Avon Grove special-education team presents classroom emergency plans and national conference takeaways

Rachel and Taylor, special‑education teachers representing the district, described steps the district is taking to tailor emergency planning for students with complex needs and to share those practices beyond their classrooms.

Rachel said the PaTTAN conference prompted the team to create classroom plans and individualized emergency protocols — for example, including noise‑canceling headphones, social stories and visual prompts for students who experience sensory overload during alarms, and expanding classroom 'go-bags' to contain sensory supports, clothing and food.

“We created some new materials for our classrooms including classroom plans specifically for hours… individualized student plans, staff training plans,” Rachel said. She and Taylor said they want those protocols incorporated into special-education manuals so other district teachers can use them.

Administrators and special‑education leaders also reported presenting district tools at CASE, including an internal query agent ('Scorcher') and a consolidated CVI procedures manual intended to reduce teacher time spent searching for IEP and procedural documents.

Dr. Robbins (presenting highlights from CASE) said the district is “at the forefront of so many things in special education” and that national sessions affirmed the district’s direction while suggesting areas for growth, including training to fade adult supports and to increase student independence.

Next steps include district-wide adoption of specific low‑incidence protocols, pursuing grants to scale go-bag supplies, and discussions about sharing the presenters’ training within the district.