The West Virginia Department of Education remains committed to the effective and efficient education of all students during the outbreak and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Student support as well as family engagement and outreach are core components of special education programs.

Even with the uncertainties imposed by the outbreak of the virus, essential services continued during the school closure. Moving into the 2020-21 school year, attention must be given to the transition back to school, instructional implications, procedural implications and family outreach necessary to properly support students. The information available on these pages will serve as a framework for the upcoming school year.

Family Engagement and Outreach

  • Survey parents of students with disabilities to determine their needs and concerns.

  • Determine the need for technology support, training and devices for families.

  • Determine platforms for communication with parents and students for virtual meetings (e.g., Microsoft Teams) taking into account current and future Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) regulations.

  • Determine the learning management system (LMS) to be used.

  • Connect with county Parent Educator Resource Centers (PERCs)/Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs) to support and provide training for parents to facilitate learning at home and to prepare for re-entry.

  • Provide counseling support and education for families who are apprehensive about sending students back to school.

Transitioning Students Back to School

  • Identify the most vulnerable students or student populations and prioritize their needs.

  • Determine the transition needs of medically fragile students.

  • Meet with school administrators to address concerns for health and safety for students with more specialized needs (e.g., challenging behaviors, medically fragile).

  • Consider special education population when determining scheduling options, taking the need for consistency into consideration.

  • Consider transportation issues, including special education bus schedules and staffing.

  • Consider how special education students will be divided if considering a split A/B schedule. Consider aide scheduling.

  • Consider the training needed to prepare substitute teachers in special education classrooms.

  • Prepare a plan for itinerant staff who will be entering the building periodically (i.e., consider time needed to sanitize between students if students are seen outside the classroom environment).

  • Consider the time needed to manage sanitizing wheelchairs, standers, walkers, handrails, manipulatives, assistive technology etc., and how it will impact instructional time.

  • Consider creative use of space and time needed to reconfigure the learning environment, remove barriers, order materials, equipment, and manipulatives (i.e., preserving dignity for students).

Instructional Implications

  • Build a “Return to Instruction” workgroup (by grade level, exceptionality or subject area) headed by the county special education director.

  • Determine whether and how equal access can be given to students to the maximum extent possible.

  • Assess the technology needs of teachers and related service personnel (e.g., updated equipment, printers, various specific exceptionality needs, colored background room dividers).

  • Ensure that all teachers have read students’ individualized education programs (IEP) and Section 504 Plans on their rosters and are providing the necessary accommodations as appropriate in the given re-entry scenario.

  • Create a plan for co-teaching (i.e., shared planning time, shared access to the learning platform, etc.) to support in-person and/or blended instruction.

  • Monitor student progress toward IEP goals, and determine if progress is being made whether in school or at home.

  • Consider on-going informal assessment of students for regression and recoupment justification for future extended school year decisions.

  • Consider what will be required if the return to school is interrupted (i.e., create individualized kits for classroom use and home use).

Procedural Implications

  • Make reasonable attempts to complete all IEPs, evaluations and Eligibility Committee Meetings within timelines either virtually or by practicing social distancing throughout the summer.

  • Document remote learning plans, communication with parents regarding IEP services and evaluations, and reasons for the inability to provide specific services resulting from COVID-19 building closures.

  • Determine schedule for IEP Team meetings and evaluations based on priority with input from families. Consider prioritizing by categories: initial evaluations for three-year-old students by October 1, re-evaluations that are overdue, preschool students who are aging out at six, initial evaluations held over from the previous school year and upcoming re-evaluations.

  • Continue IEP services to provide a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to students with expired eligibility until re-evaluations can occur.

  • Determine and document procedures for instructing students who cannot return to school.

  • Determine how to address parent requests for students to continue on remote learning when not justified by medical concerns or disability.

  • Use prudent stewardship when allocating available funds to maintain procedural requirements and maximization of student outcomes.

Family Engagement and Outreach

  • Determine individual re-entry needs of students, including modified schedules, health care plans, behavior support and mobility issues.

  • Provide informational sessions or trainings for parents to include frequently asked questions (FAQs).

  • Provide families a list of local resources (e.g., basic needs, behavior support, counseling).

  • Address specific anticipated changes with families to individualize re-entry needs for students (e.g., masks, differences in classroom structure and schedule, eating arrangements, classes, specials).

  • Communicate drop-off and pick-up procedures, locations, times, etc.

  • Provide technology devices, support and training to parents to facilitate virtual meetings and learning platforms.

  • Provide social stories and videos to support families and students as they enter school with health and safety precautions (masks, differences in classroom structure and schedule, eating arrangements, classes, etc.).

  • Share school protocol for following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines with families to help families feel that their children are safe.

  • Assign appropriate staff to work with parents to address concerns.

Transitioning Students Back to School

  • Provide opportunities for students and families to meet their teacher and visit their school (virtually, telephonically or in-person following health and safety guidelines).

  • Have virtual Back-to-School nights.

  • When moving to a different school, prepare a plan for the child to visit the school building either virtually or in person, to assist students in becoming familiar with the building, classroom(s), and new teacher(s).

  • Provide professional learning opportunities for educators to prepare for the opening of the school.

  • Provide social stories and videos to support families and students as they enter school with health and safety precautions (masks, differences in classroom structure and schedule, eating arrangements, classes, etc.).

  • Determine a plan to transition medically fragile students or other students with health care needs, i.e., asthma, or make decisions with parent(s)/guardian(s) for students to continue accessing education at home.

  • Plan to revise and distribute to staff Individual Nursing Health Care Plans based on the current status for students receiving nursing services, particularly for those with allergies attending a new school environment.

  • Assess accessibility for children with mobility issues and communicate drop-off and pick-up locations, times, etc. in situations where traffic patterns, single entry/exit, etc. have been established to observe social distancing guidelines.

  • Consider allowing time for students with specific needs (autism, challenging behaviors, etc.) to come to school to practice new procedures before school opens. (Consider having them help create training videos, with parent permission, to use with other students)

Instructional Implications

  • Identify the potential learning gaps for students due to the pandemic situation.

  • Use social stories and video modeling to explain the virus and its impact on young children and those with significant cognitive disabilities.

  • Proactively establish a “quiet time” to allow downtime to support student self-regulation needs.

  • Train staff and Student Assistance Team (SAT) members on appropriate West Virginia Tiered System of Support (WVTSS) procedures for students and the problem-solving process for potential referrals. Consider using the Speech Therapy Education and Prevention for Success(STEPS) Program for students with speech/language impairments.

  • Review and update positive behavior intervention plans (BIPs).

  • Prepare students for changes in school routines (arrival and departure, breakfast and lunch routines, classroom procedures, health and safety precautions, use of face masks/PPE, etc.).

  • Implement age-appropriate learning regarding COVID-19 and ways to control the spread. This should include hand washing, physical distancing, appropriate use of face masks and the need to stay home when sick or displaying any symptoms.

Procedural Implications

  • Verify service provisions are in place.

  • Assess current skill levels and regression for each student with a disability.

  • Provide remediation and monitor progress frequently to determine the recoupment of skills.

  • Convene IEP Team meetings, as needed, to address additional or extended IEP services that may be necessary or required due to the COVID-19 school closures (COVID-19 Recovery Services versus Compensatory Services).

  • Provide alternative or modified scheduling to provide needed services.

  • Ensure that “Child Find” practices continue to be implemented, even in the event of remote learning.

  • Schedule IEP Team meetings that were missed during the closure or are due after the opening of school.

  • Begin scheduling evaluations that were not possible or are due after the opening of school, following health and safety guidelines, based on newly established prioritization timeline with parent input.

  • Put procedures in place for addressing special education and related services to be prepared for subsequent building closures of varying lengths and creative modified schedules that may be implemented for future closures.

  • Develop a Remote Learning Plan to activate immediately when school building closures are ordered by the Governor or Health Department

  • Create guidelines and expectations based on CDC recommendations for handling students’ personal hygiene needs, especially body fluids.

  • Complete overdue evaluations and IEP or Eligibility Committee meetings.

Family Engagement and Outreach

  • Coordinate and maintain communication with families to update/revise/respond to individual student needs as they arise.

  • Have parents update contact information and list alternative contacts.

  • Provide ongoing training and support to parents and families (solicit help from community partners, parent engagement personnel/PERC and parent organizations, etc.).

Transitioning Students Back to School

  • Provide scheduled opportunities for professional learning communities to share ideas and discuss what has worked and what has not worked in their classrooms or related service provision. Acknowledge any difficulties and provide supports.

  • Provide students time and space to readjust to school schedules and school-based learning.

  • Prepare to harness new skills in an adapted learning plan: a child with a highly adapted or differentiated program that required specialized equipment and technology before COVID-19 may have found new ways to use this equipment beyond the school context.

  • Design time to talk about children’s worries using tools such as socially distanced daily circle time, worry boxes, daily mindfulness, meditation sessions and routine check-ins during lessons.

  • Establish new classroom routines to help students know what to expect, giving them consistency and tools to manage their emotions and behavior. Provide praise and recognition throughout the day to reinforce positive behavior. The new routine can be supported by the use of visual timetables and calm class transitions.

Instructional Implications

  • Review and/or revise policies, procedures and practices as a result of COVID-19 pandemic to allow for the most current research and evidence.

  • Provide more inclusive practices (demonstrated by cohorting during COVID-19 re-entry to schools).

  • Provide new and improved delivery models for special education and related services.

Procedural Implications

  • Review and/or revise policies, procedures and practices as a result of COVID-19 pandemic to allow for the most current research and evidence.

  • Follow federal and state policies and regulations for students with exceptionalities within different scenarios presented during COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Provide new and improved ways to conduct evaluations, hold meetings and deliver services.