Students in the special education and vocational programs at Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services will return to school this year along with their peers in other public schools.
"I think it's actually vitally important to get all students back into the classroom, but in particular, special education students need therapies or hands-on learning or the kind of learning that is difficult for the students to do independently on their own at home or guiding the parent through assisting," said Julie Lutz, chief operating officer of Eastern Suffolk BOCES. "The same thing goes for career and technical education. It is project-based learning, so certainly some of that instruction can happen virtually . . . but our shops are designed to be industry-standard shops. So doing all of the skills at home is not the same as working industry-standard equipment. It's really important to get the robustness and rigor of the program."
Eastern Suffolk BOCES is planning for the "full return to in-person instruction for our kindergarten-through-12th programs, inclusive of special education and career and technical education."
According to the plan, if a disability prevents a student from being able to wear a mask, that student will not be forced to do so.
Lunches for full-time students will take place in the classrooms, just as in many of the school districts. Part-time students, such as vocational students who attend half a school day in their home districts, will have meals in their home districts.
Ms. Lutz said that one of the key takeaways from springtime distance learning last school year was the need for consistent connectivity. This year, she said, classroom instruction will incorporate many of the remote and hybrid methods and tools, so that if a change to fully remote learning is to take place at some point, students will already have familiarity with the system.
Eastern Suffolk BOCES was able to do a test run of in-person programs during the summer, as many special education students attend school year round.
"We did an excellent job this summer of having staff and students follow our protocols," Ms. Lutz said. "It was an amazing opportunity to implement that on a smaller scale and work out any kinks, and get feedback from the staff over the course of the summer program. What was working well? What do they wish they knew before they came? I think one of our biggest challenges is making sure that people continue to follow those safety protocols with integrity."