FOIA Release: FCPS "TLP Procedural and Instructional Guidance Training" (4.13.20)

Video and transcript of Fairfax County Public Schools April 13, 2020, staff training.

The video was provided by Fairfax County Public Schools. The transcript was created by Special Education Action.

SPEAKERS: Dawn Schaefer, Andrew Guillen, Kellie Cochran

Dawn Schaefer 00:02

Thank you for joining us for this Blackboard Collaborate session, temporary learning plans with some procedural and instructional guidance. I'm Dawn Schaefer. I'm the coordinator for due process and eligibility and I have two colleagues with me this afternoon.

Andrew Guillen 00:20

Good afternoon. My name is Andrew Guillen, I'm a manager due process and special education services.

Kellie Cochran 00:28

Hi, I'm Kellie Cochran. I'm the coordinator for special ed related services.

Dawn Schaefer 00:37

So our agenda for this session is to talk about the temporary learning plan, talk about the extension of eligibility timelines, talk about special education meetings during this time of school closures. We'll talk some about instruction and staff expectations as well.

First of all, we are not amending all IEPs or 504 plans, either in Sea Stars or on paper. Instead, teachers will be required to develop a temporary learning plan for each student on their caseload, um, so that we can outline the services that will be provided during the school closure. If you look at this graphic, it explains a little bit about what we're looking at. In terms of plans for students. All students will receive this temporary learning plan, and some students may need an addendum without a meeting or an updated 504 plan to address something specific. Few students may need telephone conference to address initial or annual IEP's or 504 plans or local screening, eligibility, evaluations, 504 qualifications and transfers. And then the least number of students would need a meeting via blackboard collaborate, which is this platform.

Andrew Guillen 02:10

Okay, thanks, Dawn. So one of the things that we've done here at due process is, we've worked to develop a procedural toolkit during COVID-19 and distance learning. And so what you see right in front of you is our intranet page. There's going to be information added, including this recorded presentation, as well as a copy of the PowerPoint. But you'll want to come here for frequently asked questions, technical tech questions, some guided language that you might want to put on some of your plans and other documents. So I would start here first and then of course, if you have questions, we will give you some more information at the end of the training.

So while schools are closed for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year due to the COVID 19 pandemic, a temporary Learning Plan, TLP, will be developed for every student receiving special education services. During these unprecedented times, we are continuing to look at ways to support our parents and their children during this process. This TLP does not take place of the student's Individualized Education Program IEP, and it does not contain the same services and accommodations provided in their IEP. However, it does identify the continuity of learning services and consultation that will be provided to the student between now and the end of the school year.

It's most important that you contact parents this week and provide the TLP for them to review as soon as possible. We understand there may be different circumstances that may prevent your completion by this April 28 due date, but we would like for you to shoot for that date.

Using the guiding questions for the TLP to assist with with conversation document, excuse me, make sure you document contact on the students Sea Stars contact log, let them know that the TLP does not take place their child's IEP and that it does not contain the same services and accommodations provided for in their child's IEP. When school resumes, their child's current IEP will go back into effect.

So during the during the phone call, reassure the parent that we will be providing students with instruction on selected goals and assist with accommodations during designated times weekly. Discuss with discuss the following with the parent and document the parent's response to the following considerations: How are you and your family doing? We hope everyone is well. This is a stressful time, it's stressful and difficult time for everyone. Does the student have a device and internet access for the supports? Does your child have the ability to engage independently — i.e. use a laptop, keyboard, camera, with special with a special education provider via digital platform? Do you have the ability to commit time to support your child's access to digital learning? Are they are there specific accommodations that you believe are appropriate for your child?

Additional items to be discussed during your phone call. Please make sure to let the parent know: Be assured that we will work to provide students with any necessary accommodations outlined in their current IEP that can be provided through the temporary learning plan. Parents just want to have the conversation. They want to make sure that they've had input into this plan, and so these questions will give us that opportunity to do that.

Make sure that we talk a little bit about the specific goals and or accommodations on your child's IEP, like screen readers or graphic organizers that you believe are most appropriate for the child during distance learning. And during the phone call with the parent document parent's response to the following considerations: As a parent, ask what is the biggest priority for your child support during the closure? If you think about it, they've probably had a lot of working from home trying to get distance learning started up, it would be really nice to kind of hear from the school system, the following informations.

For our students pre K through eight, um, consider the following: during the closure, we will continue to provide our students with access to review and enrichment materials related to both the general education content and your child's specific IEP needs. Is there any specific area for which you would like to focus support for your child? And again, if you're talking to a high school student, during the phone call with the parent, document the parent's response to the following considerations. Document the parent's response to the following: During the closure we would we will continue to provide students with access to review, and enrichment materials related to both general education content and your child's specific needs. Your child will also receive, your child will also, excuse me, have the opportunity to move forward in his or her learning to receive credit for high school courses. While your child will receive feedback about about the work they complete, this work will not be graded and will only be used as a means to support your child's progress when schools reopen. Are there any specific areas for which you would like to focus special education support for your child?

So we're going to talk a little bit about completing the TLP. So we've given you some some some some thinking questions, questions that we want you to review to with parents that kind of show our effort to get them involved in the discussion. and now it's filling out the plan. The plan is going to be posted on the DPE server, sorry, the DPE webs intranet site shortly. It's also going to be hosted on the intranet site in the forms cabinet, as well as the public web. The first thing that I want you to do with this particular form is make sure you save it down. It's a PDF. It's not going to be in Sea Stars where you will have a screen. It's just a regular PDF. It'll be listed on the IEP documents as a as a as a static PDF, but you'll need to save it maybe somewhere like your H drive so that it can be uploaded into Sea Stars when it's complete. Second, you want to make sure that you confirm that the conversation has been documented on the contact log and Sea Stars while we're not using the IEP during COVID-19, we are using our Sea Stars contact log to document all of our conversations with parents. Next, use Sea Stars to gather specific demographic information, including the student's name, ID number, and parents, names. And so Sea Stars is going to have that information for you. You can go ahead and fill it out, um, and just make sure that you you have access to that information went ahead, circled the areas that also has parent name. And then right here is going to be the drop down that you can select for your school. You'll need to get your school's address, city, state and zip and the date of the letter, the student's name and the student ID number. Then, if you'll notice right within the letter, there is a little area here that we've highlighted. That's going to indicate the date at you've spoken to the parent. Next, you're going to go ahead and document the goals and short term objectives that will take place during distance learning.

When documenting IEP goals into the TLP, consider whether the students goals and/or short term objectives support synchronous and asynchronous instruction during distance learning. Please remember, many of our low incidence students have IEP goals with many short term objectives. During distance learning team should prioritize the goals and short term objectives that address distance learning. Remember, not every goal or objective might be appropriate in the TLP for distance learning. Another reminder is that this information typed in the text box will grow. So the the IEP PDF, I'm sorry, the TLP PDF in front of us whenever information is typed in here, the box will definitely grow to accommodate the information. So let's look at adjusting the components of a goal for the TLP. If the current goal cannot be provided during distance learning, proposed changes to some or part of the goals to support synchronous and asynchronous instruction, for example, does the condition portion of the goal support distance learning? Currently, a student's IEP might have the following condition: during hallway transitions and lunchtime Johnny will, or does the criteria need to be changed? Maybe we're not going to be talking about transitions. Maybe we're going to be talking talking about transitions from one online activity to the next. And the criteria, excuse me, may need to be changed to reflect distance learning.

When documenting IEP accommodations and modifications in the TLP, consider, consider whether the student's accommodations and modifications can be implemented during online format. So we've placed this chart in here to have you think about how students' accommodations and modifications can be adjusted during distance learning, given time constraints with synchronous and asynchronous learning, what accommodations and modifications might appear on the TLP and not in the IEP?

So just remember, we may need to modify some of the accommodations that we have on the IEP to reflect our distance learning plan. And just a quick note, this document will also be included in the procedural toolkit on the DPE site. I'm going to pass it off to Dawn.