Crew joined DeWine’s Thursday press conference on COVID-19 and provided details on how the district is educating special needs students during remote learning.
“We have 660 students that have an individualized education program and most of these students are able to participate in remote learning if we have the proper support and services in place,” Crew said. “For example, our intervention specialists and all of our general teachers are working physically in the school setting. This provides an opportunity for them to collaborate in order to meet the specific needs and provide accommodations and modifications.”
Crew said some other things they’re doing for special needs students include shortening assignments, highlighting texts, providing level reading to meet the student where they are, and that the intervention specialists also leave time in their day to work with small groups of students via Google Classroom or Meet so they have the same services as they do in the school setting.
Although the district is using adaptive technology for online learning, such as voice typing, highlighting tools and spell check, Crew said remote learning is “just not possible” for students that may have hearing disabilities, students who may be nonverbal or those that have severe cognitive delays.
“We had to think outside of the box... What we’ve decided is we are, one at a time, bringing these students in on a bus twice a week to work with their intervention specialist and to receive while they’re here, their occupational therapy services, their speech and language services and their physical therapy services,” she said.
Crew added that the Clark County Combined Health District also fitted the special education teachers that are going to be working with those students in the school setting with N95 masks, and they will provide additional masks for use throughout the year.
“Those are some of the efforts that we’re making to adapt and adjust, and think outside the box to serve our students with special needs,” she said.
DeWine said he feels Crew has a good plan for students in the district with special needs.
“I know that these are the students we worry a lot about and particularly when they’re not actually in class, but it sounds like you’ve come up with a good way of making sure that we don’t forget these students and you’re able to help them,” he said.
DeWine asked Crew what she would say to parents. She recommended they have a quiet place for their students to work and a schedule.
Crew also said parents should make sure the social and emotional well being of their children are “of the highest priority” along with their academic learning, and that they have an “excellent” team of educators, staff members, guidance counselors, therapists and psychologists that help to support students with their mental health needs.
“Our bus drivers, our paraprofessionals, our teachers aids, some of our secretaries, our school nurses are taking a group of students and meeting with them individually. We’ll have 10 students assigned to them and they’re going to meet with them individually via Google Meet one time a week and that’s to make sure that our students know that they’re connected with still,” Crew said.
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