I attended the United Educators of Pittsfield’s Mayoral Q&A session on October 19th. I decided to attend to learn about the mayoral candidates’ positions on educational matters as if elected I will be serving with one of them on the Pittsfield School Committee.
During his opening statement mayoral candidate John Krol made the following remarks that I feel is worth sharing:
“There’s three different types of students in every single classroom, there are high performers, there are middle of the road, and then there are those who are on IEPs and those kids that also can be disruptions in our classrooms.”
As a former student who was on an IEP throughout most of my time in the Pittsfield Public Schools, I find this remark highly offensive not only to me but to our students on IEPs in our district.
I think it is time to reveal something that I have not talked about publicly for various reasons, I am on the Autism Spectrum and that is why I was placed on an IEP. Though I never had much of a struggle with academics, especially in middle and high school I always had struggles with socialization and friendships. I have gotten a lot better since my elementary school days, but I still have struggles that I face. But I make an ongoing commitment to improve who I am and work on getting out of my comfort zone to do the things that I want to achieve, from being valedictorian of my class to running for public office. I have the ability to do this thanks in part to the support I got while I was in the Pittsfield Public Schools. But this remark was a slap in the face to me and to all the progress that I have achieved over the past several years and is certainly a slap in the face to our students on IEPs who have and still overcome many challenges that they face each and every day.
I am highly offended that a mayoral candidate would even attempt to categorize students in such a way and to lump students on IEPs into the same category as disruptive students. I am highly offended that a mayoral candidate would even attempt to make IEP students their own category when discussing student achievement in classrooms, it implies that IEP students do not achieve as much as their non-IEP peers.
Students on IEPs are a very diverse group in of itself. Sure, there are some students on IEPs with behavioral issues, but there are IEP students who are on them for academic purposes and who just need some support to do the best that they can academically, and students who don’t need much academic support but need more social and emotional supports. And there are the IEP students who have a physical disability and who need extra services to equitably access the same services as their other peers. The needs of IEP students differ greatly between each student and some, like me, have been known to be very high academic achievers. To paint a wide brush that these students are all the same and that that they are not high achievers or even “middle of the road” is ableist, plain and simple.
What does it say for our students on IEPs for the highest person in power in the city, the mayor, to imply that IEP students are not in the same category as “high achievers” but in the same category as students who cause disruptions? It says that these students will never be able to reach their full potential because they are on an IEP, and that is downright false and offensive.
All school committee members have a duty to all our students, including our students on IEPs, to support them adequately and equitably so they can do their best through their educational journey. This statement goes against this fundamental principle. I have been trying to avoid getting involved with the mayor’s race publicly, but after hearing these remarks I feel it is my duty to the students that I will represent if elected to say something about these hurtful and offensive remarks.
If elected I will make sure to advocate for our students on IEPs to ensure that they are getting the support they need day in and day out so they can thrive in our school system. I will ensure that these students feel like they can achieve whatever they dream of, whether that be being a school committee member, a high academic achiever, an astronaut, an actor, a chef, or even the President of the United States. And I hope that I can be a role model to these students and to other people on the Autism Spectrum or were on an IEP when they attended school to show that they can do anything they set their minds to.
I sincerely hope that John Krol shows true leadership and retracks these offensive remarks and makes a commitment to make sure that all our students on IEPs are supported and included, instead of excluded and thought of as non-achievers and disruptive students. Our students deserve a mayor who values inclusion over exclusion for our IEP students and wants to see them thrive in our school system.