Special Education Students impacted by Stay-at-Home order.

MONTEREY, Calif. (KION)

The stay-at-home order has been especially challenging for families of kids with special needs.

Monterey Peninsula Unified School District's Special Education Director Katie Rivera says she was "in shock" after hearing the news that schools would remain closed for the rest of the year.

Classrooms are turning to virtual lessons and online courses to finish off the school year but, families of preschool and special education students know their children need a different set of educational services.

"We don't want a 4-year-old
sitting in front of a computer for five hours and calling that an education," says MPUSD Superintendent, PK Diffenbaugh.

Katie Rivera, MPUSD Special Education Director, is a mother herself and says she can relate to educating her children while dealing with the epidemic crisis.

One of the school's concerns is that being out of school for an extended period of time could cause regression in the students' academic development.

Monterey Schools are planning to reassess the abilities of the students to determine whether they need to repeat some learning or are able to move to the next level.

"Whenever school reopens, we're going to take another snapshot in time, how far off that baseline point are we, if there's compensatory services that need to be made up, we can plan for that and we know what that recapturing of skills needs to look like for us," says Rivera.

The schools will be sending out bins for general ed and special ed preschoolers and kindergartners that will include books and other hands-on activities that target their educational needs.

Teachers will continue check-ins to address any resources students and their families may need.

Anyone in need of resources is encouraged to reach out to school staff or visit mpusd.net.