Published: 8/15/2021 9:00:13 AM
Over the last year, schools faced unprecedented challenges as they attempted to educate New Hampshire students during the COVID-19 crisis. Now, schools must take strategic advantage of related opportunities.
In the next few months, New Hampshire schools will receive over $315 million in federal funding to safely reopen and address the impact of COVID-19 on students. But how each school district decides to use its funding is still an open question.
Parents, students, advocates and other stakeholders can weigh in on the district-level spending plans. Disability Rights Center – NH (DRC-NH) views this federal funding as a vital resource for New Hampshire’s students with disabilities and other marginalized students who were most negatively impacted by pandemic-related school closures and remote learning.
The American Rescue Plan Act requires school districts to include stakeholders as they develop their spending plans. Individual school district plans must be submitted to the New Hampshire Department of Education by August 23rd. In order for districts to meet this deadline, while also allowing time to include feedback from stakeholders, public input needs to be provided as soon as possible. For example, the Concord School District is asking for public input to be submitted by August 20.
With strategic planning, this huge investment of federal funding can potentially transform New Hampshire’s education system for students with disabilities and their peers for improved learning now and for a stronger educational system in the future.
To do this, schools must prioritize four different aspects. The first is the social and emotional needs of students.
The last 16 months have been traumatic for children. They were abruptly removed from their daily routines, isolated from their friends and teachers, and lost social and other opportunities for their developmental growth. Transitioning back to in-person learning and the expectations of a regular school schedule will be difficult for many students. With this funding, schools have an opportunity to implement a trauma-informed response to students’ emotional and behavioral needs.
When children and youth experience emotional upset or trauma, rather than verbalize and process their emotional status, it’s common for them to exhibit challenging behaviors. Schools can use this funding to provide additional support to students who are struggling and help them develop the skills necessary to successfully transition and thrive alongside their peers.
Schools should leverage available funding to implement and expand programs such as Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) to reduce problematic behaviors and restorative justice to eliminate or significantly reduce the use of disciplinary-related school removals (suspension and expulsion) that result in lost instructional opportunities.
The second priority is learning loss. Throughout the pandemic, DRC-NH received calls from parents whose children were unable to participate or keep up during remote learning and whose schools placed the blame on the student rather than working with them to catch up.
Schools must quickly assess individual learning loss and lack of meaningful progress during the pandemic, particularly for students with disabilities. Schools must implement strategies like providing tutoring, additional therapies and related services, and promoting accelerated learning to prevent students from falling further behind. With these federal funds, schools can contract with private providers or pay current staff to work additional hours to help fill students’ learning gaps.
The third priority is transition services. The delivery of high-quality, individualized, school-to-post-secondary-school transition services as a pathway to competitive integrated employment is a critical element of educational services, particularly for students with disabilities.
We regularly hear from students and families who have high expectations for work, college and careers after high school but who are falling through the cracks during the transition years (ages 14 to 21). Because of the pandemic, many students lost an entire year of transition planning and this deficit must be addressed while ensuring the transition process is student-driven and reflective of the student’s dreams and aspirations.
Schools could use these federal dollars to identify and reach out to students from the classes of 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 who graduated with IEPs, but without the benefit of the transition services they were legally entitled to, and provide additional supports and services to enable them to achieve their post-high school goals such as attending college or training programs, securing competitive employment, or being able to live as independently as possible in their communities.
The fourth and final priority is public input. Over the next few weeks, individual school districts will be developing their plans to spend federal American Rescue Plan funds. Public comment and stakeholder feedback are critical pieces of plan development. We at DRC-NH have written to superintendents and school board members across the state to provide input and we encourage students, parents, advocates and other stakeholders to do the same.
(Stephanie Patrick is executive director of Disability Rights Center-NH)
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