As Maryland public schools prepare for virtual learning, some parents fear their children will fall behind and never catch up. These families say distance learning is hurting students, especially those with special needs.
Students with IEPs, or Individualized Education Programs, require extra support. Sometimes they need one on one instruction. But with schools turning to virtual learning, the question becomes, how do you offer that extra help through a computer?
Stephanie Schaefer is a lifelong Baltimore County resident and Tommy’s mother.
“My son's young. He's going through Baltimore County Schools just like I did,” said Schaefer.
Schaefer worries, what’s happening now with his education, will affect his future.
“And I know how bad school messed me up to where I don't want him to end up down the path that it took me so many years to get out of,” she told Project Baltimore. “I'm a recovering addict who has a few years clean now. But I don't want that same thing.”
Tommy is four years old. He’s in Pre-K at Padonia International School in Cockeysville.
At age three, Tommy was given an IEP, an Individualized Education Program designed to help with his special needs. But when Maryland public schools shut down in March, Tommy had to learn from home. At that point, his mother says, the extra supports he needs stopped.
She believes that has affected his development. Stephanie says her son has fallen behind. He’s unable to focus in front of a computer. She’s seen a noticeable downturn in his learning and his behavior.
“He's not getting that one-on-one speech therapy. He's not getting even that time with his peers and learning that way,” said Schaefer.
Baltimore County Public Schools is required, under federal law, to meet the requirements of a student’s IEP. But distance learning can make that hard to do, especially if a child requires one on one instruction.
“And I just think if he has somebody that can focus with him because he can't do it at home with me,” stated Schaefer. “I would send my son back to school. I think him getting the learning that he needs outweighs the risk.”
But with Maryland public schools going all virtual this upcoming school year, Stephanie doesn’t have that option.
Schaefer believes the school system simply can't meet the requirements of Tommy’s IEP through distance learning. “They cannot. They can't,” she told Project Baltimore. “There's no way possible that they're going to be able to.”
Baltimore County Public Schools already has a history of not meeting the needs of students who have disabilities. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, Maryland leads our region with 46 current Office of Civil Right investigations concerning disability discrimination. Pennsylvania has 26. Delaware, 2. DC, 18. In Maryland, the school system with the most active disability discrimination cases is Baltimore County with 10. Anne Arundel County Schools has three. City Schools has four. Howard County Schools has two.
“I want him to be offered the best education that he deserves. He's entitled to have it," said Schaefer,
Project Baltimore reached out to Baltimore County Schools to see how the district plans to meet the needs of students with IEPs. We received this statement from Brandon Oland, a BCPS Communications Specialist:
"The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted education throughout the world and has required a necessary, and unavoidable, shift in the methodologies often associated with traditional education. Even so, BCPS continues to provide a free, appropriate, public education to students with disabilities in a virtual setting."
The statement also said during this national emergency, Baltimore County schools will provide the services it can as long as it’s safe.
“Right now is the time that I need to build that foundation with him to get him to where he needs to be" said Schaefer. "And if he's not meeting his needs, then that foundation's going to fall apart."