Recovery IEP Services After COVID

There are many conversations happening right now about the upcoming school year… including concerns about how special education students have fared during COVID.

The state of Oregon has issued a lot of guidance on what schools are supposed to do to assist students with disabilities as they return to schooling in the 2021-22 school year. Many kids missed service minutes, weren’t able to access online instruction, online/hybrid instruction wasn’t enough or appropriate to meet their needs, and/or were otherwise impacted by stressors during COVID.

School districts are required to consider whether each student in special education requires additional services and supports due to COVID school closures - they are calling these services “recovery services” and they would be in addition to whatever is already provided in the IEP.

Here is my quick attempt to provide some simple answers for parents, and provide links to more detailed information.

Question: Do all IEP students get COVID recovery services?

Answer: No. Not all IEP students will need recovery services - some will have their needs met by general education assistance provided to all students post-COVID, along with their existing IEP services.

Question: Will the school automatically contact me about recovery services?

Answer: Maybe, maybe not. The state says schools need to notify parents about recovery services and attempt to hold meetings with parents to decide whether their student needs recovery services. HOWEVER it does not provide a timeline for when they need to do this. Parents should be PROACTIVE and reach out to the IEP team as soon as possible to request a meeting.

Question: My child missed their speech/language or occupational therapy services during COVID closures. Will these sessions be made up?

Answer: Yes! Recovery services can include related services such as speech, OT, and physical therapy, as well as specially designed instruction, social/emotional learning supports, and more. It may not be a minute-per-minute makeup - each IEP team will decide what recovery services will look like, how often, and for how long.

Question: Do we need to wait until kids are back in school for a few months before deciding about recovery services?

Answer: No. There is nothing in the guidance saying that schools must provide instruction for a time period (6 to 8 weeks for example) before deciding on whether recovery services are needed. It DOES say that emerging data from the 2021-22 school year can be included in decision-making, but there are many examples of other kinds of data AND PARENT INPUT that each team will need to consider.

Question: I heard my district has a policy about what recovery services will look like.

Answer: Not a question but here’s my answer anyway :) … recovery services are INDIVIDUAL decisions, not a district-wide or school-wide policy or plan. Anything otherwise would be illegal.

Question: What do I do now?

Answer: Reach out to your team. Email the case manager/special education teacher and the principal, requesting a meeting of the IEP team. You would like the team to meet and consider whether your student requires COVID recovery services.

Ready to dive deep? Contact me for more details.

Gearing up for fall 2021

Portland Public Schools recently announced a fully online option for K-12 students for the 2021-22 school year. This is notable for several reasons:

1. PPS has not previously offered a virtual school option at the elementary level. Their PPS Virtual Scholars program is limited to high school and offers a narrow range of online courses, not a full comprehensive educational program.

2. The Online Learning Academy (OLA) for 2021-22 will be a lottery. This means that families have to apply and wait to find out if they are accepted into the apparently limited enrollment spots. If there are more applicants than available seats in a grade level, students will be given priority based on a list of factors including whether they were enrolled in comprehensive distance learning (CDL) during the last quarter of 2020-21 and whether the medical condition that prevents them from attending school in person lies within the student or within the household.

3. Special ed students are eligible for the program and their IEP services will be adapted to a virtual environment. Same goes for 504 accommodations.

4. The lottery closes July 30th, which means families must complete the online application by that date. Enrollment will be for a full year or half year, not sure when/where that decision has to be made. As of July 11th it is unclear when kids under 12 will have access to the COVID vaccine in Oregon.