The Hot (Under the Collar) 100

That was my nickname for the 100 stakeholders who secured slots to speak at Anne Arundel County Public Schools' public hearing Wednesday night. The Board of Education approved a hybrid reopening plan that is facing a lot of opposition from teachers (who rightly feel that communication is lacking, along with proper resources and safety plans for classroom staff) and organized parent groups. My biggest concern had nothing to do with when or whether schools should open. No matter the timing, it appears special education students are about to get shafted. So I resolved to sign up for a slot.As it turns out, condensing testimony to two minutes requires a lot more work than preparing a longer speech. Every word matters. Below is the testimony I gave (regular type) interspersed with additional details I had to edit out (in italics).

Board Testimony (Unabridged)

Good evening, I’m Alison Hamilton, a special education parent in this county for 17 years. The Virtual Plus plan comes with a giant asterisk for special education students. I run support groups and I hear from a lot of special ed parents, including about the letter from central office telling them that choosing Virtual Plus means their child MUST be able to wear a mask for the entire school day. That will disqualify a number of the county’s high-need students. The ones everyone appears to agree should be back in buildings ASAP. The level of stress many students with IEPs and their parents experience around virtual learning can’t be understated. Two minutes – the length of time each speaker has been allotted – is all it takes for the wheels to come off the wagon during a virtual learning session. The students with significant needs – again, the ones everyone is invoking in their discussions about equity – require 1:1 support from at least one parent during virtual sessions. On my daughter’s toughest days, keeping her compliant with online instruction has required the undivided attention of both of her parents. Everything else is pushed aside –  jobs, household tasks, the needs of her sisters – until equilibrium is restored. Even when all goes well, my daughter tolerates about an hour of online instruction. I felt lucky that my daughter’s nonpublic school is reopening on November 4 with a detailed plan that includes safety measures and protective gear for teachers, and is built around the understanding that masks are important, but students may need time to build tolerance for wearing them.The faculty and staff at her nonpublic, special education program recognize that most, if not all, of their students are not wired for virtual learning. They’ve worked hard to come up with a solution for their students, a chunk of whom, because of the disabilities that brought them to a nonpublic program in the first place, may not be able to adjust easily to wearing masks all day. They have taken it upon themselves to craft a plan to make in-person teaching work. The plan is thorough, and the steps the staff are taking to prepare the students for the COVID-era procedures even more so. They’ve planned for possibilities that hadn’t occurred to me. My daughter’s ‘village,’ my term for the staff that work most closely with her, are making significant efforts to make her return successful.The other shoe dropped when I was notified by AACPS that her school’s reopening aside, my daughter won’t be transported to her school if she removes her mask during bus rides.In contrast to my daughter’s school, AACPS’s answer to the challenges of serving some of its highest-need students is to look for an out. My daughter and three other students ride a full-length bus staffed by a driver and an aide. They have plenty of space for modifications and to ensure adequate distance, and I’m guessing, enough leverage to get compliance from the contractor. School runs, field trips, and pretty much any other event people could want a yellow school bus for haven’t been happening since March. I can’t imagine the bus companies don’t want to go back to work. If AACPS doesn’t make the effort, it’s by choice. Bear in mind that transportation is an IEP service that the district is required to provide.There’s a section of the IEP that indicates whether a student requires transportation to access their educational program. The answer is yes, if the school they’re attending is anything other than their neighborhood school. In English, this acts as a safeguard for parents. By law, a district cannot place a child outside their neighborhood school and then make the parents responsible for getting them there. In addition to nonpublic students like my daughter, students assigned to regional programs or special education centers must also be provided transportation. And once it’s written in the IEP, it’s legally binding. So if my daughter fidgets and moves her mask during her bus ride, which is about four times longer than the average ride, are they going to pull over in Baltimore and refuse to drive the rest of the way? If a student at Central Special pulls their mask down, will the school demand that their parents pick them up?Imagine the implications of this. Are you going to send home a nonverbal child who gets anxious and moves their mask? In my daughter’s case, if she figures out no mask = no ride to school, the first day she wakes up feeling out of sorts is going to be an interesting one. If she pulls at her mask and the bus turns around, then everyone involved in that decision has just reinforced a problem behavior. You’ve ceded control of the situation to a student in a bad mood. And guess who picks up the pieces? The parents. The message is essentially this: “if your child with a disability cannot act like a typical student, they shouldn’t come to school.” That’s why this country has special ed laws to begin with. While every child with special needs is unique, many of them have one or more of the following challenges: sensory processing issues; co-morbid medical conditions; impulsivity; high anxiety; or poor motor skills. Any of those can interfere with putting a mask on and keeping it in place, and I’m sure that’s not an exhaustive list. Why are we putting the onus on disabled students to behave a certain way in order to access their education? That’s not why Section 504 and IDEA exist. No, it isn’t quick or easy to program for this group. It never has been. That shouldn’t negate their rights to an education that meets their needs. The school professionals need to be given the tools to step up and serve the students they love. And make no mistake: My daughter, challenges and all, is loved by her 'village.' I’m sure other ‘villages’ around the district would say the same about the students in their care.With effort and resources, special ed students can be brought back safely. If you used students with special needs to bolster your case about reopening, without fully understanding what’s needed to support them, you’re not helping. You’re part of the problem. These students deserve better.Remember All Means All — one of the centerpieces of AACPS’s Strategic Plan. That also means all the time, not just when it’s convenient or easy.