Coronavirus and Schools: Pandemic IEPs
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
We are receiving questions about the development of IEPs for the initial provision of FAPE and for annual IEP revisions during the pandemic-related school closures. In particular, should the IEP be developed to reflect current conditions or developed as they would typically be developed for implementation in brick and mortar schools?
We have advised in our pool opinions on this subject that initial IEPs and annual IEP revisions occur (virtually or telephonically, of course) during the closure. The IEP or IEP revision that results, however, should address only the programming that will be in effect once schools reopen, to avoid confusion between the full FAPE in the IEP and the less-than-full-FAPE we will be implementing as part of our “continuity of education” plans. The start date for these IEPs, we now know, will have to be the first day of the 2020-2021 school term, unless the student is also eligible for ESY beginning in July (assuming schools re-open by then).
Conversely, the “continuity” services you are offering now, during the closure, should be embodied in a separate NOREP (or letter, for those of you who chose that option and are not reconsidering it in light of the guidance issued by BSE on March 27).
We emphasize the word should because we intend this advice only as a best practice recommendation. If parents insist, or if the team is inclined to include “continuity of instruction” services in the IEP, you certainly can include these services as separate items of specially-designed instruction, each with current start dates and end dates no later than June 30, 2020. We can now suggest a June 30 end date because we now know that schools will not reopen before then. Should closures continue beyond June 30, and if you have included June 30 as the end date for your “continuity of education”-related SDI (should you choose to include them in the IEP at all), the team can always address the continuation of those SDI by issuing some form of “prior written notice” at that time.