1. What health-related actions should be taken in response to a student removing their cloth face covering briefly or for a short period of time?  Removal of a cloth face covering briefly or for short periods of time of less than 10 minutes are relatively low risk, although not recommended.  School staff will want to remind the student of the need to wear the cloth face covering and provide the student with an opportunity to wash their hands after touching their face covering.  Please refer to OSPI guidance for ideas on how to provide positive behavior interventions and supports for students, including explicit instruction and the use of social stories for students, supporting the wearing of cloth face coverings while in school buildings and transportation.

2. What health-related actions should be taken in response to a student encroaching on another student’s space (within 6 feet) or touching another student briefly? Brief, intermittent contact between students for short periods of time of less than 10 minutes are relatively low risk, although not recommended.  School staff will want to remind the student of the need to maintain 6 feet of physical distancing and provide the student with an opportunity to wash their hands after coming in contact with others.  Please refer to OSPI guidance for ideas on how to provide positive behavior interventions and supports for students, including explicit instruction and the use of social stories for students, supporting the physical distancing while in school buildings and transportation.

3. If a student is unable to wear or use PPE due to disability, could they still receive in-person educational services?  Generally speaking, from a health standpoint, during COVID-19, needed in-person educational services may be provided in a variety of ways, through the combination of use of PPE, physical distancing, and other strategies designed to decrease risk of spread, as included in the following document: https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/1600/coronavirus/HomeHealthAide_Guidance.pdf.  In making a design about accessing in-person services for a student with specific health care needs, consider including the school nurse and the student’s medical professional in the discussion.

The determination of whether a student receives educational services in-person, remote, or a combination of both is made by a local school district and includes consideration of the needs of the individual student.  Please see OSPI guidance for more information.

4. Is it safe for my child with disabilities to attend school?  The situation is evolving rapidly, and likely will need to be reassessed on an ongoing basis.  Consider information from the State and local DOH regarding risks, protective activities, and check with your health care provider regarding specific needs.

Safety Considerations for Special Education Services

These considerations were developed by OSPI and approved by the State DOH.

Staff Safety 

Reopening Washington schools for the 2020-2021 school year will employ new instructional models and a potential shift to more remote learning programming. This shift will require a strong commitment of systems to support educators and encourage a focus on student learning. Districts should be preparing for the 2020-2021 school year by considering the following:

• Itinerant staff travel to many different sites in a single day and come into contact with numerous staff and students, increasing the potential for exposure. Considerations may include virtual coaching of an on-site proxy if possible, in an effort to mitigate risk.
• Itinerant staff will need extra time to sanitize materials before and after visiting each different school and/or classroom. Considerations may include provision of additional materials that can remain on-site or with specific students, if possible, in an effort to mitigate risk. 
• Administering assessments and evaluations and holding IEP meetings may require staff and students to be in close contact with one another for short periods of time of less than 10-15 minutes. Consider use of clear barriers to provide additional protection and ensure that all involved wash hands afterwards. 
• Methods to think creatively about staffing and student support models. For example, it is likely that new roles will arise during the COVID-19 pandemic that contend with the need for more nurses, behavior technicians, mental health professionals, and staff who can specialize in diversified learning, technology, and curriculum design to make curriculum accessible in multiple formats simultaneously. ESSER funds could be leveraged to support flexible learning needs designed for a variety of learners.

Systems should also be identifying ways to support their staff to prevent burn out, promote wellness, and improve staff retention to:

• Determine what supports are available to promote staff wellness and prevent burn out, compassion fatigue, and secondary traumatic stress. Supports could include routine communication to staff members and modeling of healthy behaviors by leadership to encourage self-care and provide examples and avenues for wellness activities (e.g., wellness walks, movement breaks, saying no, accepting oneself and others and taking personal days to rest and reset) and community based resources to promote wellness.
• Assign high risk staff to roles that are remote in nature to support the ongoing remote learning efforts.

Individual examples of training could include:

• Training all staff, including educators, paraeducators, bus drivers, custodial and office staff on all safety protocols to prepare for transitioning back to the classroom with physical distancing and PPE requirements. Training around health and safety should be based on DOH and CDC guidance and should consider the following for both student and staff safety:
  • Differing requirements for PPE/Essential Protective Gear (EPG) for the differing populations of students with disabilities (e.g., for those students who may experience breathing difficulties, cannot independently remove cloth face coverings may need to read lips, and those requiring medical procedures, toileting, lifting and mobility assistance).
  • Training, equipment, and procedures needed to accommodate physical, behavioral and sensory disability barriers to temperature and other entry screening checks for students as well as potential disabilities of staff.

 Students’ Basic Needs and Student Safety

OSPI recognizes there are diverse learning environments that will require teams to use thoughtful strategies when applying guidance to meet the health and safety needs of all students and staff. Not all recommended practices will be possible in all settings, and therefore should be tailored as appropriate with the priorities given to student safety and ensuring equitable and appropriate access to learning for all students.

For schools to effectively prioritize the health and safety of students and staff, districts must establish robust instructional practices embedded in Tier 1 Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS)/Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) systems. Content can be designed by school nurses or other health professionals who can also provide staff training. Districts and schools may also consider documenting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other training completed by staff, including completion of CDC video training. Universal implementation includes steps such as: 

• All school staff including administrators, paraeducators and bus drivers should receive training, coaching and practice in health routines and positive behavior interventions and supports to support safe behaviors of students and staff
• School-wide expectations are identified to promote health and safety and communicated in a variety of formats that are accessible to students and families and translated into languages spoken/read by families in the school.
• School-wide reminders and positive reinforcement are provided. 
• Daily classroom content and instruction on health and safety practices is implemented and reinforced through visual and other formats: how/when to wash our hands, how to wear cloth face coverings to protect our friends and family members, why and how to stay six feet away from others, and how to stay healthy, etc. 
• Positive reinforcement is given for healthy behaviors, using behavior-specific praise and tangible rewards.
• Youth development is addressed--Peer helpers and leaders should be trained and paired to support school-wide health and safety practices.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Health Screenings

Consider the differing requirements of PPE for the differing populations of students with disabilities (e.g., for those requiring medical procedures, toileting, lifting and mobility assistance). Consider how the district will offer FAPE to students with disabilities who refuse or are not able to safely wear cloth face coverings and adopt policies that support students to engage in safe behavior, and do not stigmatize them. 

 Cloth face coverings can limit or obstruct access to instruction and classmates/peers for social interaction. 

• Cloth face coverings and greater distances between people may distort or reduce the volume of speech sounds. It can also make accessing and understanding facial expressions and American Sign Language (ASL) grammatical markers difficult. 
• Wearing cloth face coverings can be difficult for persons who use behind-the-ear hearing aids, cochlear implant processors, eye protection, glasses, helmets, head gear, or head/neck supports on a wheelchair/in standers. 
• Wearing cloth face coverings can create barriers for persons who have difficulty controlling their saliva.

Use professional judgment in tandem with DOH and CDC guidance to make student specific decisions around PPE. Cloth face coverings should not be worn by:

• Those with a disability that prevents them from comfortably wearing or removing a face covering.
• Those with certain respiratory conditions or trouble breathing.
• Those who are deaf or hard of hearing and use facial and mouth movements as part of communication.
• Those advised by a medical, legal, or behavioral health professional that wearing a face covering may pose a risk to that person. 

Students may use face shields as an alternative to a cloth face covering.

• Younger students must be supervised when wearing a cloth face covering or face shield and will need help putting them on, taking them off, and getting used to wearing them. 
• Ensure that staff are trained and required to use positive discipline approaches to encourage students to wear PPE.

Five positive behavior strategies to support students that struggle to wear PPE and/or comply with health screenings:

1. Let students choose their PPE.
2. Students often prefer equipment that they’ve chosen themselves – it gives them a sense of independence, individuality, and control.

2. Communicate with them in a positive and friendly tone; do not use fear or shame to attempt to gain compliance. 
   • If a student or family is unable to wear PPE due to a sizing problem, comfort/sensory reasons, or a religious or medical issue, address it with them by acknowledging that you recognize this is a cause of frustration. Let them know that you would like their input to identify alternate PPE.
3. Teach, practice, and reteach.
   • School-wide, classroom, and individualized lessons and practice on health and safety, and PPE specifically, can really help drive home how important wearing PPE is. Use visual content. Show images or videos relating to PPE, but be wary of material that is scaremongering and or/not culturally responsive. 
4. Show, Don’t Tell
   • Students cannot see why they should follow rules if educators and staff fail to follow them too. We contradict our stance on health and safety by implying PPE is inconsequential and we will lose the respect and trust of students.
5. Create systems and routines
   • Have a classroom entry routine that checks for proper PPE application. Put up a bulletin board or cubby in the classroom where students can keep extra PPE. On the board, encourage people to pin pictures of their family, friends, pets, or whatever motivates them to stay safe every day. Embed health and safety reminders into the day, such as certain points where educators and staff are checking for safety, physical distancing, and completing routine preventative healthcare. 

• Establish any necessary flexibilities for specific students with disabilities populations such as preschool-age, students with extensive support needs, behavioral challenges, etc.
• Ensure that staff are trained and required to use positive discipline approaches to encourage students to physically distance.
• Establish flexibilities and plan for how to implement physical distancing given lack of space and facility limitations, particularly for students who will struggle with maintaining physical distancing.
• Address potential issues arising from physical distancing rules that could result in unintended segregation of students with disabilities on campuses away from peers without disabilities.
• Plan for maintaining access to peers without disabilities and ensure that students remain in the least restrictive environment.
• Determine how the district will provide related services in instructional models while staying physically distant.

1. Discuss how district staff and providers will conduct assessments while practicing physical distancing in completing routine preventative health care. 

Nursing Services

• Determine adequate nursing staff to address the health and safety of all students on campus.
• Schedule the nurse to review IEPs of students with nursing services and assess identified students for emergent needs within the first 30 days of return to school.
• Provide training for frontline office staff in the absence of a nurse.
• Acquire adequate supplies for cleaning and hygiene.

Student Transportation/Transitions

As indicated in the Reopening Washington Schools 2020 District Planning Guide, the principles for COVID prevention within school transportation include:

• Maximize outside air and keep windows open as much as possible. 
• Encourage walking, biking, or being driven by caregivers as much as possible. For students who have transportation as a related service on their IEP, districts must provide transportation or reimburse parents who are able to provide it.
• Riders and staff members must wear a cloth face covering, to the extent possible.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces.
• Keep riders as far apart as possible on the bus.

Transportation considerations for students with disabilities

• Districts should continue to support coordination between special education and transportation departments, to ensure that transportation is able to support the district’s offer of FAPE and LRE under IDEA. 
• IEP teams should identify the availability of transportation equipment for all students that might need this in order to receive transportation. 
• IEP teams should partner with transportation offices to ensure that a protocol is established for frequent cleaning of transportation equipment. 

Student Transitions

When designing in-building student transitions as a part of scheduling, be sure to be aware of students with disabilities that would be adversely impacted by inequitable access to:

• Bathrooms.
• General education peers.
• School activities.
• Libraries, physical education, and outdoor enrichment activities.
• Staff will need to be prepared with adequate PPE to support the students  who require physical touch with adults to support their communication access and physical access to education (e.g., hand-under-hand support, use of tactile sign language, support for physical transitions in and out of equipment, personal care [toileting and feeding] and therapies).

Basic Needs and Student Safety Resources

• Washington DOH: K-12 Schools-Fall 2020-2021 Guidance
• CDC: Training and Information on Cloth Face Covers
• CDC: Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Facility
• WA DOH COVID-19 Communication Car
• CDC: Using PPE
• CDC: Stop the Spread of Germs Visual
• CDC: K-12 Schools and Childcare Programs, FAQ for Administrators, Teachers and Parent
• North Dakota Department of Public Instruction:
• COVID-19 Altered Face Mask Guidance