By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Three parents who have children receiving special education services weighed in on the current state of the Student Services Department during two recent School Committee meetings.
After the School Committee finished interviewing incoming Student Services Director Jennifer O’Connell (see separate story) on Feb. 25, Special Education Parent Advisory Council Interim Co-Chair Meghan Mullaney recalled how she helped “reestablish our Lynnfield SEPAC last spring after it had been inactive for a period of time.”
“I have appreciated the support and collaboration from our current administration, as I have been navigating this new territory,” said Mullaney. “For those who don’t know, SEPAC is a Special Education Parent Advisory Council. We are a volunteer parent-run organization, and we represent all families with children with disabilities throughout the entire school district, including those with out-of-district placements. We try to help improve outcomes for students with needs by educating and supporting families, and by building partnerships between families and the schools.”
Mullaney said she served on the first committee that interviewed O’Connell for the Student Services director job. She said Superintendent Tom Geary “sought SEPAC’s involvement on his accord.”
“Districts don’t always include SEPACs in these types of processes,” said Mullaney. “We hear from our fellow SEPACs and the Federation for Children with Special Needs time and time again on the challenges some SEPACs face in getting their district leadership to involve them. Therefore, we are very thankful that Superintendent Geary came to us and clearly understood the importance of having SEPAC be a part of this. Additionally, we were given the opportunity to have input ahead of time in the questions asked. We are so appreciative to have been a part of this.”
Mullaney said, “SEPAC is here and available for anyone who has any questions, concerns or interests regarding special education.”
Ford Avenue resident Teri Card, who also serves as SEPAC’s co-president along with Mullaney and Lauren Swenson, said during the Feb. 25 meeting she and her family have “experienced firsthand the progress our school district has made in a very short time.” She recalled that she addressed the former School Committee and the community during a meeting about the educator morale crisis in the Lynnfield Middle School auditorium in December 2023.
“For years, my family endured what I can only describe as a waking nightmare, especially when for advocating for our children’s needs,” said Card. “We faced significant challenges, obstacles and violations of my children’s legal rights during the tenure of former Superintendent Vogel and prior leadership. Meetings were fraught with tension, and there was a troubling high turnover of staff.”
After previously feeling “marginalized and unheard,” Card said she now has a “profound sense of gratitude and hope.”
“In just over a year, our children’s school teams have become empowered to communicate and collaborate with our family in an open and uncensored manner,” said Card. “What incredible educators we have here. Fostering a team relationship and including our family in our children’s educational experiences have benefitted our children significantly. Within Student Services, Superintendent Geary has been able to add and restore vacant positions, and embolden a kinder, more inclusive, collaborative and autonomous culture while meeting the needs of students. With the capability to service such students, Lynnfield Public Schools is able to keep our children in-district, yielding financial savings upwards of six figures annually per pupil between transportation and tuition. Being in-district also allows students and families better access to create and nurture meaningful relationships within the community because we remain in the community.”
Card said Geary recently attended a “‘Frozen’ sing-a-long at LMS” while standing “quietly in the back of the room.”
“When I mentioned some other mothers’ surprise of his attendance and thanked him for being there, he stated that he wanted to be present for families, understanding the importance of being available to the community and enabling parents to engage with him without hesitation or feeling out of place,” said Card. “No cameras, no photos and not even a social media post. Just a genuine approachable leader eager to immerse himself in the fabric of our community because he is part of our community.”
Card also thanked Geary for appointing Interim Student Services Director Lydia Rundell-Gjerde to her position.
“I thank Ms. Rundell-Gjerde for agreeing to take on this role supporting Lynnfield families and Student Services staff,” said Card. “She adds immense value to this district.”
Card said the interview committee and the Administrative Leadership Team’s unanimous decisions to recommend that O’Connell be appointed as Student Services director is “a testament to Superintendent Geary’s ability for identifying talent as well as a reflection of the applicant.”
While Mullaney and Card complimented the Student Services Department’s changes this year, Parsons Avenue resident Erin Howard criticized school officials during the School Committee’s Jan. 28 meeting for not informing special education parents that the former third level courses at Lynnfield High were eliminated this year. Special education students are now enrolled in new co-taught college prep (CP) classes.
“I am happy to hear that so far the principal says they have only received positive feedback about these co-taught classes, which is great,” said Howard. “But I still have a number of concerns with this, and the first of which is notification. The high school model that is now in place is very different than the current middle school model. I think that the special education parents at the middle school should have been and should be in the future informed of what to expect from the high school model earlier in the eighth grade year, especially before high school applications are due. I don’t remember seeing any notice to special education parents at the point these courses were removed. It would be nice to have district-wide special education communication, so that parents know what is changing not only at the school their child attends but the school their child will soon be attending.”
Howard noted that transitioning from eighth grade to ninth is a big transition for all students, especially special education students.
“I am curious why this transition isn’t smoother between the eighth grade and the ninth grade,” said Howard. “It just feels like special ed. is programed separately at each school, and there is not a district-wide vision for special education.”
Howard was pleased that LHS Principal Tricia Puglisi informed her in a phone call that “the high school is engaging in the best practices with respect to the co-taught classes.”
“It seems that the teachers have co-planning time together and are doing professional development around co-teaching, which is recommended and is great,” said Howard. “That does give me confidence going forward. But do we know what actually happens if there is a student who is unsuccessful in the college prep class? My understanding is that if a student is unsuccessful in that class, they go back to a small independent study in the special education room. What is the structure of that? Has that been planned for if it hasn’t happened already? What would it look like, who would teach it and isn’t that a more restrictive environment than having a third level course available?”
Howard also requested that the School Committee “do some research into co-taught classrooms.”
“I am not against them, but I do think they need to be monitored,” said Howard. “There aren’t really many studies out there researching whether this model produces better outcomes for special ed. students in high school specifically. There is more research about elementary school, but not so much at the high school. This change went into effect only at the beginning of this year. While the initial reports are positive and that is great, there is just not enough data yet to be able to tell how it is going to work out. I do hope that the high school and the School Committee will be willing to readjust if necessary if the feedback from the teachers, the students and the parents as well as the test results show there are still problems after the first year.”
Howard aired her concerns about the co-taught classes before Puglisi, Rundell-Gjerde, LHS English Department Head Maryellen Iannibelli and LHS Math Department Head Karen Ellis gave an overview of the changes during the School Committee’s Feb. 11 meeting.