Parents and disability advocates tell Northampton School Committee administrators are admitting IEP noncompliance; callers demand accountability

Dozens of residents who spoke during the public-comment period at the Northampton School Committee’s March 13 meeting accused district administrators of routinely failing to deliver services listed on students’ individualized education programs and urged the committee to act.

The allegations were led by Paula Regano, who identified herself as an early childhood audiologist. Regano said material she received while preparing a rebuttal to a Department of Elementary and Secondary Education complaint included staff remarks admitting service gaps. “I do think that the reality of the situation is that we don't always, I mean we should, but we don't always give kids everything they should get on their IEP,” Regano said, quoting a transcription she said had been submitted to the state.

Advocates at the meeting described a pattern: families who do not know their rights receive fewer services. “We have so many families of kids who need so much more, so much more than we give them, and they don't know that they can come in and make a fuss,” Regano said, reading from the transcript she said was produced by district staff.

Several speakers tied the alleged shortfalls to staffing and funding shortages. “This is about funding. This is about not having the staff,” one public commenter said. Deborah Thompson and Melissa McEvorski also urged the committee to formally apologize for remarks at a prior meeting that callers said disparaged petitioners who requested extended public-comment time for a communication disability.

Member Anne Gacy read an apology at the March 13 meeting, saying her earlier remarks were “thoughtless” and offering a personal apology to disability advocates. Chair Jean Louis Shera acknowledged the public outcry and said the committee would continue to receive written comments for the public record at northampton-school-committee@northampton-k12.us.

Why it matters: Several speakers said the material they submitted to the state includes recorded staff remarks that claim incomplete IEP implementation and systematic under‑delivery of services when families do not press for them. The committee does not respond during public comment; members and staff discussed next steps later in the agenda and acknowledged the concerns during budget and student‑services discussion.

The committee did not take formal action on the allegations at the March 13 meeting. Members asked staff for more information about staffing, leave and vacancy rates and signaled they would discuss the issues further at upcoming subcommittee and budget meetings.

What committee members said: Member Stein said the claims were “extremely disheartening” and said she had submitted a records request for communications related to the midyear appropriation, which several speakers had linked to service shortfalls. Director of Student Services Matthew Holloway, present later in the meeting, described plans to expand in‑district programming for students with intensive needs and said the district had begun training paraeducators and other staff.

What's next: Members asked for a fuller personnel and attendance report and for the director of student services to present program proposals and cost estimates at upcoming budget subcommittee meetings. Several public speakers asked the committee to consider formal censure of board members who they said disparaged disability claimants at a prior meeting.