Arlington SEPTA’s �Annual Superintendent Team Chat
December 15th, 2021
Agenda
Superintendent’s Vision for Special Education in APS
Dr. Duran, what do you see as the biggest challenges to special education in APS and what is your vision going forward?
The “5 Year Plan”
Where do we stand with the 5-year plan?
What impact did the pandemic have on it?
Inclusion
What is APS doing to ensure full resources are available to commit to 80% of students 80% of the time?
Can you talk to the successes and challenges of the inclusion model sites?
What is APS doing to overcome the preconceived notions, by both school personnel and other parents, that some students only belong in self-contained classrooms?
Covid-19
Many SWD in APS are at higher risk for a severe case of Covid-19. Due to their disabilities or underlying health condition(s), these students require universal mask wearing by all in school in order to access in-person instruction. If the statewide school mask mandate is removed, will you commit to APS keeping the mask mandate in place in APS schools so that SWD can continue to access in-person instruction without harming their health?
What is the policy for teachers/staff on booster shots?��When will the vaccination mandate be enforced (as of 11/27 there were still 864 staff in the human resource follow-up category on the APS covid dashboard)��Why do schools notify parents when there is a positive case from a student but not from a teacher/staff in the school?
Learning Loss
There are a lot of kids who are behind in reading and math. APS has hired only 12 additional coaches to augment the teachers. As a result, teachers are adding kids who are behind to existing reading and math groups, which only serves to enlarge the groups and takes away from small group learning. How do you intend to catch-up kids with so little extra support?
How many coaches has APS hired to address learning loss? Is APS planning to hire more? How are these resources distributed?
Are tutors available to any child with an IEP who is significantly behind in learning, should the IEP team determine a child needs a tutor? Also, since it is hard for elementary aged kids to focus beyond the school day, are tutors available to help catch-up kids at home on the weekends?
Behavioral Supports & Assessments
What specific interventions is APS using to support students experiencing challenging behaviors while keeping them in the least restrictive environment?
When would APS conduct a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) and when is an FBA mandatory?�What are the interventions and steps before FBA?
What specialists (such as Board Certified Behavior Analysts, BCBAs) does APS have available to help schools address a student’s behavior throughout the school day? How can families access them so as to align and better support the student through consistent expectations at school and at home?
APS has committed in policy to use positive behavioral interventions and supports but we're not seeing this in practice in many schools. Where is APS on the implementation of this commitment? Will there be consistency in the approach to behavior and in supports available across schools? Will APS commit to hiring additional behavioral support specialists?
Discipline
What is a parent's recourse if their child’s school inappropriately uses discipline for a SWD instead of providing behavioral and disability supports?
Where is APS on implementing its new Physical Intervention policy on Seclusion and Restraint?
How is APS ensuring that staff is adequately and consistently trained on this new policy with fidelity?
What is APS doing to address the disproportionate discipline of students with disabilities, and students of color with disabilities?
Diversity Equity and Inclusion
How is APS ensuring that students with disabilities are included in Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) conversations and initiatives?
Dr. Duran, last school year there was a work group assembled to plan an effort to address ableism across the division. That committee stalled toward the end of the school year under the former Chief DEI officer Arron Gregory. With the addition of Dr. Ottley to your staff, will that effort resume? If so, when?
Professional Development
What training does APS currently require of all instructional staff on supporting students with disabilities in their classrooms and is it part of APS’s Professional Learning Framework? With the expectation that students with disabilities are included with general education students, what plans do you have going forward regarding professional development on disabilities?
What professional development plans are in place (aside from general pre-service training) or will be provided to teams of more complex learners (ex. requiring multiple services OT, PT, SLP) to guarantee coordination among all team members and service providers and that all necessary accommodations are in place?
Autism/ Social Skills
I have two autistic children in APS and have directly observed disparities across Arlington schools in their understanding of, and ability to educate, students with Autism. Arlington says that all APS schools are able to educate autistic children equally, but in looking closer at APS' autism programs: ��-Why is there a preschool program for children with autism, a secondary program for students with autism and nothing similar offered at the K-5 level? Many students on the Autism spectrum struggle with the inclusion model that most elementary schools offer.�-Why do only two middle schools offer SPSA, and not all of them?�-How does APS plan to address these inconsistencies?
There seems to be gaps in programs that serve students with autism across APS schools. There are students that fall in between qualifying for the secondary program for students with autism, dedicated social skills classes, MIPA, etc… How will APS plan to better serve the range of students with autism across all schools?
How do schools decide what students qualify for social skills classes and instructional studies? There are many more that would benefit than qualify now. How will APS create consistency across schools?
Reading/ Dyslexia
How consistently are staff now trained on structured literacy? At present, how many teachers are trained?
How has the shift from PALS to DIBELS helped inform schools? Is it identifying students more effectively?
What screeners is APS currently using to identify dyslexia, and what are the plans going forward?
Eligibility
Have schools been able to catch up from the backlog of eligibility testing during Covid? Has there been an influx of referrals since students have been back in schools? If there has been a large influx of referrals, can you share any non-identifying data (i.e., a specific grade, for a specific disability like dyslexia)
AAC Users/ Communications Program
What training is currently being offered and what training will be offered in the future to the team members working with AAC users. (specific training names, number of hours, training in programs other than LAMP), and how will parents of AAC users be included in AAC use and teaching plans in order to ensure consistent use between home and school settings (programming, testing, etc.)
What indicators are being used to evaluate whether the new AAC coaching positions are as effective as the communication program, and how/when will this be formally evaluated?
Transportation
After attending the ASEAC meeting on transportation, I asked my child’s school how to ensure my child’s medical plan is communicated to the bus driver. The school said they had not received any guidance on this and they didn’t want to add it to the 504 plan because they said they can’t control if transportation implements it, and when they have tried to contact transportation, they usually don’t get a response. What is APS doing to fix this and in the meantime what should a parent in this situation do?
How are behavior plans communicated to Transportation and to the Bus Drivers to ensure that students have the necessary supports in place and that drivers are aware of these necessary supports and available resources to support the student.
Twice Exceptional (2e)
Once a 2e student is identified, how do teachers work to ensure that the student is appropriately challenged with the necessary supports in place to set the student up for success?
Executive Functioning
How is APS teaching executive functioning skills to students with disabilities? What program(s) is APS using and what trainings do teachers receive on how to teach executive functioning skills?
I have been told that my child with ADHD cannot take Instructional Studies because they don’t have an IEP. Why won’t APS open up IS to students without IEPs?
English Language Learners
What is APS doing to ensure that students are accurately identified for special education and English language services, and not over or under identified for either program?