Laserfiche WebLink
Orozco, Norma <br />From: <br />Ontiveros, Cassandra <Cassandra.Ontiveros@SAUSD.US> <br />Sent: <br />Tuesday, July 07, 2020 4:00 PM <br />To: <br />eComment <br />Subject: <br />City Council Meeting Comment <br />Good afternoon, <br />I am a teacher in SAUSD and have witnessed the hardships of our students directly connected to internet access. Many <br />did NOT have internet, and thus were instantly denied of access to virtual learning which had many adverse affects on <br />notjust academic growth but skill acquisition and social, emotional, and behavioral development. If they did have <br />internet, the quality was not adequate to engage in our districts learning platforms. I HIGHLY recommend and ask as a <br />request that SAUSD or the city of Santa Ana find a way to provide free internet for all students of SAUSD. <br />In addition, our SAUSD special education population is being heavily, negatively affected by the school closure. In <br />addition to the internet barriers and challenges, they face DENIAL of accommodations and supports written in their IEP. <br />For instance, text -to -speech and read aloud are highly common accommodations that are needed. With virtual learning, <br />students DO NOT have access to these without direct phone or video contact with a special education teacher or staff. <br />The district needs to provide DISTRICT WIDE assistive technology that will audio read text across ALL online platforms. <br />Before the school closure, an additive technology evaluation had to be done by our only additive technology specialist <br />for the whole district. This is not feasible or possible to do for all of the students that need it, especially in this time of <br />virtual and distance instruction. The district NEEDS to provide this. <br />Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions. <br />With gratitude, <br />Cassandra Ontiveros. <br />Sent from my iPhone <br />