Special educ. students at risk if schools open this summer
Here’s a quick little note to Gov. Phil Murphy: Don’t even think about opening New Jersey’s schools this summer in a test run to see how things might go in September. If you do, you’re going to basically be sending the message that the most atrisk kids - specifically, special education students - are no more than canaries in a coal mine. You’d potentially be sending them - and their teachers, and their families to slaughter.
Do I have your attention? Last week, Murphy made the decision to keep schools closed through the end of June. It’s the right call, a no-brainer. But then he started talking about summer programs, and whether they’d be in-person, and this is what he said, courtesy of NJ1015. com: “{working}... alongside district leaders, educators, local officials and parent organizations to determine whether summer educational or enrichment, or other programs offered at our schools may proceed.”
On paper, it makes perfect sense to get summer programs up and running and in-person. We all want a return to normal, and kids going to school is as normal as it gets. Plus, summer programs are smaller than regular school programs. There’s fewer kids, thus more space, thus making it easy to socially distance and test out how the regular school year might work (if there even is a “regular” school year, I have my doubts).
So what’s the issue? Summer programming - and here I’m talking specifically about extended school year (ESY) programming - is predominantly the domain of special education students. And I can’t think of a worse cohort to send back to school at this point than special education students.
Now are there some special education students who would do just fine with the concepts of social distancing, frequent hand washing, mask wearing, and everything else that’s going to be the new “normal” when our kids go back to school? Sure. Of course.
But other - most other - special education students? Not so much. And believe me, I’m speaking from firsthand experience.
I have a nine-year-old intellectually disabled daughter. I would love nothing more than to send her (the hell) back to school. My wife - bless her soul - has been in charge of helping to deliver education to my daughter these last few months. It’s not easy, much in the same way it’s “not easy” to fly a whale.
But my daughter - and others like her - should not be the test subjects to see how this whole back-to-school thing might work. She understands what’s going on, but does she have the wherewithal to adhere to whatever guidelines are put in place? I fear she does not. I also know thousands of others like her do not. As a result, the burden placed on ESY teachers this summer would be of whale-flying proportions.
Asking any small child - but specifically special needs children with sensory, behavioral, and/or intellectual disabilities - to stay six feet from friends and teachers while wearing a mask all day is an unreasonable burden. It will put both students and their dedicated educators at grave and unnecessary risk.
Listen: I want to get back to normal, and obviously, kids have to be in school for that to happen. But there is no way special education students and their teachers - and by extension, the families and friends of special education students and their teachers - should be treated as lab rats for whatever “back to normal” is going to look like.
Murphy has been smart and methodical during the pandemic. I applaud what he’s done so far. I can only assume he’ll realize what a mistake this would be. He should immediately make the call to keep students at home this summer. It’s another no-brainer.