When Sarah LeBoeuf of Concord learned what her youngest son’s schedule would look like this fall, she knew immediately it wasn’t going to work.
LeBoeuf is a single parent to three children, two of whom receive special education services. Her youngest son, Brendan, 5, who has a sensory processing disorder, was scheduled to start kindergarten at Abbot-Downing School this fall. Under the remote-learning model, he would go into the school building to receive in-person instruction for two and half hours per week, spread out over four days. He would have to wear a mask and stay six feet away from his teachers at all times. The rest of the time he would be learning remotely, and because of LeBoeuf’s work schedule, this would mean doing school online every day at the Boys and Girls Club’s remote-learning center.
Families of children in special education programs say they are struggling to access services during COVID-19, and some say the masks, distancing and online learning that is required by schools are at odds with their children’s needs.
“Screen time makes Brendan agitated, aggressive and frustrated,” LeBoeuf wrote in an email to the Concord School Board on Aug. 26. “He is unable to focus, difficult to manage and he gets very emotional. I am conscientious to limit screen time in our home. Brendan is very sensory seeking, and screen time is like a sensory overload for him.”
LeBoeuf said when Brendan tries to wear a mask, he becomes agitated, rips at it with his hands, and can’t focus on his work.
Masks have also been an issue for LeBoeuf’s older son Trevor, 12, who has anxiety and ADHD. He attends Strong Foundations Charter School. LeBoeuf said two weeks ago she was asked to pick Trevor up from school because he wasn’t putting on his mask during an anxiety attack that caused him to shut down.
“I don’t know how a school can refuse to give a kid an education if they refuse to put on a mask,” LeBoeuf said. “There needs to be an exception. It’s a sensory overload; kids need to see micro expressions on the faces of their teachers and their peers. It’s frustrating for me as an adult, never mind a child who may have sensory issues or is on the spectrum.”
Bridget Paré, an education consultant in the governance unit of New Hampshire’s Department of Education, says school districts determine their own mask policies, since there is no mandated mask policy in New Hampshire. State guidance recommends mask-wearing in schools as one of several risk-mitigation techniques when six-foot distancing can’t be maintained, but state officials are encouraging schools to consider students’ particular needs when it comes to exemptions.
“It’s a gray area,” Paré said. “It really is a case-by-case basis that districts should be looking at the effects of wearing a mask on students, particularly those with sensory difficulties because it is the nature of their disability that prevents them from being able to adhere to a district policy. When a district is not flexible with that policy, that may have consequences to a student’s education.”
Paré said the calls she has been receiving from parents about the mask issue have become more frequent in recent weeks. When the department receives a complaint from a parent, Paré says Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut calls the superintendent of the district to talk through the issue and try to find a solution.
“We can’t mandate ‘you have to,’ but we are strongly recommending that districts work to come to a resolve so safety is taken into consideration but also students’ needs are being met,” Paré said. “It shouldn’t just be a blanket decision because your district has made that decision, you still need to look at students individually.”
LeBoeuf said she made the decision to hold Brendan back a year, and enroll him in pre-K at Concord Christian Academy, where he can learn in-person and has an accommodation to go without a mask. LeBoeuf said the decision was a difficult one to make from a financial standpoint, but with the scholarship they received, tuition is cheaper than sending him to the Boys and Girls Club, where he wouldn’t have a special education instructor.
LeBoeuf is also seeking legal counsel about getting Concord School District to provide transportation for her son Trevor to and from Strong Foundations Charter School, something that is stipulated in his individualized education plan (IEP). In November 2019, the district was ordered by the state Department of Education to provide transportation after LeBoeuf raised an initial complaint, but since COVID-19 hit, there has been no transportation.
“I feel like I have never had to fight so hard in my life for my kids,” LeBoeuf said. “I don’t know what else to do.”
Parents of students on IEPs have been taking to community Facebook groups to discuss their frustrations with school learning models, which some say are depriving their kids of the services they need.
Shawnna Bowman of Webster has two children in the Merrimack Valley School District who both have IEPs. She said the family decided to have both children learn remotely this semester, but more out of concern for the school’s strict regulations than for COVID-19.
“We were more concerned about the added level of compliance that would be placed on kids,” Bowman said. “We already have kids who have a hard time getting through a day, having that added level of compliance seemed a bit too much for our family.”
Bowman’s 14-year-old son, a freshman at Merrimack Valley High School, is on the autism spectrum. Due to challenges with sensory and spacial awareness, Bowman said she wasn’t sure he would do well wearing a mask for a full school day or distancing in the hallways according to protocol.
“These were concerns we didn’t want to throw on top of the work he is already trying to accomplish getting through his day,” Bowman said. “He is working so hard already on the academics and being appropriate socially, and just being him in a way that doesn’t make other people uncomfortable. Adding that additional stress just wasn’t worth it.”
Bowman said remote learning was hard for her son in the spring, because he did not receive one-on-one support from a paraprofessional as his plan requires.
In August, Gov. Chris Sununu issued Executive Order 64, which says all school districts are required to adhere to special education law requirements and continue providing the required instruction and support services required for special education students, regardless of remote or hybrid learning models.
Now, Bowman’s son is receiving support in the form of periodic one-on-one check-ins from an instructor via video call, but Bowman remains concerned the overall quality of her son’s education is lower than it was before COVID-19.
On the flip side, Bowman’s 12-year-old daughter, who experiences ADHD with some social anxieties, has been thriving during remote learning. Bowman said being away from the distracting hustle and bustle of the classroom has brought her daughter’s grades up from a C average to being just short of the honor roll.
The COVID-19 pandemic may change the way student needs are assessed in the future. State Department of Education Special Education Director Rebecca Fredette says IEPs don’t typically specify if kids need services in person or remote – a question that is extremely relevant in the COVID era.
“Trying to wrap all of our brains around the fact that an IEP states what a student needs and what kind of an environment it should be in, but we haven’t really looked at in-person or remote,” Fredette said. “It shouldn’t be based on where you are, it should be based on what you need to be successful.”
In the meantime, Fredette says any parents who feel there is a discrepancy between their child’s IEP and the services they are receiving, should call the Department of Education.
Bowman says she hopes districts will be understanding to families like hers, who are still adjusting to the new normal.
“For us, it takes just a little bit longer to adjust to any transition,” Bowman said. “It takes us a few weeks longer to find our rhythm. I hope teachers are taking that into consideration for our kids with developmental disabilities.”