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!