Bayes students adjust to uncertain times

Apr. 19--The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly caused much confusion and frustration for those in education, but for a local residential school for special needs students, things have stayed relatively normal.

Bayes Achievement Center has provided an environment of learning and camaraderie for students with certain behavior difficulties and disorders, including autism, emotional and behavioral disorders and intellectual disabilities. Students range in age from 6-22, with many living in the facility's eight residential homes with teacher parents providing instruction 24/7.

"Our special education teachers, counselors and various related service providers have continued to provide services and education through online platforms, tele-health platforms, phone calling and video calling and hard copy assignments/textbooks," BAC executive director Daniel Bayes said. "Because of our current 1:2 or 1:3 staff to student ratio in our residential homes, our teaching parents who work and live in the residential homes with our students have been doing an excellent job of facilitating the educational and behavioral programming for our students with the support of our teachers remotely."

As a Texas Education Agency-approved non-public school and residential program, Bayes must abide by many of the same TEA rulings that public schools are having to follow during the time of COVID-19 precautions. Because of the rulings to combat the spread of the virus, the day-school part of the facility was also closed, but many residential students are receiving education and behavioral services at the residential campus. Due to the residential students, Bayes has applied several recommendations and precautions to prevent the spread of the virus and ensure social distancing.

"We have over 200 employees, with around 120 of those currently working from home for social distancing purposes," Bayes said. "The remaining staff mostly consist of our Teaching Parents who are our direct care staff responsible for caring for and providing supervision for our students 24/7. In order to reduce the frequency in which these staff come and go from our facility we have arranged for them to work in two alternating 96-hour shifts. In this way, staff are only coming and going every 4 days which greatly reduces the opportunity for outside exposure."

These precautions have been effective, as there have been no cases of COVID-19 among staff or students. However, because of the communal nature of the program, the facility has kept a supply of N-95 masks, head shields, latex gloves, goggles, and medical gowns.

"We have a dedicated COVID-19 contingency task force who have made plans and identified locations for quarantining if needed around our school and residential campus," Bayes added. "On our school/administration campus, because we still have a skeletal crew of staff working daily, we have a nightly cleaning crew that has been vigilantly ensuring our school campus and offices remain clean."

Americans have struggled to adjust to the new normal of working from home and refraining from intermingling in public. However, according to Bayes, the lifestyle around the facility has remained relatively normal and upbeat.

"From the beginning our staff have done a great job of keeping spirits and morale high among our students in spite of the limitations," Bayes said. "Our residential campus has a fishing pond, outdoor sports court, playground, petting zoo and walking areas. With the beautiful weather we've been having, the staff and kids have been getting outdoors daily and enjoying these activities as well as their daily P.E. classes, which are being done house by house and outside as well. While it's important for our students to get out, we have been careful not to have any combination of our homes or intermixing from house to house to ensure social distancing.

"I couldn't be prouder of how our staff have stepped up to keep our students safe, while at the same time keeping them happy and engaged. It's in times like this that these exceptional individuals really shine."

Despite being isolated and adjusting the limitations of the pandemic, Bayes students were still able to celebrate Easter with an egg hunt on Sunday. The students are able to continue a relatively normal schedule and work around the facility, while continuing to learn and grow, despite any mental or physical challenges they faced before the virus.

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