This message was sent to all parents/guardians of students with IEP/504 plans on April 6.
Dear Parents/Guardians of Students with IEP/504 Plans,
As you are aware, Governor Pritzker issued executive orders closing all public and private schools in Illinois. In an effort to provide continuous learning opportunities for our students, including students eligible for special education, related services and 504 supports, the district is implementing remote learning, including educational, social, emotional, behavioral, and related services, through virtual opportunities where possible, during this time.
Currently, your child participates in various direct and group instruction lessons led by district staff members (potentially with a special education teacher, social worker, speech and language pathologist, etc.) throughout a typical school day. Your child’s case manager and applicable service providers will be contacting you this week to discuss a specific remote learning plan to continue to support your child’s unique learning needs and to gather your feedback and input on the plan. As a part of our remote learning plan, the district will be using various platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, Flip Grid, and/or See Saw.
We want to make you aware that the use of remote learning platforms carries potential privacy risks for student record information. Specifically, the remote meeting platform may maintain, utilize, or disclose student information for its own purposes in line with its terms of service. Additionally, if services are provided in a group setting on an electronic platform, your student and other students and families will have the capability to see our staff members and each other. If you are uncomfortable proceeding with the use of these tools, please make your child’s case manager or service provider aware so that they can work with you to develop other avenues of support.
On your end, we request that if your child is participating in a group instruction session, please do your best to ensure your student is in a private location and that his or her device is not visible to others. Our staff, who are also working from home, will be doing the same. We note recording of these virtual special education and related service sessions is prohibited. Additionally, your child should not copy, reproduce, display, or distribute any recordings involving other students or staff.
This is a significant change for all of us and as we adjust to remote instruction we recognize that our partnership, focused on student learning and support, will help to make this time meaningful and beneficial for our students.
If you should have any concerns regarding your child’s participation in these learning opportunities, including concerns regarding your child’s remote learning plan, please contact me directly for support.
Thank you for your partnership and patience as we work together to support our children during this challenging time.
Sincerely,
Jessica Stewart
Assistant Superintendent for Special Services
jstewart@dg58.org
(630)719-5823