At the most recent Commission on Disability (COD) meeting, members and participants expressed concern about the future of disability inclusion and awareness programming in Newton Public Schools (NPS).
- The Commission members expressed strong feelings that the voices of people with disabilities in support of Understanding Our Differences (UOD) were not being heard by NPS.
- Commission members also said that NPS appears to have no plan for disability awareness education other than “putting UOD out,” and is concerned that NPS lacks the in-house expertise to teach about disabilities.
During the FY2024 Budget discussions, a decision was made to cut funding for the UOD program line item. The decision was initially attributed to the failure of the override and a tightening of the school budget. However, the reasons to eliminate the program from the schools do not appear to be solely financial.
In early April, some supporters of the UOD Program, following up on a recommendation by Interim Superintendent Kathy Smith, asked Mayor Fuller to convene a task force consisting of educators, representatives of UOD and the Newton Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC), and outside experts while continuing the program. In response, the Mayor said she does not convene task forces on NPS curricula and said “Educators at NPS have concerns about the curriculum and pedagogy of the UOD program, and want to bring this important work “in-house,” regardless of financial considerations,” and added that she would bring the request to form a task force to the Interim Superintendent.
At the April 12 School Committee meeting, parents and students, including people with disabilities, testified in support of the UOD program. The COD also submitted a letter in support of the program and requested it be continued. To date, over 2,000 people have signed a petition requesting the reinstatement of funding for the UOD program. Ward 6 School Committee member Paul Levy said, “We have seldom seen such an outpouring of support for a program from current and past parents and students. Many told us that UOD made a life-changing difference in their perspectives about disabilities. There has yet to be a public statement from the administration of any major deficiencies in the program, and UOD has offered to raise private funds to match the allocation in the approved budget. Curriculum decisions, though, are for the Superintendent, not the School Committee, to make.”
During the City Council’s budget review, Councilor Brenda Noel submitted a resolution to require that the restored funding be used to continue UOD quality inclusion programming for Newton students (see Fig City News article). In her response, Interim Superintendent Kathy Smith said, “The Newton Public Schools will sustain curriculum work currently in progress to support disability awareness … despite the budget shortfall and resulting reductions” and said that NPS will “explore other options for valuable supplemental experiences for our students that will enhance their understanding and awareness, including conversations with external vendors/service providers.” Noel and other Councilors expressed their disappointment with the response. Although the budget resolution passed unanimously on a voice vote in the Committee of the Whole, the resolution was not adopted by the Administration.
On May 26, representatives of the SEPAC — Josh Goldstein and Jessi Champion — met with NPS administrators — Casey Ngo-Miller, Assistant Superintendent for Student Services, Maura Tynes, Director of Elementary Special Education, and Melissa Gamble, Director of Secondary Special Education and Special Programs — specifically to discuss a lack of transparency regarding the cut in funding for the UOD Program (initial cut of $64,000 and then restoration of $32,000) and the future of Disability Inclusion Programming in NPS. In addition, they reminded NPS administrators of the overwhelming community support to use the $32,000 for UOD programming and their intent to organize a community meeting with incoming Superintendent Anna Nolin.
In response, Student Services explained that they met with UOD leadership after concerns were raised by the SEPAC Board, NPS teachers, and NPS parents. They reviewed materials provided to them on the Autism Unit and were concerned with the “portrayal of autism, and potential stigmatization, and exclusion and also received concerns about the intellectual disabilities unit.” They reported that they reviewed additional materials made available by UOD in March, met with the Interim Superintendent, the Mayor, and UOD, and attended classroom presentations. They said that they will have a discussion with the Central Administration about providing more detailed public messaging regarding the reasons for cutting the program and said that “NPS wants to develop in-house modules and programming geared towards improving disability inclusion/belonging that could be embedded in the classroom. Modules are being developed with teachers and SEL staff that will include speakers with disabilities as well as embedded learning units.”
In response to the response, UOD representatives believe that the meeting minutes contain inaccurate statements, stating, “Our records clearly show that NPS undertook the most cursory assessment of UOD, hardly looking at our materials online and never viewing a program in the classroom until the day before the budget cut was final. They reported vague concerns from a handful of teachers and parents about only two of our 10 total topics, but when asked, never provided any details that were actionable by UOD. We are very proud of our curriculum, which is developed and frequently reviewed by our staff and teams of experts, including by people with disabilities. We remain mystified and outraged — as do many Newton residents with disabilities and their families — by the inexplicable decision by NPS to cut UOD.”
After some discussion with community members and representatives of UOD about the program cut and a review of the most recent SEPAC meeting, Commissioners continued to express disappointment that the voices of people with disabilities in support of UOD were not being heard by NPS. Commissioners were in agreement that NPS appears to have no plan for disability awareness education and is concerned that NPS lacks the in-house expertise to provide disability inclusion and awareness programming.
