Last night, Governor Cuomo tweeted a major special education announcement after issuing an Executive Order. The critical part of that order reads:
…special education services and instruction required under Federal, state or local laws, rules, or regulations, may be provided in person for the summer term in school districts. Any district providing such services in person must follow State and Federal guidance.
We will need to wait and see how New York City chooses to respond to this in terms of its District 75 students. The operative word here is “may”—school districts may choose to provide in-person services and instruction. There are many unknowns about how New York City could reverse its course and open physical classrooms, but transportation is a significant barrier. As of last night, what we heard from our colleagues in government does not lead us to believe that OPT will offer transportation this summer.
You can read some early press coverage of this unexpected announcement here, here, here, and here.
How does this affect private schools and programs? Each individual school, program, and provider will have to decide whether to offer in-person services and programming. Hopefully, health department guidance is released quickly to aid in making speedy, smart decisions.
If your child has a 12-month IEP, find time early next week to check in with your school and/or providers to see if this order is likely to change their summer plans. If you are our client, please check in with your case manager attorney before you make any decisions.
We will continue to update you as we learn more.