📣 Special Education Curriculum Pilots: Update & Next Steps

Thank you to all special education staff who expressed interest in participating in the RethinkEd and Everyday Speech pilots.

The pilot interest survey is now closed. Participants will be selected using the previously shared criteria, with intentional representation across grade levels and programming areas. Staff selected to participate will be notified by Friday afternoon.

📅 Professional Development & Onboarding Details

• All pilot onboarding will be asynchronous, allowing staff flexibility in completing required learning.

• All pilot participants are expected to complete onboarding and required PD by February 24.

More information, including access details and next steps, will be shared directly with selected participants.

Thank you for your continued engagement and commitment to strengthening instructional and social-emotional supports for our students.

📣 Supporting Online Learning: Share Your Input

⭐ Thank You, Special Education Staff for showing up for your students and community
We want to recognize the exceptional work of our special education staff. Your professionalism, flexibility, and commitment to students, families, and caregivers—especially during periods of uncertainty, angst, and anxiety—continue to be a strength of our district. 

🏫 Every Site Is Different
As families have the option to participate in online learning, we recognize that each school site and program is navigating this work differently. Student needs, staffing structures, and available resources vary, and your on-the-ground expertise matters.

🛠️ Help Us Identify Needed Supports
To provide responsive supports and understand what is and is not working, we invite special education staff to share brief feedback on:

• What is working well

• What challenges remain

• What supports would be most helpful for your site

📝 Share Your Feedback
➡️ Please take a few minutes to complete this short feedback survey:
Special Education Online Learning Survey

💙 With Appreciation
Thank you for the care, adaptability, and expertise you bring to your work every day. We are deeply grateful for your continued dedication to students and families.

📣 Newly Offered Vendor Support for Online Learning

We are sharing two vendor-supported resources from STAR Autism Support and RethinkEd that offer additional instructional and social-emotional supports for online learning. These optional opportunities are intended to provide timely tools and guidance for staff supporting students in online or hybrid settings, recognizing that needs may vary across sites and programs.

🧠 Instructional Support for Students with Extensive Support Needs

STAR Online Learning System (SOLS)

STAR Autism Support is offering two free, brief information sessions for Minnesota educators on using the STAR Online Learning System (SOLS) to support students with extensive support needs in remote or hybrid settings.

SOLS is a synchronous, evidence-based platform for students with autism and intellectual disabilities (EC–postsecondary), featuring IEP-aligned lessons, live instruction tools, minimal prep, and individualized supports through REEL.

🗓️ Choose one session:

• Tuesday, January 27 | 3:00–4:00 PM
  https://reg.learningstream.com/reg/event_page.aspx?ek=0051-0031-53b29a68d75d4b2b83890064e9066775

• Thursday, January 29 | 3:00–4:00 PM
  https://reg.learningstream.com/reg/event_page.aspx?ek=0051-0031-176535aa727e4d5c9ee1b4651d6b58ab

✅ Free for all Minnesota school district staff (funded by MN Low Incidence Projects).
🔗 Request access: https://starautismsupport.com/MN-SOLS-Access

🌱 Social-Emotional & Wellness Support for Staff and Students

Trauma Toolkit – RethinkEd

Recognizing the emotional demands educators and students may be experiencing, RethinkEd is offering free access to a Trauma Toolkit designed to support emotional safety, connection, and resilience. This is a component of the program that we will be piloting in February.

The toolkit includes:

• Staff resources on coping with trauma, grief, and compassion fatigue

• Short, developmentally appropriate student lessons (3–7 minutes)

• Guidance for community circles and reflective discussions

• A suggested 6-week implementation sequence that can be adapted based on site needs

• Materials available for all grade levels, accessed through Clever

📘 Access the Trauma Toolkit:  RethinkEd's Trauma Toolkit
RethinkEd Trauma ToolkitThese resources are optional and may be used in ways that best align with your students, staff, and school context.

Revocation of Consent for Special Education Services

Please send all revocation of consent for special education requests to Amanda McCastle during Director Katie Cruz's LOA, beginning 2/2/26.

🚨Third Party Billing Reminder🚨

Accurate attendance is essential for not only securing funding but also for safety. If a student is marked absent while they were in attendance and they received health related services on that day, we aren’t able to receive any reimbursement for those services. Please make sure that if a student is initially marked absent due to arriving late that their attendance record is updated to reflect the time that they are in school. Similarly, if a student leaves early, please make sure that they are not marked absent for the entire day. 

👉To learn more about Third Party Billing see click here.

Dangerous weapon criteria for a 45 day placement. 

When looking at criteria for a 45 day placement under the category of "dangerous weapon", weapons that meet criteria for a “dangerous weapon” means a weapon, device, instrument, material, or substance, animate or inanimate, that is used for, or is readily capable of, causing death or serious bodily injury, except that such term does not include a pocket knife with a blade of less than 2½ inches in length. 

Mace does not meet criteria because it not used for, or is readily capable of, causing death or serious bodily injury.

Responding to Requests to Observe or Support Students in the Classroom

From time to time, caregivers will request that they or a third-party service provider be permitted to observe or support a student with an IEP in the school setting. These requests are most appropriately fielded by the child’s IEP team, who can make an individualized determination based on the needs of the student. Accordingly, requests of this nature should be directed to the student’s case manager who can convene relevant members of the student’s IEP team to discuss and consider the request. A blanket prohibition on classroom observations and support would be contrary to the state and federal law, which require schools to consider parental input and individualize programming for students with qualifying disabilities. If school teams have further questions, please contact your building administrator.