Mary Byrne
Each day, Annette Rockwell’s 12-year-old son spends 90 minutes on a bus commuting to and from John Glenn Middle School in Bedford, where he spends his day in an educational collaborative that delivers special education services to participating districts.
There’s no after-school care, and because he isn’t into athletics, he has few opportunities to connect with peers outside of the classroom.
“It’s a long day,” Rockwell said. “He’s exhausted by the end of it. … He has no possibility, really, even in Bedford, of interacting with the general population outside of the classroom.”
Her son’s situation, however, isn’t necessarily unique for students who participate in the Lexington, Arlington, Burlington, Bedford, and Belmont (LABBB) Educational Collaborative, which delivers special education programs to partnering schools. According to a study by Ribas Associates and Publications, Belmont has higher out-of-district placements than other LABBB districts.
According to retired superintendents Cyndy Taymore and William Lupini, who led the study of Belmont’s special education services, 155 out-of-district placements occurred in June 2023. The report did not recount the number of out-of-district placements by other LABBB communities.
“It’s important that people understand that if your child cannot be in a [general education] classroom for the majority of the day, there’s nothing else,” said Special Education Parent Advisory Council Co-Chair Rachel Watson, who has two students on individualized education programs (IEPs). “There are no classrooms, no programs, no teachers, nothing. If your student cannot be in the classroom 90% of the day … Belmont has nothing for them.”
‘The Inclusion is Not Inclusive’
Watson and Rockwell’s children all began at the integrated preschool at Wellington Elementary School, a program both parents found to be a positive experience.
Like Rockwell, Watson now has a 9-year-old son in a LABBB classroom, but one housed in a Belmont school. Her son’s class is considered an out-of-district placement. Her older son is also on an IEP but has remained in a general education classroom since kindergarten.
According to Watson, her family is often left off school-wide emails because LABBB students are considered to be out of the district. Once, she struggled to pre-order school photos for her son because his name hadn’t been passed along from LABBB staff to the Parent Teachers Association. On another occasion, her son noticed his name hadn’t been included on a classroom wall for one of the special electives he was in.
“What it boils down to is, the inclusion is not inclusive,” Watson said.
She said that the LABBB program needs to be more integrated with the school.
“School-wide events may be happening and the LABBB parents wouldn’t know unless the LABBB teachers then emailed them,” Watson said. “They’re always adding a step, and sometimes it gets missed. Why? Because LABBB teachers are busy.”
This disconnect in communication was raised in the study by Taymore and Lupini, which Watson said was validating for parents like herself. In short, the report indicated Belmont has a limited continuum of services, meaning when students reach a certain level of need, they’re either placed in a LABBB classroom or elsewhere out of district. Recommendations included increasing professional development time for training teachers on modifications and interventions and better identifying and responding to needs in the general education classroom.
“Once a kid on an IEP starts to get older in the school system in Belmont, there really aren’t in-district programs that are varied enough to address the needs of kids on an IEP,” Rockwell added. “And there needs to be a change in how things are structured to allow for more comprehensive, varied ways to keep kids in the district.”
Study Part of Ongoing Conversation
The study comes amid conversations around special education in Belmont and the feasibility of bringing more special education programs into the district. Recent discussions of Belmont’s proposed $8.4 million override have focused on the cost of out-of-district placements and looked at bringing more services in-district as a way to control spending.
“Folks who don’t have a kid in special education are not interested in what’s happening in special education until they think it’s costing them too much money,” Watson said. “I hate to say it like that, but I have not seen the level of interest in what’s happening until, ‘Oh, we’re having budget problems, and wow, look at all these students out of district and how expensive that is.’”
She said that while some of the information presented may have been new to some, nothing came as a surprise to those with students in need of special education services.
“We need to update our curriculum,” Watson said. “I can’t even fathom how much we’ve learned about things like autism, ADHD [attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder], dyslexia, or just learning how to teach kids how to read.”
Rockwell, who echoed Watson’s comments on updating the curriculum, said the presentation by Taymore and Lupini “hit the nail on the head.” She said Belmont needs to start training teachers on how to support students on IEPs and hiring teachers or aides who can provide support in the general education classrooms.
“Belmont is going to be faced with more and more situations like ours, whose son doesn’t fit into a niche category, who needs to be integrated into the general classroom and should be or else really isn’t receiving equal access to education as any other child in the district is,” Rockwell said.
Watson said she is more hopeful now than she was a year ago, noting what seems to be genuine support from the new administration. Rockwell emphasized that, in general, the schools have worked with her and her family to the best of their ability. Her concern now, however, is that as her son gets older, options will become fewer for him.
She also acknowledged that in-district inclusion may not be the right thing for every student but still advocated for more diverse, inclusive classrooms.
“What I’m saying is, you need to diversify, and you need to have more options for kids, like my kid, who are being limited now,” Rockwell said. “We’re going to have to struggle together to figure it out; I know it’s worth it for my child, and I think it’s worth it for their child, too. It’ll give them the skills in terms of understanding there are a lot of different types of people in the world.”
Efforts to reach Belmont school officials were unsuccessful.
