The 2020-21 school year will be unlike any other experienced by American schoolchildren and their teachers since the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918. Although the Spanish Flu gives us a glimpse of some lessons learned, when it comes to Special Education, we have no playbook to follow. As the school year gets underway, to help educators navigate these unprecedented times, we are publishing a series of ‘back-to-school’ blog posts featuring actionable insights and free resources developed by a team of special education subject matter experts (SMEs) at PCG.

This blog series is based on PCG’s recently-released Special Education Reentry Checklist and each post aligns to a core theme from that checklist: Health and Safety, IEPs and Instruction, Communication Planning, and Budget and Finance. The free Special Education Reentry Checklist is available here.

First up in the series is an article by special education SME Matthew Korobkin exploring how several new realities for the 2020-21 school year have created the need for districts to establish their own special education-focused steering committees. The COVID-19 Special Education Steering Committee will play a pivotal role in making policy decisions related to health and safety for students with disabilities in various school settings. Mr. Korobkin encourages districts to prioritize the creation of these steering committees to ensure multiple informed stakeholders are advising on local, specific, and targeted special education implementation. He then outlines the specific stakeholders who should comprise the committee, and why. Click the title below to read Mr. Korobkin’s full post, now available on the EDPlan blog.

The School Bell Rings: Basic Realities of the 20-21 School Year and the Need for a COVID-19 Special Education Steering Committee

About the Author

Matthew Korobkin, a Senior Advisor for Special Education Services based in Princeton, NJ, brings strategic planning expertise at the state and district levels in the areas of special education policy, compliance, operations, and instructional practice. Currently, Matthew focuses on supporting our national efforts in this field; performing special education program reviews as well as targeted reviews throughout the country; and working with other subject matter experts on thought leadership development.

Prior to joining PCG, Matthew was the Special Education Officer for Strategic Planning and Evaluation in the Office of the Secretary of Education at the Delaware Department of Education. As a direct report to the Secretary of Education, Matthew advised a legislated Special Education Oversight Group comprised of the Governor, Co-Chairs of the General Assembly’s Joint Finance Committee, and cabinet secretaries from the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Social Services, and the Department of Services for Children, Youth, and their Families.