Parents, clients, potential clients and professional colleagues have been contacting us with lots of questions and also asking for advice in making decisions about what to do with their children’s education come fall. Surveys have been sent out throughout districts statewide asking parents to select from a set of options. It is extremely important that parents and teachers fill out and submit these surveys so that school districts can properly plan for ALL students. Education Commissioner, Richard Corcoran ordered that all Florida public schools must reopen their campuses in August and offer five days a week of brick and mortar education as an option. This DOES NOT mean that all students will have no other option through the public school system but to go to brick and mortar school five days a week. Most districts throughout the state of Florida have already issued Reopening Plans that include the following options,
AND- if those are not enough options for parents, here are others to think about,
School choice, in general but even more so now, is an extremely personal decision for each parent to make and obviously each parent goes into that decision making process with their own set of considerations. Even before the virus, we had parents that chose home education for a whole host of reasons, including nutrition and religion. So to make a judgement is not appropriate, but we all obviously can have our opinion and can share our opinion without fear of being persecuted- I think we should be able to do that at least.
Fortunately, we are the parents of our own kids, so we make our own final call. There is a lot of complaining going on amongst teachers and parents alike about the reopening plans proposed. I, on the other hand, feel that we are lucky to have so many choices and that parents can exercise those choices. NOT every state or country has the options that we do. Consider that we are one of only three states that has a comparable program to the McKay Scholarship fund to begin with. Each choice comes with considerations individual to the student and family. Please realize that if you leave the Public School system and re-enter, the same IEP you left with will be in effect when you return. IEP’s DO NOT expire or terminate, contrary to what many schools misinform parents. The team would need to meet within thirty days of re-enrollment and follow the most recent IEP in the interim.
I believe children are paying a great price socially, emotionally, academically and communication wise – and for some students the impact of that is greater than others. We need to be respectful of each others choices and make ours based on careful consideration and our own gut instincts as parents. AS an advocate, parents are texting and calling me asking me what they should do. That is not my place. I can only share what I am doing (happy to if you contact me directly) and also help parents navigate ALL of the options available to them. I know that parents will make the right choice for their family and their unique set of circumstances so long as they have the information to do so.
Please contact us if you need more information about school choice in general, as well as school choice options in light of the pandemic. We are offering reduced fee, single session consultations all summer in an effort to help ALL parents.
Please email info@myeducationalsolutions with any questions and feel free to comment below.
My Educational Solutions exists to guide children with learning disabilities with individualized education plans from preK-12th grade. We excel in helping children with special needs achieve their full potential, both academically and behaviorally.
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