Disabled students access facilities, curriculum with accomodations

By Riya Vyas

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a federal law that prevents schools and other state agencies from discriminating against and denying benefits to people with disabilities, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. As a result, schools provide various accommodations to ensure that all students, including those with physical and learning disabilities, are able to access the same curriculum as abled and neurotypical students.

Students that require accommodations can be on either 504 plans or individualized education plans (IEPs), MUSD Executive Director of Inclusive Services for All Learners Mary Jude Doerpinghaus said. An IEP, in addition to providing access, ensures students can have educational benefits and includes services such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, and interventions, Doerpinghaus said.

“Accommodations don’t alter what’s being taught,” Doerpinghaus said. “They alter the environment, or a format, or provide equipment or additional support that allow individuals with disabilities to gain access to the content or to complete a task.”

Teachers district-wide receive students’ IEPs at the beginning of each school year, and students’ case managers are responsible for making sure teachers know the accommodations those students need, Doerpinghaus said.

“There are some folks who have a hearing loss where they can benefit from something like an FM (frequency modulation) system, where the room might have speakers that amplify the speaker’s voice,” Doerpinghaus said. “If they are perhaps deaf or have a permanent loss, the teacher could speak into that that lapel microphone, but it might go directly to their hearing aid.”

Students who have visual impairments might work on learning braille at school with vision specialists, Hutchison said.

“If you have somebody who’s blind, instead of having to read using braille, they could also have things audio taped for them. They could have notes electronically formatted,” Doerpinghaus said.

Some students have powered wheelchairs to help them navigate the hilly MHS campus, but those that cannot operate the wheelchair themselves will have an adult pushing the wheelchair for them, occupational therapist Priti Shukla said. The role of occupational therapists is to help students access their academic programs through modifications, accommodations, and adaptations, Shukla said. To provide classroom accessibility for students who use wheelchairs, the school district provides adjustable tables and other assistive devices, she added.

“They may need an assistive device, like a universal cuff, if they’re not able to hold a pencil or a pen,” Shukla said. “It’s a device that you put on your hand, and it holds a pencil so you’re able to hold it.”

Senior Don Jose Navarro, who has autism, gets extra time on assignments and has a team of people who can help him with his work, he said. He finds it easy to navigate the MHS campus because he has been here for four years, Navarro said.

“All of my friends, classmates, and teachers have supported me,” Navarro said.

Shukla works with students to make sure they feel like they belong and are able to participate in school activities, she said. Physical education activities can be adapted so that students with physical disabilities can participate, she explained.

To promote a greater sense of belonging on campus, a center or a designated place where students with disabilities could meet each other could help, Navarro said.

“It’s really tough for someone like me to make friends, or for people to want to reach out,” Navarro said. “I’d suggest a place where people can meet with people that have the same disability.”

School cooks up balanced, diverse lunch menu

By Adrian Pamintuan

In spite of the long lines and the overall stereotype that school lunch is poorly received, a school survey conducted by The Union found that 58%, of the 148 student respondents expressed positive feelings towards the items on the brunch and lunch menu. The development and maintenance of such a menu, intended to serve a little over 3000 students, is a lengthy process, MUSD Director of Student Nutrition Services Sandy Huynh said in an email.

“Our meals must meet the federal meal pattern and nutrition guideline, and they are grade-level specific,” Huynh said. “Each of our meals must offer whole grains, lean protein, fruit, vegeta bles, and milk while meeting the specifications for calories, sodi um, and fat.”

While the develop ment process for the lunch menu is largely handled at the ad ministra tive level, on the field interaction with students are handled by the cafeteria work ers. Whether it’s preparing or plating the food, restocking ingredients, or monitoring the ID lines, these essential service workers have firsthand experience with student attitudes towards the menu. Certain items have become student favorites over time. However the main struggle is encouraging students to take a complete meal, Student Nutrition Services (SNS) Senior One Patricia Yount said.

“We don’t want to nag them or make them feel like they have to, but they really do have to take a complete meal,” Yount said. “You know, they have to have a fruit, they have to have a vege table.”

Though student resis tance to complete lunch meals is ongoing, MHS Student Nutrition Ser vices branch lead Caterina Lapena said that there are consistent efforts to diversify the menu to cater to a variety of stu-

“Just recently we were doing Indian food, so that’s something new,” LapeHowever, the process of adding new menu items is tedious due to compliance regulations from both the federal and state government that the school district must follow, Huynh said.

“We constantly are searching for new, compliant products; reviewing historical data; solicit- they will be placed in a Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE) class, so they must be ready to read and compose easy and small essays, she added. At the end of the day, the students’ biggest challenge is communicating and connecting with people outside the program, Huddleston said.

“I think it’s very hard to make friends outside of the ELD classes for them,” Huddleston said. “They are kind of limited by who they can communicate with, and navigation of the whole high school experience is a lot more challenging for them. We have to keep an eye on them. Are they able to advocate for themselves if they’re in the wrong class, or if a teacher is being unfair to them?”