When her daughter Ruby started school, Andrea Campbell saw right away that Ruby struggled to keep pace with her classmates in reading, spelling, and math.
“Even in preschool, it was very clear to me that she was going to have a learning disability,” Campbell said.
Ruby was eventually diagnosed with dyslexia.
By the end of first grade, Campbell was told her daughter was too far behind to stay in the general education classroom. Unable to reasonably afford sending Ruby to a local private school, Campbell agreed to have her daughter placed in the Lexington, Arlington, Burlington, Bedford and Belmont (LABBB) Educational Collaborative.
Though LABBB has several programs housed in Belmont schools, the Collaborative is considered an out-of-district program. A 2024 study found that Belmont sends more students out of district than neighboring towns that also participate in LABBB.
Between June 2020 and June 2023, the number of students Belmont sent out of the district climbed from 119 to 155. As of April, there are 140 students in out-of-district placements, according to the district’s most recent attendance report.
Ruby completed second and third grade in a LABBB classroom housed in Butler Elementary School. When it came time to move to fourth grade, Campbell said it was clear a change had to be made. According to Campbell, Ruby is a social butterfly, and the impacts of being separated from neurotypical children were beginning to show.
“It’s an incredible program, but it definitely wasn’t the right fit for her. … She was also showing a lot of signs of depression and anxiety because of the social part,” Campbell said.
Ruby eventually became one of the first students to take part in the language-based learning program at the Chenery Upper Elementary School. The program began in 2024, funded by the $8.4 million Proposition 2 ½ override earlier that year. Unlike LABBB, the Chenery program is “in-district,” meaning Ruby can return to the general education classroom and receive support from reading and math specialists.
“It was just a huge relief, because she actually was being put into a program that was made for her,” Campbell said.
The program currently serves 24 students and has been in high demand, according to Superintendent Jill Geiser. The district is looking to add an additional teacher and professional aide to the classroom next year.
“Honestly, if this program hadn’t begun, I don’t know where we would be right now,” Campbell added. “It worked out great for me, and I’m a good success story, and my daughter is incredible, but the fact that they didn’t have these services for children with dyslexia … could have really, really hurt my daughter.”
The program will be expanded to Belmont Middle School starting next year, according to BMS Principal Russ Kupperstein.
Expanding Special Education in Belmont
In 2025, Belmont Public Schools had 741 students enrolled in special education programs, compared to 457 a decade prior in 2015. In recent years, the district has focused on expanding in-district special education opportunities for students. According to Geiser, the district plans to bring in additional special education staff next school year rather than relying on contract services.
This year, the school is projected to spend $3.6 million on contracted special education services, according to a March budget presentation.
Though the budget needs to be approved by Town Meeting, Geiser said the shift to Belmont educators instead of outside services is projected to save the town about $200,000. In fiscal year 2027, the district is projected to spend over $13 million on special education tuition for out-of-district students, contract services, and transportation.
“The in-district programs have also been a key part of building this capacity over the past couple of years,” Geiser wrote in an email to The Voice. “Our budgets the past three years have shown our focus on identifying efficiency in how we deliver services while maintaining the high quality of those services.”
In addition to the program at Chenery, Belmont launched the Harbor Program at Belmont High School, an in-district therapeutic program supporting high school students’ social, emotional and mental health development.
“The in-district programs have been quite successful in serving the needs of students. Notably, the language-based program at the CUE is in high demand because of the quality of the instruction and services students are receiving,” Geiser said.
However, the road to robust in-district programs is long.
“Once those services are in, we’ll realize the savings, but it’s going to be a long time to realize it,” said Tim Flood, chair of the Belmont Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC). “It’s going to be a lot of payment up front to bring the services in-house before you actually see the savings on the back end.”
Flood’s daughter attended Belmont schools from sixth to eighth grade before being placed in a private high school in Newton. She’s now in a transition program in Rhode Island.
Flood said while Geiser is “well-meaning” and has a “solid vision” for the town, there are still disparities that need to be addressed. SEPAC meets monthly with Geiser and the Director of Student Services Jonathan Libby to hear and discuss special education updates in the district.
For Flood and other parents whose children are placed out of district, the impacts of sending their children out of the general education classroom or out of Belmont entirely can easily alter day-to-day life. While school leaders discuss costs, Flood said the focus should be on students.
“We shouldn’t be saying, here is our budget, so we need to make sure the student falls underneath that budget, because that’s not how special education works,” he said. “The budget has to shift to support the student.”
Pushing for Inclusion in BPS
As Belmont looks to increase its special education programs, parents and advocates are emphasizing the importance of inclusion.
“For my daughter right now, being caught up in reading at a fifth-grade level is academic excellence, and I want that celebrated just as much as the kid who is doing math at a doctoral level,” Campbell said. “That’s also incredible; they’re both incredible, and I think in town that shift needs to happen.”
Rachel Watson’s son, now 11, was placed out of district starting in preschool. He’s now in a private school in Waltham.
“He is a student Belmont is a long way from being able to serve in district. So, this is probably the best outcome available at the moment,” Watson said.
With one son out of district and the other in district on an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), Watson has seen firsthand how special education students can feel left on the outside.
“Things don’t go unnoticed by kids, and if you’re constantly segregating kids with disabilities, kids can’t help but get the idea…that the other kids are different,” Watson said.
Campbell said since Ruby began at Chenery, she has blossomed socially. She’s pulled out of the classroom for math and reading — but the separation doesn’t make her bat an eye. According to Campbell, she’s open about her dyslexia and happy to share her diagnosis with her classmates.
“The students don’t seem to care because it’s what they know,” Campbell said. “This whole generation is growing up with this idea of like, This is who I am. These are my issues.”
As programs are developed, parents like Watson are pushing for expanded support for all students, not just those who qualify for services.
“I would really like to see our district move to a place where they’re asking themselves this all the time, why is this inaccessible, and why do we have to do this exceptional thing to make it accessible?” Watson said. “There are a lot of things that we do for students who have disabilities that any student could benefit from, and I think we need to overcome this sort of mistaken point of view that making education accessible means making it less rigorous.”
