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Parents and educators urge Revere School Committee to restore proposed cuts to special education and programs
Summary
During public comment at the June 16 meeting, teachers, parents and the RTA president urged the committee to amend a proposed budget that would cut adaptive physical education, creative-writing classes and dozens of student-facing positions; speakers cited 66 proposed cuts and asked the committee to use reserves to avoid service losses.
At the June 16 Revere School Committee meeting, teachers, parents and union leaders pressed members to amend a proposed budget they say would remove creative-writing classes, eliminate adaptive physical education for younger students and cut dozens of student-facing positions.
"By eliminating this class, we are in turn silencing the voices of our already vulnerable students," said Marzio Turco, a sixth-grade creative-writing teacher who addressed the committee during the public-comment period. Turco said the class also served as a mental-health support for students and urged the committee to "put our students first."
Multiple speakers warned that cuts would disproportionately affect students with disabilities. A letter read by Karen LeBreck on behalf of adapted-physical-education teacher Colleen Race described early-intervention gains that would be at risk if elementary adapted PE positions were eliminated. Roxane Campbell, a 31-year veteran teacher speaking for Whelan School educators, said reduced special-education staffing would make it difficult to meet legally mandated IEP minutes and could place students in groups too large to receive individualized instruction.
The Revere Teachers Association president, identified at the meeting as Jane Shapira, said the district had set aside reserve funds and questioned why reserves were not used instead of cutting services. Shapira said the budget as presented would cut "66 student-facing positions" while retaining what she described as an outsized number of assistant principals; she told the committee those were choices of priorities rather than necessity.
Speakers asked the committee to amend the proposed budget to restore positions at Lincoln, Garfield and Whelan schools, to reinstate adaptive PE for pre-K to grade 5, and to keep creative-writing offerings at SBA. Several asked for a clear justification from district leadership if members intended to defend the reductions.
Committee members did not take a vote on amendments that night. The public-comment period ended after the committee moved to close that portion of the meeting. The meeting packet and staff presentations were referenced by speakers but no formal budget vote occurred during this session.
What happens next: The committee may consider amendments or take further budget votes at a subsequent meeting. The public urged immediate action to restore positions and services before the next fiscal decisions were finalized.
