During the public comment period at the Tempe Union High School District board meeting, parent Jody Hernandez urged the board to examine district special education transition practices and funding.

Hernandez identified herself as the parent of a senior with special needs at McClintock and described experiences of students with developmental disabilities. "In December of 2023, a meeting was held that said educating students with disabilities until 21–22 was a myth, and students were done as soon as credits were completed," Hernandez said, arguing that many students had been moved out of district transition programs earlier than IDEA’s recommended timelines.

Hernandez said about 40 students were "forced graduated" and described an example she received from a family whose son, Calvin, was forced out at 19 after one semester of Success University; she said he now receives job coaching through the state vocational rehabilitation program only once a week for two to three hours. She said some families have chosen private vouchers or left district programs because they felt unwelcome.

Hernandez asked the board, and new board member Gutierrez Miller specifically, to use board processes to examine special education practices, strengthen remaining transition programming and explain why specific cuts (for example to Success University or transition staffing) are not mentioned during budget discussions. She said families were told services would continue through the state vocational rehabilitation program but raised concerns about the scope and adequacy of that support.

Her remarks were delivered during the board’s public-comment period; board members did not debate the substance on the record during that period. The board may, by policy and open-meeting law, respond only by directing staff to study the matter or placing it on a future agenda for consideration. Hernandez asked the board to add examination of special education transition services to a future agenda for review.

No formal board action was recorded at the meeting in response to her comments.