Classroom shift sparks parents’ ire

As a special education class in East Elementary School prepares to move to Lido School beginning in September, parents voiced their concerns over the sudden shift at a June 9 Board of Education meeting, and have called on the district to give students more time to transition to the new building.

By moving the eight students in the East School class to Lido, the district said, it is consolidating self-contained special-needs classes in one school. Superintendent David Weiss said that the move would focus resources, facilitate more targeted professional development and supervision, and allow for regrouping of multi-age classes when necessary. The shift, he added, should minimize the movement of students in the long run.

“We’re making some changes, as we look to do periodically with our program, to make our program a better program for students,” Weiss told the Herald. “We will sincerely try to do that. Unfortunately at times, it may be an imposition on some children and parents, and we’re doing the best we can to ameliorate that.”

According to school board President Roy Lester, East School also needed room for a new integrated co-teaching class. He acknowledged that there are a “multitude of opinions” on the matter.

Heather LoCascio, a lifelong Long Beach resident, said in a letter to the school board — which she posted on Facebook — that with the school year ending, the students and their parents were not given enough time to make the transition. When children shift to the middle school, for example, she said, there are parent tours, student visits and discussions throughout the year to prepare them.

“To these students, East is not just a place they go every day, but a home away from home,” LoCascio wrote. “How can you reasonably expect these students to finish the school year, only to find out it was [their] last come September? How can members of the board not understand the negative impact of this decision? They never get to go back, no goodbye, no sendoff; nothing!”

Weiss acknowledged that the move would be disruptive in the short term, but said that he and Sabrina Cantore, the executive director of pupil personnel services, met with parents to address their concerns.

“I think we’ve outlined what we’re doing, and I think that in the long run, parents will find that our program is stronger, but obviously change is always difficult,” Weiss said. “We were a little late in the game, so it would have been better to have done some of this stuff earlier. We’ve certainly expressed our apologies to parents for the late notice.”

Alexis Pace, whose third-grade daughter would move to Lido School in September, urged the school board to reconsider the plan. “This choice is so simple — keep her in a classroom and in an environment where she is happy and thriving, socially, educationally and emotionally,” Pace wrote in a letter to the board. “Let these children finish what they started and stay where they have invested all of their school days.” 

Pace told the Herald that while she respects the district’s attempt to fix flaws in its special education program, she and other parents met with Weiss a few weeks ago and asked him to wait one more year before moving their children to Lido. She added that the lack of advance notice, communication and transparency during the few weeks since the parents were notified has been “disgusting.”

“Overall, I think it highlights a much bigger issue than just moving eight special education students from East School to Lido School,” Pace said. “That’s really the overwhelming issue that is going on here.”

Concerned parents, including Pace and LoCascio, spoke up at the board meeting, as did SEPTA Co-president Patrice Krzeminski; Jodi Gusler, co-president of the middle school PTA; and Gerri Macquet, co-president of the Central Council PTA. The meeting went on until almost midnight, according to Pace.

School board Trustee Darlene Tangney asked for evidence of how the move would positively and negatively impact the students, Pace said. Tangney did not respond to a Herald email requesting a comment.

Lester, who lost his re-election bid in May, said that he considered parents’ concerns, and that he backs the administration’s decision to have special education teachers and resources in one building — at the more spacious Lido School. Making the change this year, he said, would make it easier for the students to transition to the neighboring middle school later on.

“That’s one of the big fights — I don’t believe the board should be making those types of decisions against the superintendent or against the director of special education, who have spent their lives in this,” Lester said. “Right now, the administration has convinced me that this is the proper route to go, and unless I see a glaring defect in their reasoning, I see no reason to overturn that.”