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I’ve spent years working on Capitol Hill and Beacon Hill, and I’ve always kept my politics close to the vest. But when it comes to education, budget transparency, and accountability, silence is no longer an option.
In Newburyport, the school district’s budget makes up the majority of our city’s spending. As the Mayor also serves as Chair of the School Committee, there’s both access, knowledge, and responsibility to demand transparency. The job requires it. And the facts—painful as they are—demand attention.
My daughter was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and, though a resident in Newburyport, has not received educational services from Newburyport Public Schools (NPS) in nearly four years. NPS has every service on her Individualized Education Program (IEP) available in-district; however, NPS administration, at their discretion, has chosen not to educate her.
She was removed from Legacy by Gersh, a day placement, after we witnessed a heartbreaking decline in her quality of life. NPS, responsible for the supervision of her education, had therapy notes documenting this decline—but withheld them from us for a year, only releasing them under legal pressure. NPS had knowledge of her decline before we saw the fallout at home.
Since her removal from Legacy nearly four years ago, the NPS administration has asked her to go back there, without additional supports to keep her safe. They claim there is no cohort for her at Newburyport High School, no peers within two years of her age with similar disabilities or higher functioning. A young woman who thrives on social interaction has been left isolated from her peers. Instead of providing her with her legally mandated free public education, NPS has pressured us to consent to residential placement (living full-time in a facility).
We do not consent to residential placement, as several medical providers believe it would be detrimental to her wellbeing. Nonetheless, the NPS administration continues to offer unneeded costly residential placement, against all evidence to the contrary, to remove her from her family, home, and community.
Here are the numbers:
• She was well-known to no longer be in attendance at Legacy, but a City of Newburyport check for $48,465.53 was sent to Legacy for tuition 11 months after she was removed. These are taxpayer dollars spent on a service no longer provided.
• NPS receives government funding to educate her, yet she hasn’t received her full IEP services—or any meaningful education—for almost four years.
• Despite expert recommendations, NPS continues to push for residential placements costing up to $600,000 per year, with annual increases in tuition of up to 14% for out-of-district special education placements. And NPS refuses to allow us to observe the programs they do have and refuses to consider creating an appropriate program at Newburyport High School to educate our daughter, an estimated cost savings of $175,000 per student, even at the lowest out-of-district residential tuition.
• Meanwhile, NPS cut the budget & terminated a special education teacher and a Registered Behavior Technician that could have educated my daughter, “saving” an estimated $150,000—while spending more on legal fees with the city to fight our family.
• Three law firms, including the city solicitor, have been hired to oppose us. What is the cost to taxpayers? (We currently have a request filed with the city for these records.)
• To date, a legal settlement included approximately $50,000 reimbursed to our family for legal fees—again, public money spent not on education, but on litigation. (There is no non-disclosure in this agreement.)
These are not just numbers. They represent a school district administration that has failed my daughter. Even now, NPS claims it has no obligation to educate her. Yet, she’s on the graduation roster. How does a student graduate without attending high school?
The Mayor, Superintendent, every city councilor and school committee member has knowledge of our situation.
City councilors have been told they cannot ask questions or intervene. One councilor described the district’s “frequent use of outside attorneys to settle scores rather than solve problems.” What score is there to settle when a child’s wellbeing is at stake?
NPS’ decision has had considerable consequences for our family: Our daughter has missed crucial educational milestones within her reach over the last four years, opportunities for friendship, and all the benefits taken for granted when a resident student can access their local school district. We have been hit financially as well, including leaving my job to become her primary caregiver, and a premium for additional health insurance so she can access therapies she should be getting in school.
This is not just our story. It’s a call for change. It’s not about cutting the school budget but transparency — the oversight on how the school is spending the majority of the city’s budget. And it’s not touting our schools are the best when you are not educating all resident students. In my opinion, Newburyport — city and school district — is setting a very dangerous precedent, one where a school district can offer a student a more restrictive unneeded placement, parents don’t consent to it, so the district administration provides no education to the student. This should be a concern for all families; parent consent is our right.
Without question, my husband and I will continue to fight for our daughter and her best interests — an appropriate day placement, and an education that allows her to remain living at home and in her community.
If you have questions, ask me. I’ll answer—just not when I’m with my daughter. She deserves my full attention. Something the school district hasn’t given her in years.
Sarah Joor
Newburyport resident
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