Dear Sharon Schools Administrator,
On January 28th, Matthew, a 6-year-old student, who is autistic, left Cottage Street school alone after recess and was lost. Luckily, he was found later at Billing St by an ambulance and is safe.
However, until the following safety measures are taken, he is not able to safely return to school:
- Fixing the fence and adding a temporary barrier until it’s fully repaired
- Better supervision & emergency protocols to prevent this from happening again.
- More staff training on autism safety, elopement prevention, and emergency.
- Transparency and accountability – parents should be updated on when these safety fixes are happening.
As parents of Cottage Street School students and other members of Sharon community, it is in our interest not only to ensure that a similar event would not happen to any other child, but also to provide a safe, respectful and truly inclusive environment for atypical kids.
Matthew is a kindergartener and being kept out of school can impact his entire academical, social and personal development. We should not allow the essential support that he requires to be taken from him due to lack of a quick response on such an urgent matter.
Mathew should be able to safely return to his classroom with his friends as soon as possible!
Updates
Reached 100 supporters
March 3, 2025
24 Comments
Please take care of the broken gate as soon as possible and make Cottage Street School safe for all students.
The most important job of a school is to ensure all students are able to attend safely, regardless of disability. The school's lack of action to create a safe environment for Matthew has led to his exclusion because of his disability, which is unacceptable. Cottage needs to do what is right to show parents that it can be trusted to keep our children safe and allow Matthew to be able to return to a safe school environment.
We had also experienced issues resulting from severely lack of supervision during recess - kids went to an area where no one could see. Luckily no one got hurt that time, but the school's handling of the aftermath definitely left a lot to be desired. We like Cottage but sure hope it'll do better.
Sharon public school should fix this asap . We pay huge RE taxes in this town mostly because of the school district!
As a parent of a child and grandchild on the spectrum I cannot imagine that we would need to have this conversation! The school needs to be fixed asap!!
Matthew and all children should be safe at their school. Safety measures and training needs to take place immediately!!
We need to keep our Children safe.
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Dear Sharon Schools Administrator,
On January 28th, Matthew, a 6-year-old student, who is autistic, left Cottage Street school alone after recess and was lost. Luckily, he was found later at Billing St by an ambulance and is safe.
However, until the following safety measures are taken, he is not able to safely return to school:
- Fixing the fence and adding a temporary barrier until it’s fully repaired
- Better supervision & emergency protocols to prevent this from happening again.
- More staff training on autism safety, elopement prevention, and emergency.
- Transparency and accountability – parents should be updated on when these safety fixes are happening.
As parents of Cottage Street School students and other members of Sharon community, it is in our interest not only to ensure that a similar event would not happen to any other child, but also to provide a safe, respectful and truly inclusive environment for atypical kids.
Matthew is a kindergartener and being kept out of school can impact his entire academical, social and personal development. We should not allow the essential support that he requires to be taken from him due to lack of a quick response on such an urgent matter.
Mathew should be able to safely return to his classroom with his friends as soon as possible!
Updates
Reached 100 supporters
March 3, 2025
24 Comments
The failure to provide a safe environment and necessary services for Matthew to attend Cottage (as is legally required) is absolutely unconscionable. Sharon Public Schools failed Matthew and continues to fail him. This needs to be fixed NOW.
Please take care of the broken gate as soon as possible and make Cottage Street School safe for all students.
The most important job of a school is to ensure all students are able to attend safely, regardless of disability. The school's lack of action to create a safe environment for Matthew has led to his exclusion because of his disability, which is unacceptable. Cottage needs to do what is right to show parents that it can be trusted to keep our children safe and allow Matthew to be able to return to a safe school environment.
We had also experienced issues resulting from severely lack of supervision during recess - kids went to an area where no one could see. Luckily no one got hurt that time, but the school's handling of the aftermath definitely left a lot to be desired. We like Cottage but sure hope it'll do better.
Sharon public school should fix this asap . We pay huge RE taxes in this town mostly because of the school district!
As a parent of a child and grandchild on the spectrum I cannot imagine that we would need to have this conversation! The school needs to be fixed asap!!
Matthew and all children should be safe at their school. Safety measures and training needs to take place immediately!!
We need to keep our Children safe.
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The failure to provide a safe environment and necessary services for Matthew to attend Cottage (as is legally required) is absolutely unconscionable. Sharon Public Schools failed Matthew and continues to fail him. This needs to be fixed NOW.