Anne Arundel County schools have transitioned to online learning and will continue virtual classes in the fall, but some parents whose children have disabilities say it’s time for face-to-face instruction to resume.
Adam Wyndham is the parents of a little girl with Rett Syndrome and he has started an online petition demanding Anne Arundel County schools begin in person instruction to better support her, and other students with disabilities.
“These supports and services are very much an essential and critical service to our children,” Wyndham wrote on the petition’s webpage.
So far, his petition has just over 600 supporters.
His biggest concern is that students like his daughter can’t be supported virtually and may even regress when it comes to some skills.
A supporter of Wyndham’s petition said online that virtual learning has failed miserably for her son who has autism. Another parent commented, saying students with special needs are not able to keep up.
In a letter sent to parents with special needs students earlier this week, Superintendent George Arlotto said that virtual learning will continue in September, but the school system is exploring ways to make limited in-person learning happen.
That is starting with three special needs centers, Arlotto said, and will expand from there. He also said “the experiences we offer students will be far more robust than they were in the spring.”
But Wyndham is now urging Dr. Karen Salmon, the state superintendent of Maryland schools, to “provide more specific directives to the school districts like the directive she issued to close schools,” he stated online.
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