Somerville parents group tells state review district shortchanges students with disabilities; council places report on file

Councilor Strezo asked the Somerville City Council to consider a 25‑page report from the Somerville Special Education Parents Advisory Council that the group submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as part of a district review. Liz Eldridge, chair of the Somerville Special Education Parents Advisory Council, told the council the report compiles district data, public records and parent and teacher testimony and documents widespread service shortfalls.

The CPAC report, Eldridge said, notes that in May DESE designated Somerville Special Education as “needs assistance” and that students with disabilities—about one‑fifth of the district, roughly 1,070 students—are under‑served. Eldridge said 2024 MCAS results show 12 percent of students with disabilities in grades 3–8 were proficient in English language arts and 10 percent were proficient in math, compared with substantially higher rates for general‑education peers. “This is illegal,” Eldridge said, adding that she expects IEPs to be written based on student needs and then implemented faithfully.

Councilor Strezo said he is the council representative on the Construction Advisory Group (CAG) that is considering whether to consolidate the Winter Hill Innovation School and the Brown School and to build a larger Winter Hill school. Strezo described concerns that the planning process has not sufficiently included families of students with significant sensory or communication needs—he cited an example of a kindergarten student later diagnosed with autism whose post‑lunch distress was not adequately addressed in school practice. Strezo urged the council and the school building process to consider how the AIM program for autistic students and other special‑education services would fit into any larger, consolidated school.

Eldridge and Strezo called for the district to fund special education in line with student need, hire and retain qualified staff, ensure timely evaluations and services, staff co‑teachers and paraprofessionals where required, and meaningfully engage families and CPAC as Massachusetts law requires. The councilor sponsoring the order said he would place the CPAC report on file; the council accepted the report for the record.

Discussion vs. action: the council accepted (placed on file) the CPAC report and referred members’ concerns to the record; no additional city policy or binding school‑building decision was made at the meeting. Follow‑up tasks were urged—councilors asked colleagues and staff to review the CPAC attachment and for the school building and CAG processes to reflect CPAC’s documented concerns.

Why it matters: CPAC framed the issue as structural and systemic rather than isolated to individual classrooms. The group urged the DESE district review be a turning point to close compliance and practice gaps and to ensure a free, appropriate public education for students with disabilities in Somerville.

What to watch next: any formal responses, corrective‑action plans, or monitoring reports produced by Somerville Public Schools or DESE; CAG deliberations about Winter Hill/Brown consolidation and MSBA school‑building milestones.