Pandemic and special education

A few months ago in this column, as the Communications Coordinator for the Gettysburg Area School District, I wrote about the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on our students and staff. Specifically, we explored a kindergarten classroom that was fully remote for the entire year and a high school classroom that used the hybrid model (in person and online). Both of those classrooms focused on students enrolled in our regular education program. For students and staff in our special education and English language-learner classrooms, the impact of the pandemic was felt differently and some of the challenges and triumphs they faced were vastly different.

Today’s article addresses Special Education. First, let me introduce you to Leann Deardorff. Leann is a learning support teacher at Gettysburg Area Middle School. Her primary focus is working with special education students throughout seventh and eighth grades. Leann remains largely positive about the experiences and lessons learned over the past year while echoing what many others have — how it was the most challenging year ever yet the most rewarding.

Leann said that she would not say that she enjoyed this year any less than other school years and it certainly was not as dreadful as most people thought going into the year. Her sentiment is that students, teachers and families will come out of this year developing positive changes as a result of the pandemic that will benefit everyone for years to come.

Leann spent four days a week in person with a majority of her special education students. For most of her students, Friday was a remote learning day where students Zoomed into their classes. Most middle school students this year came to the building two days a week and spent the other three learning remotely. She said that this educational model gave her the opportunity to develop a deeper teacher-student connection. In a typical year, Leann floats from classroom to classroom but this year stayed in her own classroom which gave her more time with the students and afforded greater flexibility.

At the parents’ discretion, some students that attended in-person two days a week would Zoom into classes for the other three days — which presented its own set of challenges as needs changed throughout the course of the year. For example, these students were expected to be present on synchronous (live) Zoom sessions and would often feel overwhelmed having to function a majority of the time on their own without a teacher present in the room with them.

To help students, Leann said she spent a large portion of time this year sending emails to students and their parents to inform them of the work they should be completing, creating a strong communication bond. Despite being physically apart from some of her students, Leann said communication between the school and families improved this year to a whole new level never seen before.

That communication also had a positive impact on students. Early in the year, Leann noticed that many students did not have an understanding of proper email etiquette. For example, students would write the entire email in the subject line. As Leann began to notice the trend, she saw this as an opportunity to help her students develop real-world experience and the proper way to send an email communication. Other real-life skills were interwoven into the year, such as contacting their teacher when the student turns in an assignment late, much of which will carry over to a real-life job after the students’ educational journey.

The flexibility this year was key for Leann and her students. If a teacher or student was out for an extended period of time, accommodations had to be made and the educational process had to adapt to the changing needs.

The level of flexibility closely ties into students seeing their teachers in a completely different way. Leann said that both she and the students had to learn new technologies and go through many of the same struggles together. She was up front with the students and showed a vulnerability that students typically do not see from teachers. Despite the challenges of being educated and educating during a pandemic, the students and Leann grew together.

This level of flexibility also carried over to working with families. Normally, Individual Education Plan (IEP) meetings occur in person. As the pandemic forced these meetings online, parents were given greater flexibility to attend the meetings and could attend from virtually anywhere. Many of the families that Leann worked with expressed admiration and appreciated the level of convenience virtual IEP meetings provided.

Andrew Robinson is a guest writer for the Education Task Force of the Gettysburg Democracy for America. Robinson is a graduate of Gettysburg Area High School and Shippensburg University. He has been the Communications Coordinator for the Gettysburg Area School District since 2017.