Whether you’re a seasoned parent who has a child receiving special education services through
Midland Public Schools (MPS) or someone who needs to know where to get started, you will have questions along the way, and we’re going to help steer you in the right direction to get answers.
Catalyst Midland had the privilege of sitting down with MPS Special Education Director Anthony Gates and Superintendent Penny Miller-Nelson to talk about what is being offered in Midland and how to access it.
If a parent is concerned that their child needs an evaluation or thinks their child needs special services, where do they start with Midland Public Schools?
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Anthony GatesAnthony Gates: There are two roads for special education: one through parent request triggering a REED, and the other within the school system for student concerns.
When a parent has a concern, we always encourage them to connect with the classroom teacher first. The next step would be reaching out to the building administration so that they can make the Special Education team aware.
From that request, we have 10 school days to open and complete a REED, which is a review of all the existing evaluation data from the student. Then, we sit down with that parent and have a meeting where we talk about the data reviewed, conversations we've had with classroom teachers and parent feedback.
We then present our recommendations for the next steps. Parents come to us with concerns about emotional regulation, speech or specific behaviors, so, that meeting and process gives us the opportunity to say to the parent, “Based on all the data that we're gathering, we really think maybe there are other opportunities for some interventions or things that we could potentially be looking at.”
As a school team, we have been working hard to establish a clear process for
identifying students who may have a disability and ensuring that we meet their needs. This is part of our obligation for
Child Find.
Then we have the Student Success Team where we can identify students that may not need special education, but some accommodations and support. They will try six to eight-week interventions, collect data on what's been successful, what is maybe working, what's not working. If the accommodations are not working as the team had hoped, a full special education evaluation will be performed, and the parent will be asked to participate.
What we all want is to help all students to be successful and making sure that they have what they need to access that curriculum in a particular educational environment, just as their typically developing peers. I want to make sure that as a special education team, we're putting supports in place for that exceptional learner to be successful.
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Penny Miller-NelsonMiller-Nelson: We want every student to be successful. The School Success Team process is solution-based, not a barrier. It's intended to be a shared problem-solving support mechanism.
We know our legal obligation and we also have enough experience and knowledge on our team to recognize when we need to go immediately to that step and not use this process.
I'm really proud of the people we have doing this work. We have amazing teachers in our district.
There are times where they have tried all the strategies and approaches that they know, and then when they can connect with a team to just think through a little more. Sometimes the ideas that come from that are exactly what that kid needs. Then, we're back on the right trajectory.
What if a child is not yet school-aged? Are there evaluations and programs in place for younger kids?
Gates: That is where our collaboration with the
Midland County Educational Service Agency comes into play. ESA is our resource within the county and community that supports all our Early On programs for children aged birth through three years old.
ESA provides opportunities to develop and implement Individual Family Service Plans. The ESA collaborates and coordinates with those families to have things like speech services delivered, either in a neutral location or even in their home and to meet additional needs.
The Midland County ESA and MPS work together, supporting students from birth to twenty-six years of age. MPS houses ESA programs in their buildings, promoting an inclusive environment for typical and atypical students. This collaboration allows all students to receive a well-rounded education focusing on inclusivity, understanding, and empathy.
What is the difference between a 504 Plan and an Individualized Education Plan (IEP)?
Gates: The 504 Plan is governed by the Americans with Disabilities Act and the IEP is governed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. However, within those legal documents and regulations, there are different stipulations and expectations.
I like to think of it as a tiered system. Typically, we look at students who need accommodations based on a related disability. It could be a medical diagnosis or outside therapy, but there's some type of identified need that is impacting how they're accessing the educational environment. So, we have an impact and we need to provide an accommodation that allows the student to be fully included in the educational environment.
We have students where accommodations may not be enough, and there is a need for some specialized instruction. That's when we look at possibly needing an IEP and an IEP is built on two main pillars.
The first pillar is that you must meet eligibility per the state of Michigan's criteria set forth by the
Michigan Administrative Rules for Special Education. The second one is need.
There are scenarios where you meet the criteria, but maybe there's not a need for specialized instruction, and it can be met through accommodations. That's where a 504 Plan is more appropriate.
Students who meet specific criteria and require specialized instruction will receive services such as speech therapy, social work, co-taught classes, or resource room classes. These students will have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) in place, which should be reviewed annually. 504 Plans offer more flexibility in the process compared to IEPs. With a 504 Plan, there's no case manager as with an IEP. An IEP requires specialized instruction and support from a special education teacher, while a 504 Plan has coordinators.
Does Midland Public Schools handle special education differently than other districts?
Gates: The law is very clear on how all districts should manage special education. I take a lot of pride in our district and what we do. We continue to be a place where families and people outside of the district look and we continue to do good things.
We continue to be a destination district for families because of the things that we've done and the history and the body of the work that we have put in place. What I would say that we do exceptionally well is hiring and having staff that really care about our students and families.
We have a very supportive community, board, and leadership team with Penny and the other superintendents who are supporting Special Education. They make sure we have the resources we need in the programs and district to be very independent.
We offer services for students with emotional and cognitive challenges, learning differences, and assistance from social workers, speech therapists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists.. That is not something that you would see always across the state in terms of how a local district might operate.
Because we can provide a lot of those things in house, we can raise the bar in terms of what that delivery looks like. In a lot of ways, we can go above and beyond and excel beyond what others might provide because we are so fortunate to have access to the resources that we do.
Miller-Nelson: I wouldn't say we're an outlier. I think educators express a lot of care for kids. One thing that I think we do well is we navigate this interesting dynamic of being highly collaborative with parents and families and students while also holding high expectations for everyone involved, especially the kid.
We want all our students to achieve their fullest potential. We must work hard to be compassionate, and empathetic, while also coming alongside them in this process and helping them understand that we really all want the best for the child and how we get there is a kind of tough spot, right?
What does that look like, and at what points and when do we make adjustments? We do not look for that to be an adversarial relationship. We want it to be highly collaborative and mutually beneficial and I'm proud of our staff because they can lean into those tough conversations.
Gates wants families to know that Midland Public Schools should be your hub for special education and resources. The team helping the child can make community connections and help set families up with support outside of school.
To access special education for a school-aged child, start with their teacher and school administrator. For children younger than school-aged, contact Early On through the
Midland County ESA.