To:

Andrew Shen, Chair of the Pupil Services Director Search Committee

All Members of the Pupil Services Director Search Committee

Date: March 11, 2015

Dear Search Committee Members:

As parents and taxpayers of the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District, we greatly appreciate the time and effort that you on the committee are putting into the search for a new Pupil Services Director for the district. As part of your effort to hire a new Pupil Services Director, we would like to ask you to consider the following parent concerns and interests.

We have two main concerns: 1) the timing of this particular search process seems accelerated for some reason and we’re concerned that may impact the number and quality of candidates received, 2) we would like to emphasize the importance of hiring an individual who values parent involvement in education, believes in open communication with families and seeks to collaborate with parents to improve educational outcomes for students.

First, we are concerned that the timeline for the Pupil Services Director search seems rushed for some reason. The search for a new Athletic Director was announced on Dec. 21, 2014 with anticipated search committee kickoff at the beginning of January and final candidate selection in March 2015. However, the Pupil Services Director search was only announced on Feb. 6, 2015 with anticipated candidate selection by end of March – early April. While the Athletic Director search involved a schedule of 8-10 planned meetings over a two-month period, the Director of Pupil Services search committee only planned for 4 meetings over a short two and a half week period. Why the rush?

The Director of Pupil Services is a very important administrative position with a large umbrella of responsibilities including special education, English language learning, nursing, and counseling among other things. We’re concerned that the expedited search timeline may not allow the district to gather a deep pool of highly experienced and qualified candidates nor allow committee participants to adequately review the qualifications of each candidate. Furthermore, some families, i.e., Preschool parents were not notified of the Pupil Services Director search or invited to participate in the process. We are concerned that this unexplained rush to hire a Pupil Services Director may impact the quality of the candidate pool and not allow committee members the time needed to conscientiously review candidate qualifications.

Second, we’d like to emphasize the importance of hiring a Pupil Services Director who places heavy emphasis on collaboration and open communication with families and is committed to collaborative problem solving and parent involvement. We believe that parent involvement in the education process can lead to:

* Better programming for special education students as both special education staff and parents can offer a wealth of knowledge and experience,

* Improved educational outcomes for students,

* A better working environment for staff, and

* Fewer cases of educational disputes being elevated to a legal level resulting in less money spent on legal fees and more money spent on children’s educations.

As you may know, a number of families with children receiving special education services both in and outside of the district do not currently feel heard by the district when it comes to their children’s educational needs. Some feel that the district does not currently put an emphasis on working cooperatively with parents, either on large-scale issues like program design or on small-scale issues such as individual IEP development. Additionally, a number of parents and taxpayers feel stymied in their attempts to engage in open communication with the district and ability to work collaboratively to solve problems.

Given the district’s stated mission and values and the diverse student body, including 17% of special education students, we believe it is very important to take the time necessary to do a thorough search process and hire a highly qualified and experienced person as the district’s next Pupil Services Director. We hope you will consider these parent concerns and interests throughout the hiring process. It is our hope that the next Pupil Services Director will bring a new vision and a fresh perspective to this role and that he/she will prioritize open communication and collaboration with special education families.

Thank you for your consideration.

cc: Superintendent Glenn Brand

cc: School Committee Members

Signed,

Jennifer Brown

Debra Simes

Maria Greene

Pina Madera

Bill Brown

Jean Zhang

Thomas Beals

Dorene Bowe-Shulman

Mary Bowe-Shulman