R.-2 23-1104 Presentation to the Board of Education by the Superintendent of Schools or designee of the Special Education Program Review, as of April 26, 2023.
I fully oppose this position. My families have yet to be contacted and as quick as you guys made a decision about closing these programs should as quick as you huys should HAVE a solution. Not only for students and parents but teachers as well. As this meeting go on for hours. I have still yet to hear any solution. I fully support the resolutions Br and Ba are proposing and if it's students first. ALL students first, you guys will reconsider this position.
A big part of my job is working with students who have social and emotional challenges connected to difficulties with the human skill of empathy. Secondarily, I work with students for whom memory and planning are issues of concern.
It is challenging for me to see exactly those deficits put so greatly on display in recent District actions.
The closure of one classroom can feel, to those children, like the closure of a school. The last time a massive proposal was made to close schools without first conducting a robust equity analysis AND fully informing and involving all stakeholders…it didn’t go well for anyone. It almost all got walked back. Some families who found out on FACEBOOK that their kid has to move schools at the end of next year…are families that specifically MOVED THOSE KIDS to the rooms you’re about to close, because they were told LAST year that OUSD was closing OTHER schools.
We have to make hard choices. But we need to have empathy, and we cannot forget.
This comment is submitted on behalf of attorneys in the Education Justice Clinic at the East Bay Community Law Center. We represent students with disabilities in OUSD and throughout Alameda County. We are concerned with the budget proposal to cut special education FTEs and FTE vacancies as well as the corresponding decision to close several special education placement options in the district. We ask for greater transparency and thought around this process. We have concerns about (1) the rash timing of this decision; (2) the lack of a clear plan for informing and working with individual students that will be impacted by this decision, and (3) the devastating impacts this decision could have on students’ learning and relationships. Removing only students with disabilities from school campuses communicates that these students are not truly members of their school communities. We urge the Board to listen and respond to our and families' concerns.
As a Special Education social worker and a mom of 2 OUSD students, I urge the board to encourage the district bargaining team to take seriously the OEA Social Worker proposal. Social Workers are critical in Special Education, and in other areas of student support, and we have long been ignored by the district. It’s time for OUSD to respect our unique training and credentials and give us our own pay scale like all other service providers/specialists in the district, find a way to pay us a bilingual stipend so that we are best able to retain staff who can serve our diverse student body, and provide us with an adequate supervision structure so we can practice ethically and safely. Please pay close attention to the number of students both in CE classrooms and who have counseling services on their IEPs. You need us, and you need to improve the climate and culture of respect within the district to retain those of us with the highest level qualifications by respecting and negotiating with us.
I fully oppose this position. My families have yet to be contacted and as quick as you guys made a decision about closing these programs should as quick as you huys should HAVE a solution. Not only for students and parents but teachers as well. As this meeting go on for hours. I have still yet to hear any solution. I fully support the resolutions Br and Ba are proposing and if it's students first. ALL students first, you guys will reconsider this position.
Where is the paper copy of this? It is not available at the physical board meeting?
A big part of my job is working with students who have social and emotional challenges connected to difficulties with the human skill of empathy. Secondarily, I work with students for whom memory and planning are issues of concern.
It is challenging for me to see exactly those deficits put so greatly on display in recent District actions.
The closure of one classroom can feel, to those children, like the closure of a school. The last time a massive proposal was made to close schools without first conducting a robust equity analysis AND fully informing and involving all stakeholders…it didn’t go well for anyone. It almost all got walked back. Some families who found out on FACEBOOK that their kid has to move schools at the end of next year…are families that specifically MOVED THOSE KIDS to the rooms you’re about to close, because they were told LAST year that OUSD was closing OTHER schools.
We have to make hard choices. But we need to have empathy, and we cannot forget.
This comment is submitted on behalf of attorneys in the Education Justice Clinic at the East Bay Community Law Center. We represent students with disabilities in OUSD and throughout Alameda County. We are concerned with the budget proposal to cut special education FTEs and FTE vacancies as well as the corresponding decision to close several special education placement options in the district. We ask for greater transparency and thought around this process. We have concerns about (1) the rash timing of this decision; (2) the lack of a clear plan for informing and working with individual students that will be impacted by this decision, and (3) the devastating impacts this decision could have on students’ learning and relationships. Removing only students with disabilities from school campuses communicates that these students are not truly members of their school communities. We urge the Board to listen and respond to our and families' concerns.
As a Special Education social worker and a mom of 2 OUSD students, I urge the board to encourage the district bargaining team to take seriously the OEA Social Worker proposal. Social Workers are critical in Special Education, and in other areas of student support, and we have long been ignored by the district. It’s time for OUSD to respect our unique training and credentials and give us our own pay scale like all other service providers/specialists in the district, find a way to pay us a bilingual stipend so that we are best able to retain staff who can serve our diverse student body, and provide us with an adequate supervision structure so we can practice ethically and safely. Please pay close attention to the number of students both in CE classrooms and who have counseling services on their IEPs. You need us, and you need to improve the climate and culture of respect within the district to retain those of us with the highest level qualifications by respecting and negotiating with us.