SEPTSA Rightsizing Report
SEPTSA has written a report on how rightsizing could affect students who receive special education services. It covers our questions and concerns about school closures, program moves and how changes would be carried out. Our members voted to approve the report. We sent it to the PPS School Board, Rightsizing Committee and Superintendent on Tuesday, October 20.
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What we found
Our early analysis of public PPS data raises these concerns:
The plan leaves students with disabilities out. The district has not shared how each scenario would impact students with disabilities, including students who are also underserved by race, multilingual learners, or experiencing poverty.
Inclusive Schools and high-poverty schools would grow the most. Schools where most families are experiencing poverty would take in nearly half of the relocating students with IEPs, even though they are only about a third of elementary schools.
Some schools may not have enough space. Many of the elementary schools we studied may not have enough classroom, service-delivery, and regulation space for students with disabilities.
Fewer small, steady settings. PPS would lose about 70% of its middle school seats in K-8 schools, which serve higher numbers of disabled students than average.
These are our early estimates. We have asked the district to check our numbers and correct them if needed.
What we’re asking for
We asked PPS to share 12 pieces of information to inform community input regarding the proposed scenarios. They include:
how each scenario would affect students with disabilities
special education staffing, space, and sensory considerations
what other options the district considered
We gave the district templates to fill in, and a tracker to record its answers publicly.
Get Involved
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Send it to your school community, PTA, friends, and neighbors. The more people we know, the harder it is to overlook students with disabilities.
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Use our sample email below or write your own. Keep it short: who you are and why you support SEPTSA’s requests.
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PPS is holding listening sessions and collecting feedback before the Superintendent’s November recommendation. Mention students with disabilities and SEPTSA’s Rightsizing Report in your feedback, even if your own child isn’t disabled.
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Families, students, educators and community members are all welcome. Joining helps us speak with a stronger voice.
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Your gift supports SEPTSA’s advocacy and programs for students with disabilities in PPS.
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If your organization supports our requests, please contact us about our partner sign-on letter.
“The story of disabled success has never been a story about one solitary disabled person overcoming limitations—despite the fact that’s the narrative we so often read in the media… We are often only as strong as our friends and family make us, only as strong as our community, only as strong as the resources and privileges we have.”