We have raised this petition to request the following of Acton-Boxborough Pupil Services:

1) make no cut to the hours at the Carol Huebner Early Childhood Program Acton site for the 2015-2016 school year and beyond.

2) communicate future proposed preschool program changes to families in a clear and timely fashion.

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Families with a stake in the Carol Huebner Early Childhood Program preschool have become aware of significant change being proposed to the structure at both the Acton and Boxborough sites starting next fall. While we appreciate the Early Childhood Coordinator’s efforts to hold forums last winter to solicit parent and guardian input regarding regionalization, most seem unaware that these changes are occurring.

The changes for the Acton site include:

a 20-minute daily reduction in the full-day program hours (This totals 80 fewer minutes per week for full-day students and 100 fewer minutes per week for those who also attend the ABA-based classroom all day on Fridays.)

a 10-minute daily reduction in the half-day program hours (This totals 40 fewer minutes per week for the a.m. and p.m. programs.)

None of the students at the Acton site benefit from the proposed reduction in instruction time. The most vulnerable population, those with needs meriting full-day, full-week services, will be hurt the most by this shift. Students who are pulled out of the integrated classrooms for speech, physical, occupational, behavioral therapy or a combination thereof will have even less time among typically developing peer models in the least restrictive environment available. There are already too few minutes in the instructional day for all half- and full-time students to get through all the skills they need to learn, practice, and generalize. Early, intensive intervention is the most effective for students' long-term outcomes and the most cost effective for the school district. This change takes neither into consideration.

Furthermore, it has been brought to our attention that some special education students have Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) indicating they will receive services in excess of the proposed hours beyond the first day of school next year. This raises additional questions:

How will the district meet IEP obligations for students given these proposed reductions?

How will the individual IEP teams determine if the reduced hours as proposed are sufficient to meet student needs?

The Acton-Boxborough Regional School Committee exhaustively researches and discusses altering the start times for all other schools in the district, but the preschool start time and hours are summarily slated to be changed. There is concern that these and other proposed changes relevant to regionalization were not made transparent to families. Open, direct, and timely communication about proposed changes to the preschool program should be extended to families as a courtesy to aid with planning around childcare and financial considerations.

We have subsequently raised this petition to request Acton-Boxborough Pupil Services

1) make no cut to the hours at the Carol Huebner Early Childhood Program Acton site for the 2015-2016 school year and beyond.

2) communicate future proposed preschool program changes to families in a clear and timely fashion.