Portland Public Schools Families,
I wanted to share some information regarding the current school closure and impact on special education services.
When schools are closed due to labor action, the district remains responsible for the special education services outlined on your child's IEP. This means that your child will be owed services once schools reopen. I recommend that you calculate the amount of special education time that your student misses during this closure.
Calculating Missed Services
Their special education service time is found in Section K of the IEP: Service Summary. No matter the provider or anticipated location, all the minutes in Section K are special ed services. This includes both Specially Designed Instruction and Related Services (often OT, PT, etc).
Total their number of minutes per week, and divide by 5 to calculate their number of minutes per day. Multiply by the number of days this closure lasts for, and you will have the number of minutes/hours that they are owed in compensatory education.
Accessing Services That Are Owed
PPS will likely balk when we request compensatory education for missed services, but they are responsible nonetheless. Compensatory education might look like reimbursement for private tutoring, offering Extended School Year services, or Recovery Services.
Parent Advocacy
You as parents have an opportunity to advocate for your student and all students with disabilities in this situation. Suggested steps include emailing Special Education Director Michele Murer (mmurer1@pps.net) and Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero (gguerrero@pps.net) to notify them you are tracking missed service hours, and/or emailing the school board (contact info here) urging them to end the strike and get Portland students back to class.
Students with disabilities are uniquely harmed by service interruption, and many of your teams have already been impacted by teacher and paraeducator shortages and frequent turnover. It is my hope that this disruption is short and we get teachers and learners back to school quickly.
Need help with any of this? Ask me!