Consider This from NPR - Parents Want Schools To Make Up The Special Education Their Kids Lost In The Pandemic

Episode Date: June 16, 2021

Remote learning simply didn't work for many children with disabilities. Without the usual access to educators, therapists and in-person aides, the families of these children, and many like them, say they watched their children slide backward, losing academic, social and physical skills. Now they're demanding help, arguing to judges, state departments of education and even to the U.S. Department of Education that schools are legally required to do better by their students with disabilities. NPR education correspondent Cory Turner and reporter Rebecca Klein have spent months reporting on complaints filed across the country from families who say schools need to act now to make up for the vital services kids missed.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The struggle has been real for any parents or caregivers whose children have taken online classes during the pandemic. For parents of kids with disabilities, a lot of them say it was basically impossible. In general, it was probably a three-minute attention span. NPR spoke to people all over the country. I gotta be constantly on him. Who described what this past year was like. He would put me in like a headlock and grab me by my hair. Who described what this past year was like. Without the special education services their kids need to learn.

We would maybe make it through the first two classes and then the meltdowns would start. One time she broke the computer. You know, this is like every day. And I couldn't get the teachers to focus on her. It was all. It's just not in him to be on the computer. It was just infuriating. So frustrated.

It takes him so much more work to make every little accomplishment. That was the last time that I tried to force him to do school. I'm sorry. I just want our kids to be valued as much as others. They have potential too. Consider this. Many special education services, services guaranteed by federal law, were put on hold during the pandemic. Now parents are asking schools to make up for lost time. From NPR, I'm Adi Cornish. It's Wednesday, June 16th. This message comes from NPR sponsor, Sotva, the comfort company.

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But those findings were kept secret until a new state transparency law passed. We dug through hours of tapes to find out what happens to officers who cross the line. Listen to On Our Watch, a podcast from NPR and KQED. Children with disabilities are legally entitled to a public education that is both free and appropriate, meaning if a child needs specific help and instruction to learn, their school district must provide it, which is why, in light of school shutdowns and online learning, some parents are arguing, You're violating my child's rights. Leslie Seid Margolis is a managing attorney at Disability Rights Maryland. Do you get to violate them until the parent shows up and says,

wait a minute, you can't do this anymore? I mean, that's not the way this is supposed to work. Margolis filed a complaint in Maryland saying students who did not get an appropriate education during the pandemic are now entitled to something called compensatory services. That would catch them up to where they should be if there hadn't been the pandemic pause. On the flip side, attorneys who are advising school districts are pushing back.

They say schools didn't do anything wrong here. It's hard to say that that was the fault of the school or anyone. It was an act of God. It was a pandemic. Attorney Andrew Manna says, remember, special educators weren't allowed to work in person, out of concern for safety. Remote learning was new for everyone. But that does little to help the families who went through some of the worst of it. Remote learning didn't work for many kids with disabilities. Rebecca Klein is a freelance reporter who has been following this story for NPR. So there was Maddie Berg, for example. She's six years old and she has an

intellectual disability and attention deficit disorder. And her mom, Rachel, told us that Maddie struggled to focus on the computer, so much so that she really began to fight against it. It was usually five to ten minutes of the teacher in the classroom seeing Maddie crying and biting herself, me pulling her back into the camera and pulling her back. And then it usually ended with two of us crying. It got so bad that Maddie and her mother just stopped logging on. A lot of parents and caregivers told us they watched their children lose skills academically, socially, and behaviorally. I spoke with Rebecca Klein and NPR education correspondent Corey Turner, who partnered with her on this reporting. To start off, I asked why exactly school districts are reluctant to provide these compensatory services, whether it's a question of money or

something else going on. So that's where this story gets really complicated because it's not only about the money, it's also about fundamentally different readings of the law. So we spoke with several attorneys and officials who advise school districts and school boards on special education issues, and they all said basically that compensatory services are something that the courts have handed out when schools have failed a student

and when they've messed up. Phyllis Wolfram is executive director for the Council of Administrators of Special Education, and she says the past year is no one's fault. So there is no umbrella or realm by which we should be looking at compensating for something that we didn't have control over with regard to the pandemic. So instead, many schools are asking families just to trust that they're doing their best. They're basically arguing that intent is what matters here. Did schools make a good faith effort to provide kids with services during the strain of the pandemic? And even now, schools are saying, look, we're

going as fast as we can, but providing extra services requires more trained staff and more hours in the day. So no one we spoke with is arguing that schools should do nothing, but it's kind of about how much more do they need to provide. Wolfram, as well as several school attorneys we spoke with, all talked about getting children with disabilities back on track, basically to where they were when schools closed. So that's what school attorneys say. Corey, what do the families and their attorneys say in response? Yeah, I mean, they simply read the law differently, especially the way courts have interpreted it through the years. Blair Malkin is a disability rights attorney with the group Mountain State Justice in West Virginia. Here's how she describes it.

Compensatory education does not require a finding of negligence or fault on the part of a school district. What it does mean is that they have a duty to that child and to put that child back in the place they would have been if school had been open. You know, notice she said, Audie, if schools had been open, as in if the pandemic had never happened. And I think that this difference, you know, it's a big difference in how school districts and families and advocates are reading federal law is why some families feel really unheard right now and are starting to file legal complaints.

Let's talk more about the legal complaints. How expansive is this? Is this something that's spreading? So we should say first off that families should always start by communicating with their child's special education team. But what we heard again and again is that often the school-based staff agree with families. It's the bureaucracy at the district and state level that's really become the problem for them. So families are doing a few things. Some are filing complaints with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, and others are filing special education complaints at the state level. And some are filing what is known as due process complaints,

which allow them to argue their case in a trial-like setting. And then in places like Maryland and New York, there are also broader class complaints, with multiple plaintiffs all seeking compensatory services. So right now we're seeing more and more complaints, but it's still very early in this process. And Adi, I think it's also really important to point out that all of these pathways really require parents and caregivers to navigate a pretty complex system, you know, one where poverty, language, and knowledge of the system can be real barriers. You know, we spoke with a rancher

in New Mexico. His name is Timothy Largo. He's a member of the Navajo Nation. He's raising his grandson. He filed a complaint with the Bureau of Indian Education when his grandson lost access to special education services during the pandemic. The BIE awarded his grandson 45 hours of compensatory services. But Mr. Largo worries, you know, he says lots of families are not going to be able to do what he and his wife did. How many students are out there? You know, a lot of these parents or guardians, they're not literate. And the students are falling through the cracks because the parents and the guardians are not advocating for their children.

And, you know, one more thought, Adi. We spoke with one advocate the other day who told us where they work, the only families who are getting compensatory services right now all have one thing in common. They all hired an advocate or attorney who understands the law. NPR education correspondent Corey Turner and reporter Rebecca Klein. You're listening to Consider This from NPR. I'm Adi Cornish.