Special Education and Medicaid

Special Education

U.S. Department of Education Guidance: Questions and Answers on Providing Services to Children with Disabilities During the Coronavirus disease Outbreak – March 2020

Updated NYSED Guidance Memo: - Provision of Services to Students with Disabilities During Statewide School Closures Due to Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak in New York State - March 27, 2020

NYSED Guidance (from: Preliminary Guidance on the Preparation for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak in New York State Memo, March 13, 2020):

The Department will be as flexible as state and federal laws allow and will continue to investigate and inquire about additional flexibility for provision of services for students with disabilities during the outbreak. Consistent with the most recent federal guidance, please consider and the following during your contingency planning:

• Develop a protocol to communicate proactively with parents and guardians regarding their child’s individualized education program (IEP) services prior to and during a closure, as well as follow-up communication on next steps once the school reopens, to the extent possible.

• Develop a protocol to communicate with school administrators and educators in order to prepare staff for any plans to address the needs of students eligible for special education, child find activities, evaluations/reevaluations, and IEP implementation.

• Consider what other agencies and organizations should be included in the communication.

• If a school district closes its schools to slow or stop the spread of COVID-19, and does not provide any educational services to the general student population, then the school district would not be required to provide services to students with disabilities during that same period of time.

• If a school district continues to provide education opportunities to its general student population during a school closure, the school district must ensure that students with disabilities also have equal access to the same opportunities, including the provision of a free appropriate public education. Schools must ensure that, to the greatest extent possible, each student with a disability can be provided the special education services identified in the student’s IEP. NYSED understands there may be exceptional circumstances that could affect how a particular service is provided.

• CSEs may, but are not required to, include distance learning plans in a student’s IEP that could be triggered and implemented during a selective closure due to a COVID-19 outbreak. Such contingent provisions may include the provision of special education and related services at an alternate location or the provision of online or virtual instruction, instructional telephone calls, and other curriculum-based instructional activities, and may identify which special education and related services, if any, could be provided at the student’s home. Creating a contingency plan gives the student’s service providers and the student’s parents an opportunity to reach agreement as to what circumstances would trigger the use of the student’s distance learning plan and the services that would be provided during the closure.

• Review how the closure impacts the delivery of special education and related services to students eligible for special education services. If a student does not receive services during a closure, the Committee on Special Education must make an individualized determination whether and to what extent compensatory services may be needed, consistent with applicable requirements, including to make up for any skills that may have been lost.