timeline ‘pauses’ would include:
60-day initial evaluation timelines and re-evaluation triennial due dates
[34 C.F.R. § 300.301(c); 34 C.F.R. § 300.303(b)(2)]Annual IEP review timelines
[34 C.F.R. § 300.324(b)(1)]Complaint timelines
[34 C.F.R. § 300.508; 34 C.F.R. § 300.510(a) and (c); § 300.515(a) and (c)]Part c (Early On) and Part B Transition Timelines
[34 C.F.R. § 300.124]
Federal education laws must be protected.
Existing federal education law already provides flexibility for the aspects where School Administrators are seeking ‘pauses’ and waivers including: IEP Team meetings (with parents!), State complaints and Due process hearings, as well as Evaluations and more.
Avoidance of responsibilities under Federal education law should not be the reason school districts take either a ‘wait and see’ approach nor delay in attempting to provide special education services and supports to students with disabilities.
A common mantra in special education advocacy is –
Special Education is NOT a place.
Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) should be as stated in the name, Individualized.
Communication and collaboration with families of students with disabilities is what is most needed currently.
Advocates are calling for school administrators and, through their directives, school staff to come together and put forth all efforts in working with EVERY student.
Spend energy on creative solutions to the challenges being faced rather than working the system to remove IDEA obligations.
While these are extremely difficult circumstances for everyone, it will only be through communication and creative collaboration that we adequately meet the needs of students with disabilities in our state.
We should all be advocates now.
Let’s do what is right for ALL students and that includes upholding and protecting the rights of students with disabilities and their families.
Learn more and Take Action
A2IDEAS COVID-19 Information related to the Education of Students with Disabilities
Use this form created by the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD)
Tell your Members of Congress: Oppose IDEA Waivers!
Image credit: https://twitter.com/rosegardenmag/status/682951411894759424
Contributed by Heather Eckner, M.A.Ed. – Executive Director and Education Advocate
Heather Eckner is a non-attorney advocate and founder of A2IDEAS, a nonprofit special education advocacy organization. Heather is a former classroom teacher and the parent of two children who receive special education services and supports. Her extensive knowledge includes eligibility and continuum of services in Special Education with an emphasis in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Dyslexia. She is a frequent speaker on topics related to special education and effective advocacy.