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Parent urges district to retain center-based elementary programming for students with autism and intellectual disabilities
Summary
During public comment at the March 20 board meeting, parent Addison Filiotro asked the Hudson School District to increase outreach before removing center-based elementary programming for students with autism and intellectual disabilities and said specialized teachers and supports in existing programs are life-changing for her child.
Addison Filiotro, a Hudson parent, urged the Hudson School District Board of Education at its March 20, 2025, meeting to pause changes and broaden outreach before removing center-based elementary programming that serves students with autism and intellectual disabilities.
Filiotro said she understood the district’s equity audit raised questions about center-based programs but that the programs at North Hudson and Willow River are “life changing.” She said specialized teachers and support staff in those programs manage caseloads of high-needs students and that families should be contacted directly about proposed changes.
“From having a child that has experienced this programming, it is life changing, and I can't imagine what it would be like for him,” Filiotro said. She asked whether the district had reached out to all families who would be affected; she said she had first heard of the potential change only a few weeks earlier.
Filiotro also told the board that several neighboring districts maintain center-based elementary programs and that those programs can benefit students because teachers receive specialized training. She asked the board for “more discussion about revolving around this versus a knee jerk reaction.”
The comment was part of the meeting’s public-comment period; no formal action on center-based programming was recorded in the transcript during the same session.
