Wicomico Recovery Plan 2020 -2021

24 Instructional planning for Special Education teachers and related service providers will occur during dedicated times throughout the day, as well as during each Wednesday, which is identified for planning and professional development in the district-wide virtual schedule. Push-in/inclusion services will be delivered by Special Education teachers or instructional assistants under the guidance of a Special Education teacher and/or related service provider, with direct assignment to virtual inclusion classrooms per the individual students’ schedules. Small group instruction will occur using breakout rooms and direct links with Google Classroom and/or Zoom with inclusive groups of students at strategic times within the instructional period. Pull-out/self-contained services will be delivered by Special Education teachers or instructional assistants under the guidance of a Special Education teacher and/or related service provider with small group instruction using breakout rooms and direct links with Google Classroom, Zoom and doxy.me . In all cases when implementing IEPs, teachers will provide supplemental services outlined in the IEPs such as Check-in/Check-out, organizational assistance and social skills support provided by school psychologists, school social workers and school counselors. Data charts for provision of accommodations, behavior data collection, etc. will be kept by staff in order to provide this necessary data for evaluation of student progress academically and behaviorally. Special Education teachers will provide consultation to general education teachers, instructional assistants and related service providers in person or through Microsoft Teams and Zoom platforms. Parent/teacher conferences, IEP team and 504 teammeetings and communications will also be conducted through these platforms as well as through a dedicated teleph one conference line dependent on the parents’ needs and access. Assistive technology devices specific to the needs of individual students have been provided to the students in their homes for virtual instruction use along with laptop devices and hotspots/jetpacks as appropriate for Internet connectivity. Face-to-face assessments with students needing psychological evaluations for determination and/or re-determination of eligibility for Special Education and related services will begin the first week of the new school year. All necessary PPE for both students and assessors in specific clean classrooms/testing areas will be provided along with specific guidelines to be followed by staff, school teams and families to ensure the health and safety of all involved. Additionally, the district will continue the strategic planning by a diverse stakeholder team for the development of procedures and protocols for bringing small groups of students with disabilities into classrooms for face-to-face instruction by the first week of October. Students with the most significant academic, social, emotional and functional performance needs along with those who have not benefitted from virtual distance learning and connectedness will be offered face-to-face instruction in a hybrid model following the district plan. Families of students receiving Special Education services will be given a choice to allow their child to return to school for face-to-face instruction while adhering strictly to the CDC and local guidelines or they may opt to continue within a completely virtual environment. Instructional collaboration will continue between Special Education teachers and related service providers using specific intervention programs (i.e. Life Centered Education, Unique Learning, Goalbook, SymbolStix, etc.) to meet the goals and objectives of the students. The district will have procedures in place to ensure the ongoing progress monitoring of the student; the ongoing communication with families, teachers, and services providers; and the ongoing documentation of the student progress and