SLC WILL USE GRANT FUNDS TO SECURE COMPENSATORY EDUCATION FOR STUDENTS IMPACTED BY THE PANDEMIC

Southern Legal Counsel was awarded grants from The Florida Bar Foundation and the Dharma Foundation, part of which will be used to conduct outreach and represent low-income students with disabilities who have experienced regression due to problems with remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As school resumes this fall, SLC will seek compensatory education services for those students whose school systems failed to provide an appropriate education over the previous school year.

“These are services in addition to what is provided in the Individualized Education Program, or IEP, that are designed to put a student in the place they would have been, had the student not been deprived of special education and related services,” said SLC Executive Director Jodi Siegel. “The U.S. Department of Education has made clear that the loss of special education services due to a COVID-19-forced school closure entitles students to compensatory education.”

Many low-income students had problems with access to remote education because the schools did not sufficiently support distance learning during the pandemic. Meanwhile, an increase in homelessness made remote learning difficult for many children in Florida and across the country.

“Other students lacked the individualized services and therapies they had in school, which caused them to not be able to attend and focus on learning,” SLC noted in its grant application. “Still others needed behavioral or mental health services to address their disabilities or deal with the effects of COVID.”

As school IEP teams determine students’ progress or regression, SLC will advocate with schools and school districts to address the negative effects of COVID and the resulting forced school closures.

“We also will continue to recruit, train, and co-counsel with pro bono attorneys to expand our coverage of representation in special education cases,” Siegel said.