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Parents, students urge board to preserve resource math/reading classes after district signals mid‑year changes
Summary
Parents and a middle‑school student told the Walled Lake board the district’s planned mid‑year removal of resource math and reading classes will harm students with IEPs; speakers requested the board halt the change and consider alternate staffing and scheduling solutions.
Multiple parents and a sixth‑grade student addressed the board to protest an announced change to special‑education resource classes in middle schools, saying the plan to end separate resource math and reading classes mid‑year risks academic regression and violates students’ needs under federal IEP protections.
A student, Hannah Lazorovich, spoke during public comment that she is below grade level in math and reading and credited her resource classes with restoring her confidence. “I do not want to be in a special in math class because it’s embarrassing, but…every kid who is far below needs to stay in resource in math until they get better,” Hannah said.
Her mother, Allison (surname not specified at the meeting), explained a December 19 email she received that asked the family to amend the child’s IEP because the district is making changes tied to Michigan Department of Education least restrictive environment rules. Allison said the district intends to dissolve resource math and reading classes by second semester (she cited a target date of January 21) and that Banks Middle School alone could be affected for about 50 students with IEPs.
Allison said those students were placed in resource classes after individualized evaluation and that abrupt mid‑year removal would move students into grade‑level co‑taught classrooms that lack the small‑group structure they have relied on. She proposed an alternate schedule: dedicate one classroom for two hours per grade for math and reading special‑education instruction taught by a teacher certified in those subjects, which she said would preserve services while accommodating building repurposing needs.
Other parents—some of whom described multi‑year struggles to secure IEP services—said the change was communicated with insufficient notice and that moving students mid‑year violates the spirit of individualized planning. Commenters invoked the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as the legal framework that requires appropriate IEP services and asked the board to make a motion to stop the change until a fuller review and stakeholder discussion occurs.
District staff acknowledged the change was under review and said they would present further information to the board; during administrative commentary staff also said special‑education leaders are hosting advisory events and resource fairs to engage families on services and supports.
Documentation of this discussion appears in public comment remarks by Hannah Lazorovich and Allison and in administrative comments from special‑services staff about upcoming meetings and resources.
