Distance Learning and Expectations for Next Year
I think by now most of my readers are painfully aware that the New York City public schools are closed and in a remote-learning posture until the end of the school year.
New York City private special education schools have also transitioned to remote learning. Their need to do so is heightened by the fact that many of their students are medically fragile and require close, physical teacher support. So the threat of contracting COVID can be heightened just by the structure of the school programs. But the question remains open: What will happen next year?
As of this writing, there hasn't really been any guidance. That stretches from the local level, with the education chancellor not being able to give any guidance on whether the schools will reopen — all the way up to the national level. Even heads of state and top medical experts are being unclear on when it will be safe to lift stay-at-home and business closure orders, and when it will be safe to resume some of the civil functions of the government as they had been before the pandemic.
My message to the parents of kids with special needs is that, if they have concerns about next year's tuition reimbursement case, please get in touch so we can allay those concerns. As I see it, there are really just two scenarios.
Schools open back up and some semblance of business as usual returns, Tuition reimbursement cases proceed as they have been for many years.
Things stay the same, and distance learning remains as the norm.
Distance learning doesn't automatically disqualify a parent from seeking tuition reimbursement. It adds another layer to the case, requiring the parent to justify to the Department of Education (DOE) or local educational agency that what is happening at the private school is documented satisfactorily. That documentation can be used to show that their child is still receiving a free and appropriate education at that private school. The fact that they're getting private special education doesn’t mean the case is going to suffer.
Jonathan Gottlieb
Partner
195 Montague Street
14th Floor
Brooklyn Heights, NY 11201
Jonathan@GottliebFirm.com
(646) 820-8506