Students & Families

March 17, 2020

Dear Families of Students with Disabilities,

As Renton School District works to support our families and community during this exceptionally challenging time, we want to assure you that the needs of exceptional learners are being taken into consideration. The Federal Government and the State of Washington are currently developing guidance for the provision of special education services during school closures and changes to education models as a result of COVID-19. We are monitoring the development of guidance carefully and we are committed to partnering with you through frequent communication.

Currently, please note the following information was shared by Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI):

“Districts should also consider ways to use distance technology (e.g., Zoom, conference calls) to the extent possible to provide child find, hold initial and annual IEP meetings, and/or evaluation/eligibility meetings, if staff and parents are available but not able to attend in person. Continuing to complete IEP and evaluation/eligibility meetings will help decrease the workload when school resumes. If staff and/or parents are not available or believe their participation is impacted by the lack of an in-person meeting, districts should document the reason and complete the activity in a timely manner following the ending of school closures.”

Accordingly, our IEP and evaluation teams are in the process of setting up virtual meetings with families.  You may be contacted by staff to schedule a special education team meeting via phone or video conference. 

Your student’s individual needs are very important to the Renton School District team. We are not providing services to students during this closure. We plan to meet with IEP teams, including families, when school resumes to address student specific needs resulting from the closure. If you have questions or concerns about your student’s services at this time, please do not hesitate to contact our Special Education Department at 425-204-2280.

We will be providing ongoing communication to keep you informed as guidance is updated. 

As ever, we are appreciative of our Renton School District community and stand with you in support of your children during this very challenging time.

March 30, 2020

Families of Students with Disabilities,

Instruction in the form of virtual learning is being developed to support students and families during this closure.  This includes special education and related services, such as speech language therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy.

• Special education services and accommodations will be provided via virtual learning.
• Special education teachers and related services providers will collaborate with general education teachers and make all reasonable efforts to make virtual learning resources accessible to students with disabilities.
• Virtual instruction will not look the same as classroom instruction.
• Focus will be on progress toward IEP goals and providing access to the general education curriculum delivered.

Please see below resources to support virtual learning.  We will be providing updates and additional resources which can be found on this page as well as linked on the Students and Families page

Each school has in-home learning resources on their school webpage.  Special education teachers and related services providers (e.g. OTs, PTs, SLPs) are developing resources for these school pages as well.  Additionally, teachers and related service providers are available via email and video conferencing.

Please reach out to your student’s special education teacher or related service provider if you have questions about support for your student at home during the closure. 

Our educators, therapists, office support, and administrators are working virtually during normal school hours. 

The week of April 6-10 is spring break.  Staff will be unavailable during break.  Staff will return on Monday, April 13th with continued distance learning. 

Please reach out to your student’s general education teacher and special education team members via their district email with any questions.

If you have any questions you believe require district level assistance email special.education@rentonschools.us.  

 

 

 

If a resource is marked with this symbol, contact your child’s teacher. They can provide student log-ins and may have already provided lessons or access.
If a resource is marked with this symbol, please see page 3   for a visual guide to access Clever, the district’s portal for this app.

 

 

Resource	Dreambox	Grade Level / Content	K-8 Math
Description	Adaptive, engaging math games individualized to each student’s skill level
Availability	All SpEd students
Student log-in	Access via RSD Log-in > Clever app:  username@rentonstudent.us and their password

 

 

Resource	MyOn	Grade Level / Content	K-12 Reading
Description	Digital library (with audio in English and Spanish) with texts at students’   “just right” reading levels, both fiction and non-fiction
Availability	Contact your student’s teacher
Student log-in	Access via RSD Log-in > Clever app: username@rentonstudent.us and their password  (through Google Chrome or Firefox browsers ONLY)

 

 

 

Resource	Bridges Math Learning Center	Grade Level / Content	K-5 Math
url	https://www.mathlearningcenter.org/home-learning#Math%20at%20home
Description	General education and SpEd/intervention elementary math curriculum (except RIZ schools)  ·         Free printable resources for all grade levels  ·         FAQs for parents  ·         Math apps
Student log-in	No log-in needed!

 

 

 

Resource	Raz-kids  Headsprout	Grade Level / Content	K-5 Reading
url	https://www.raz-kids.com/  https://www.headsprout.com/
Description	·         eBooks, in both English and Spanish  ·         interactive online episodes to teach reading fundamentals and comprehension skills
Availability	Free trial for both with parent sign-up:  ·         Raz-kids  ·         Headsprout
Student log-in	Check with your student’s teacher for existing log-in  Create your own student’s log-in after setting up free trial

 

 

Resource	NewsELA	Grade Level / Content	All grades: Social Studies, Science, ELA
url	https://newsela.com/
Description	·         Thousands of real-world texts that feature diverse perspectives and people  ·         Texts published at 5 reading levels; up to 10 new texts added every day
Availability	Many (but not all) features are free
Student log-in	Elementary: RSD Log-in > Clever app username@rentonstudent.us and their password  Secondary: contact your student’s teacher  Toolkit for students

 

 

 

Resource	CASEL	Grade Level / Content	All levels; social/emotional/  behavioral supports
url	https://casel.org/covid-resources/
Description	Ideas and resources on anxiety management, family routines, feelings wheels, and   other activities at home
Student log-in	No log-in needed!

 

 

How to Access Clever    

STEP 1: Open a web browser on your device. 

STEP 2:  Visit www.rentonschools.us  

STEP 3: Click on RSD LOGIN PORTAL in the upper right corner of the page. 

 

 

 

STEP 4: Students login with their username@rentonstudent.us and their password. 

(Contact your student’s teacher if you need this information) 

 

 

STEP 5: Once logged in, your student can see all the learning apps available to them. 

STEP 6:Choose Clever to access Dreambox, MyOn, or NewsELA. 

                                       

Page Break 

Add-ons for Chromebooks or Google Chrome to support accessibility 

 

 

Google Read&Write:   

·         Text-to-speech to hear words, passages, or whole documents read aloud with easy-to-follow dual color highlighting  

·         Text and picture dictionaries to see the meaning of words explained  

·         Dictate words (with speech-to-text) to assist with writing, proofreading & studying  

·         Word prediction offers suggestions for the current or next word as you type  

·         Collect highlights from text in documents or the web for summarizing and research  

·         Create and listen to voice notes directly inside of Google Docs  

·         Simplify and summarize text on web pages to remove ads and other copy that can be distracting  

 

 

Google Read Aloud:   

·         Click a button and have a webpage article read aloud to you  

·         Supports 40+ languages 

·         Choose from many available male and female voices 

·         Set the pitch of the voice and the reading speed 

·         Supports PDF 

 

 

April 15, 2020

Dear Families,

Last week following the announcement of school closure through the end of the 2019-2020 school year, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) provided updated guidance to school districts regarding special education services.  OSPI provided to school districts a “Continuous Learning Plan” form for districts to use with all families of students with disabilities.  The Continuous Learning Plan is like a mini-IEP to guide staff and families during the closure of schools.  Special education staff will be contacting you in the next few days to develop this plan together.  Below are items for families to think about in helping to develop the Continuous Learning Plan.

• Anticipated needs given in-home learning
• Goals from the IEP to focus on
• Services from the IEP to be provided remotely
• Family needs and communication preferences
  • Needs: device(s), internet, materials, other
  • Type of communication:  email, phone, video
  • Time and day of communication: morning or afternoon
  • Frequency of communication:  weekly, every other week, monthly

To be as efficient as possible to quickly transition to implementation, your student’s IEP case manager will email you a draft plan for your review and input.  Email response to case manager:

1. No changes
2. Request changes
3. Request opportunity to discuss via phone or video conference

We have a quick turnaround with goal to have all Continuous Learning Plans completed by April 29^th.  If you have any questions about this process or plan for your student, please email your student’s IEP case manager.  If you have any questions you believe require district level assistance email Special Education

This message will also be available in Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

As a reminder, our Special Education In-home Learning page has the following resources in multiple languages:

• Family communications
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• Resources to support students and families

Please stay healthy and safe!