A hot mic at a Massachusetts school board meeting accidentally picked up a board member calling a father advocating for his autistic son a “pain in the a–” following his impassioned speech.
Gaurav Jashnani, a father of a son with autism and ADHD in the Northampton Public Schools District, spoke at a public school board meeting in February to promote the expansion of services for special needs students in the classroom.
Despite his full-hearted plea, the concerned dad later learned that his speech seemingly annoyed school board members more than it inspired them when he came across a transcript of the meeting that included their alleged insults.
On March 13, he returned to another school committee meeting with a vengeance as he read the transcript of the grievances board members allegedly lobbed at him.
Many of the comments were said after Jashnani left the room, according to the transcript obtained by the Boston Globe.
The transcript included insults the board allegedly threw at him, including comparing him to a family member who is a “pain in the a–.” He added that the board attempted to find his social media and branded him as “one of those ‘Save Our Schools’ people.”
“Concerningly, indicating their prejudice toward my possible political affiliations during a meeting about services for my child. One of them… casually admits general and systematic non-compliance with IEPs as a norm in our school district,” Jashnani said.
He continued to grill the school board over their conduct and the content in the transcript, including claims that the school knowingly “underserve” families and didn’t give students everything they should for an IEP, or an independent education plan, which is allotted to many students who are developmentally behind their peers.
‘”We have so many, so many families of kids who need so much more, so much more than we give them. And they don’t know that they can come in and make a fuss,”‘ the board members reportedly said, which Jashnani read in front of meeting attendees.
“This is how our administrators talk about us. Administrators admitting systematic violations of state and federal disability law and then submitting it to the state,” he said.
Even so, the concerned parent noted that he didn’t blame the administrators or board members themselves, but rather the lack of funding.
Jashnani specified that his son originally had a para-educator in the classroom with him just three days a week, which was a violation of his IEP. The issue was briefly resolved, but the para-educator was soon reassigned without notifying Jashnani and his family, he said.
Now, at least five different people rotate between working with his son, which he said is not conducive for an autistic child.
“I hear students say they are being harmed in this meeting, I hear teachers say they are being literally attacked – there’s not enough staff. I’m a parent telling you this district is failing and harming my child… I expect better,” Jashnani said.
A formal complaint that Jashnani filed against the district was settled in late March and found that the school failed to follow the state special education law and, in turn, violated his son’s right to a free and appropriate public education.
The Northampton Public Schools District is required to submit a student schedule to the education department by April 18 in order to ensure corrective action will be made, the Globe reported.
Nevertheless, Jashnani plans to file a new complaint about the comments made and will likely allege systemic noncompliance, he told the Globe.
The school district did not immediately return a request for comment.