Child Study Team

Bellmawr School District Special Education
Covid 19 and Mandatory School Closure Update (May 7, 2020)

Student Modifications:

· Loom videos are created by special or general education teachers that allow for the student and parent to view as many times necessary in order to understand the concepts being taught.

· One on one video conferencing and small group instruction has been made available through the use of various platforms for students and parents to access in order to complete the remote learning experiences such as google classroom or google meet, Microsoft team meetings with video conferencing or chat rooms, Class Dojo, Zoom, and Microsoft WebEx. These platforms also allow the special education teacher to appropriately provide the modifications stated in the IEP.

· Email and phone conferencing support with the special education teacher, case manager, Director of Special Services, and building principal is available Monday – Friday

Communication:

· The Bellmawr School District Child Study Team will continue to engage parents in frequent and ongoing communication, including such communication with families of students in out-of-district schools, as well as contracted providers. The primary means of these communications will be via email, teleconference, social media, and webpages. Translations services for non-English speaking families have been made available through contracted agencies who provide translation in addition to utilizing some of our ELL teachers.

· Our Case manager remains in touch with our Out of District schools to ensure our students are continuing to receive instruction and related services through remote learning.

Related Services:

· Speech, counseling, OT, PT, and behavioral services are being offered through various teletherapy options such as video conferencing, loom videos, email, and phone conferencing. Transportations services will resume once school is back in session.

Child Study Team Meetings:

· The following meetings are being conducted via phone or video conferencing:

· Annual Review

·  Evaluation Plan meetings both initial and 3-year re-evals

·  Eligibility meetings

·  Transition Plan meetings for Early Intervention

·   Review and revise

·  Parent Request

Special Education Testing:

·  Social Assessments are being done in the order they were received from the Evaluation plan meeting determination date via phone conferences.

· Psychiatric assessments are being offered via video conferencing between the student (with parent present) and the psychiatrist

· Prior testing within the current year is being taken into consideration for eligibility purposes if needed and agreed upon between the parent and CST with the understanding that further testing may be needed once we return to school.

· All other testing will be done in the order they were received from the Evaluation Plan meeting date with testing to resume as soon as face to face assessments are legally permitted.

Preschool Testing:

· If as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, face-to-face assessments of students to determine school-aged eligibility for special education and related services cannot be completed at this time, the Child Study Team will be continuing current programming until such time that school-aged eligibility can be appropriately determined. Additionally, the decision to extend eligibility based upon available data from the student’s preschool aged eligibility should not be construed as a pre-determination to continue special education and related services through kindergarten, while the Child Study Team gathers data to the extent feasible in these extraordinary times.

· All other preschool testing will be conducted in the order they were received from the Evaluation Plan meeting date with testing to resume as soon as face to face assessments are legally permitted.

Extended School Year:

· As of right now the new dates for ESY will be July 6th – July 31st Monday – Friday from 9:00 – 1:00. If ESY cannot be held at the schools then remote learning will be offered through the various platforms already being utilized by all special education teachers.

Please email the Director of Special Services, Mrs. Patricia Bartley pbartley@bellmawrschools.org with any questions or concerns.

Thank you and be safe!