Many families inside the Vestal School District community are experiencing and have experienced discrimination against their children with intellectual disabilities. When a student completes the elementary grades, many times BOCES has been presented as the next best placement for the middle and high school years (sometimes earlier), or a public school outside of the district, instead of keeping students in programs inside of the district. Many parents, assumed our schools have the best interest of our kids in mind, and did not realize that this did not comply with IDEA and LRE law and acquiesced. Parents did not always realize that they have the right to refuse that their children be bussed to a segregated school or a public school away from their local peers and community. Vestal school district can lose their federal funding if they do not comply with these laws. None of us want that. This has been happening for years, and now the numbers for the remaining students with special needs at Vestal is significantly smaller, which perhaps was the district’s plan all along.

Starting this 2021-2022 school year there is no longer an 8:1:1 class available for special education in the middle or high school at Vestal. Students that need this class for middle and high school have no choice to be included inside of our Vestal school district. We believe that this impacts the entire community and not just the individuals directly affected. If we really love our neighbors, than loving our neighbor, in part, is calling attention to injustices. As a society, we should be moving toward more inclusion, more kindness, more acceptance, and our schools are an excellent space for these values to be modeled for our children.

Many of these students have thrived inside of this program, and let me clearly state how exceptional so many of the teachers, aides, other paraprofessionals and principals are and how much they love our children. This is not in regards to those amazing people at all, or what they have done for our kids with special needs. This is a systematic problem within the school.

The 8:1:1 special education classes previously have adhered to the federal law that students with disabilities receive their education in the least restrictive environment (LRE - an important part of IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). This meant students were included in general education classes with their peers as much as appropriate for each individual student. Research proves just how vital this kind of inclusions is for ALL students, and goes a long way in modeling those values mentioned above.

Per the law:
“special classes, separate schools, or removal from the general education class should only happen when a child’s learning or thinking difference - a ‘disability’ under IDEA - is so severe that supplementary aids and services can’t provide the child with an appropriate education.”

Most of these students that have been, or are being, excluded from an education in our district do not fit this “so severe” category, and therefore should legally continue to receive special education through the Vestal school district, inside of the Vestal school district, and with their peers. However, the Vestal school district no longer will have appropriate and adequate services for these students in the middle and high school levels.

Beginning this fall these students, who have grown up in, and been a part of, the Vestal schools will no longer be welcomed in their own school district. These students will no longer have the special education program in their local school that they have received up until now, and will no longer be able to continue their education with their peers in our district. This is not in compliance with, and directly opposed to, the district’s legal obligations to our students.

This teaches all of our children that when someone is different than us, we send them away, that differences are not desirable, and that students with special needs are not as deserving of an education as other students. Vestal spends so much time developing their IB diploma program, AP program, and sports programs, which is great, but equal time needs to be poured into developing a special education program for the middle and high school levels. Our children deserve that.

This is something happening right under our noses that many may not be aware of, and I fear that many parents in this situation may not know that what is happening to our children is illegal. We have a right to demand Vestal to continue to educate our children. This is an “us” problem (not an us vs. them), we all belong to one another, and this impacts our society and community as a whole. I am hopeful that maybe with some more voices and shedding a little light on this problem we can ensure that all children in our Vestal school district receive the quality education that is their human right to have. Please help be a voice and shed light on this by signing and sharing this petition.  ALL of our children deserve to belong and to be included and to receive an equal education in the Vestal school district.