News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Students with disabilities faced many challenges during the coronavirus.
The Tennessee Department of Education hopes to address some of those challenges and the issues faced by school systems this week with new one-time funding.
Putnam County Special Education Supervisor Sheri Roberson said students really missed the daily face to face interactions.
“Our students are use to seeing their teachers everyday,” Roberson said. “They miss their classmates. They miss having that social interaction. So, we began doing social skill groups through the online platforms. Just trying to maintain contact with their students, so they can maintain the learning.”
Roberson said their speech pathologists and therapists created online strategies to meet the needs of their students. Putnam County provided the materials and services needed for parents to fill the gap. Roberson said parents basically became teachers at home to help implement their strategies.
“When behavioral challenges came up, giving strategies they can use in the home and just being that sounding board for the parent when they needed help in the home setting,” Roberson said. “We provided food when families needed food. Our nutrition department was amazing in providing that service throughout the closure. And providing materials and supplies. We had teacher dropping off supplies on porches.”
The $5 million dollars will be used for compensatory services for students with disabilities. Roberson said these services are for students who lost ground while school was closed. Each student would be evaluated by teachers to determine if they need extra services to complete their Individual Education Plan.
“That compensatory service is just looking for what they need, if anything, above what we already planned on providing them,” Roberson said. “The state has given funds to help with the costs in providing any services the student needs for that catch up growth and to continue with that growth throughout the year.”
These one-time, compensatory grant funds will be disbursed to districts July 1 as an increase in districts’ federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) part B formula funding. Allocations are based on each district’s relative share of the state’s IDEA part B allocations for the most recent year for which the department has final allocations (FY20). Districts will then be able to budget these additional funds in concert with their FY21 allocation for IDEA part B for the purposes of providing compensatory services required by law.
Roberson said they are currently reviewing programming for all students at this time.
