As Lexington residents and parents of a special needs child we wanted to ensure all of you are aware of a crisis in our school system. The town election polls are open and it is important to address this urgent issue.  

The school has been denying placement to incoming and existing students and offering them private placement miles away from Lexington. The logic presented is that the child needs different services. The truth is that the school is full, and the problem will grow exponentially in the near future. No planning, hiring or changes have been made to address this. Special needs children deeply suffer the consequences of such irresponsible decisions.

Families elect to live in Lexington due to many positive attributes, including the highly rated school system. What many of you probably don’t know is that the school system has had an increase in special needs students over the last few years. This is due to the following reasons:

1) Increase in the rate of diagnosis of autism from 1 in every 64 kids in 2013 to 1 in every 36 children now. 

2) More special needs families are moving into town to avail the fantastic services the school offers.

Special needs students’ placement affects all Lexington residents NOT just the special needs families for the following reasons:

1) When the school system moves multiple children into private schools across the state of Massachusetts, the cost to the town is approximately $60k-120k a year per child!  

2) While the town is looking to save dollars on roads, vendors for garbage disposal, the new high school building etc, they are spending millions on this avoidable cost. 

3) This factor is contributing to the tax hikes for each resident in town. 

4) Our taxes are also being used to battle parents who are litigating against the town to keep their children in the system.

There are some basic solutions to this crisis given that we are in a town with a robust educational budget. 

1) Lexington School System needs to first acknowledge this issue which they have failed to do despite several efforts by special needs parents. 

2) Gather data on the dollar amount, effort and time spent on out-placing students. 

3) Understand the cost involved in out-placing students and battling parents who have hired attorneys and advocates.

4) Come up with a permanent long-term solution for this problem.

We independently endorse Johan Lindborg for school committee since he is a special needs parent and is sincere about learning more about this crisis and trying to resolve it. 

Thanks,

Poppy Charnalia 

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