WASHINGTON — Schooling Secretary Betsy DeVos is not going to advocate that faculties be freed of any of their obligations to coach college students
WASHINGTON — Schooling Secretary Betsy DeVos is not going to advocate that faculties be freed of any of their obligations to coach college students with disabilities in the course of the coronavirus pandemic, the Schooling Division introduced this week.
“While the department has provided extensive flexibility to help schools transition, there is no reason for Congress to waive any provision designed to keep students learning,” Ms. DeVos said in a statement. “With ingenuity, innovation and grit, I know this nation’s educators and schools can continue to faithfully educate every one of its students.”
In the recently passed coronavirus stabilization law, Congress gave Ms. DeVos 30 days to recommend whether she wanted the authority to waive parts of the landmark federal special education law to help schools cope with prolonged closings.
The closings have significantly altered the ability of schools to provide special education services as they scramble to move instruction online. Those services, outlined in legal agreements called Individualized Education Programs, can include an array of intensive educational services, like tutoring, behavioral support or occupational therapy,
Fearing a backlash, some school districts opted not to educate any children at all for a period, or significantly curtailed the level of instruction they offered. Only a few weeks into the school closings, some districts reported that lawyers had already begun eyeing legal action, according to the AASA, the School Superintendents Association, which had urged the department to request some flexibility from the law.
Special education and civil rights groups argued that any waivers from the law would signal to schools that they could write off the nation’s most vulnerable students for the remainder of the pandemic. They cheered Ms. DeVos’s recommendation, and urged Congress to uphold it.
“DeVos’s recommendation is a surprising — but welcome — move from this administration and a win for the disability rights movement,” said West Resendes, a Skadden fellow in the American Civil Liberties Union’s Disability Rights Program.
“The department has rightfully steered clear of recommending any waivers that would alter the tenets of IDEA and the Rehabilitation Act, thus supporting every child with a disability’s right to a free, appropriate public education,” Denise Marshall, the chief executive of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, said in a statement. “While challenging, we know that many schools and districts are embracing their responsibilities as they work with families to meet the needs of students while physical buildings are closed.”