Why we need learning options

Special Ed on Special Ed

Going back to school in person shouldn’t be a choice between a family member and an education. But for some families, it is just that. For children living with immunocompromised family members, going back in person really isn’t a choice at all. It’s not even one of the options.

This episode isn’t about special ed, it’s about education and why we need learning options for children who can’t attend school in person, disability or not.

Today I talk with Dr. Marney White, both a professor at Yale School of Public Health and parent to an elementary school child who can’t go back in person. While her district provided an outstanding remote program during the COVID pandemic (yes, there are a few schools out there who rocked it), they are refusing any kind of instruction for her child next year even though his in-person attendance could kill his mother. Not a fair burden to put on a 5th grader. Because the State won’t mandate a remote option, schools are refusing to offer it.

Special education attorney Andy Feinstein also joins us to discuss the legal components of this discrimination issue and how he is helping Dr. White get her child the free public education to which he is entitled.

We discuss why it is NOT a choice to go back, why schools are refusing to help, and what other families in this situation should do.

You can find Dr. Marney White in the Facebook group CT Families in Need of Remote Learning:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/connecticutremote

You can find Attorney Andy Feinstein at The Feinstein Education Law Group:

https://www.attorneyfeinstein.com/

You can find me at [e-mail]

Thanks for tuning in!

Transcripts for this episode will be available on SpecialEd.fm shortly after publication.