
 
        
         
		Special ed services given green  
 light, but service providers wary 
 BY BEN VERDE 
 An executive order signed  
 on June 5  by Gov. Andrew  
 Cuomo authorizes special education  
 services statewide to  
 resume for the summer term  
 starting the fi rst week of July  
 — but New York City service  
 providers say they’re still a  
 long  way  from  business  as  
 usual. 
 “Right now I don’t think it’s  
 going to make any difference  
 to us in the near future,” said  
 Joe Riley, CEO of the Guild for  
 Exceptional Children, which  
 operates  programs  for  children  
 with developmental disabilities  
 in Bay Ridge. “I don’t  
 think we’re ready to do that.” 
 It’s  unlikely  city  services  
 will  be  operating  in  person  
 this  summer  out  of  an  abundance  
 of caution and transportation  
 concerns, according  
 to Riley, who said the Guild  
 has permission from the state  
 Department  of  Education  to  
 continue  virtual  learning  
 through the summer — and  
 they plan on utilizing it. 
  
 COURIER L 24     IFE, JUNE 12-18, 2020 
 The biggest problem posed  
 by  a  return  to  in-person  
 school this summer would lie  
 in transportation, Riley said.  
 As  they  currently  exist,  the  
 school buses the Guild uses  
 would not allow for adequate  
 social distancing of the students. 
  The school bus companies  
 that  contract  with  the  
 state DOE would have to reach  
 an agreement with the state regarding  
 their reimbursement  
 and the steps the bus companies  
 would need to put in place  
 to safely transport students,  
 according to Riley. 
 “I don’t think all of that has  
 been worked out,” he said.  
 But the head of the Guild  
 said he has hope that the kinks  
 will be worked out by September, 
  leaving open the possibility  
 of in-person school come  
 the fall semester. 
 Families  of  children  with  
 special needs have been  
 thrown for a loop under remote  
 learning, with some students  
 adjusting to the changes  
 and others still struggling to  
 adapt. The sudden, often unexplainable, 
  break from routine,  
 has  proved  diffi cult  for many  
 children with developmental  
 disabilities — especially those  
 who typically receive services  
 like  Applied  Behavior  Analysis  
 education, a learning  
 model which emphasizes repetition. 
 The only situation Riley  
 said he could see working  
 for this summer would be if  
 all  students  were  able  to  be  
 dropped off by their families  
 in the morning and picked up  
 by the end of the day. But in  
 that case, schools would have  
 to put their own precautions  
 in place, such as regular temperature  
 checks  that  would  
 require any child with a high  
 temperature to be isolated until  
 they can be picked up. 
 “My best hope  is  that  that  
 will  be  worked  out  by  September,” 
  Riley said. “By then  
 I think a lot of parents will  
 be  hoping  that  their  children  
 with special needs can be  
 served in a school.  
 Gov.  Andrew  Cuomo  issued  an  executive  order  on  June  5  that  says  
 in-person  special  edcation  programs  statewide  can  resume  in  early  
 July,  but  city  service  providers  are  not  so  sure  that’s  plausible. 
   Mike Groll/Offi ce of Governor Andrew Cyomol