NORTHAMPTON — The state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has further faulted Northampton Public Schools for failing to provide needed support for students with disabilities, concluding an additional investigation partially prompted by a hot-mic incident earlier in the year.
That incident involved a NPS staff meeting with Gaurav Jashnani, a parent of a student at Bridge Street Elementary School, who complained to DESE that his student did not always have a paraeducator present, as is spelled out in the student’s Individual Education Plan, or IEP. IEPs provided to students with disabilities detail additional classroom accommodations tailored to students’ needs.
Following the meeting, Jashnani received a transcript that showed staff members continuing to talk after he had left. One of the staff members appears to acknowledge that the district is not always able to follow IEPs.
“I do think that the reality of the situation is that we don’t always … I mean, we should, but we don’t always give kids everything they should get on their IEP,” said one of the staff members, who is not named in the transcript. “This is not a good thing, but in some ways I do think it’s kind of understood, that sometimes there isn’t coverage or sometimes there isn’t staffing or whatever.”
In an interview with the Gazette, Jashnani said that transcript motivated him to file a second complaint with DESE in April regarding whether the district fully implemented IEPs involving paraeducator support for any student at Bridge Street as well as JFK Middle School.
“This complaint did stem in part from that hot-mic transcript, but it also stemmed from going to City Council meetings and hearing what parents, teachers and even students were telling our elected officials,” Jashnani said. “Students are not getting what they need as accommodations for their disabilities, and our officials have known about it.”
The school district had also launched its own investigation regarding the hot-mic incident, but ultimately cleared staffers of any wrongdoing based on the statements made.
The report by DESE, issued on Aug. 22, found that the district did not fully implement IEPs for all students at Bridge Street due to not having the required paraprofessional support. The district similarly failed to comply with fully implementing the IEPs of students at JFK, according to the DESE report.
“The Department has determined that staff absences were neither infrequent nor isolated,” the report states. “Based on the District’s staff’s own report, this frequently caused students to miss services and/or be without sufficient staff support.”
The report also notes that JFK and Bridge Street staff had addressed these concerns during School Committee meetings held over the last year. In October of 2024, Bridge Street staff stated that special education teachers sometimes had to step in to provide services when paraeducators are absent, instead of their usual special education services.
In January and February of 2025, JFK staff said that special education teachers were sometimes asked to serve as substitute teachers instead of their regular duties, and that paraeducators are sometimes required to work with students other than those they are assigned to work with. The report also found that the district did not have adequate paraeducator support for around 15% of students who required it.
The report includes a statement from the district denying that staffing issues caused an inability to fulfill IEPs of students at JFK.
“Teacher absences are an operational reality of any school,” the statement read. “In such instances, building administration takes steps to ensure the continuity of instruction and the safety and supervision of all students. The District denies that this operational challenge constitutes a systemic failure to implement IEPs.”
As a result of the most recent investigation by DESE, the district must submit a procedure to determine which special education teachers or paraeducators will be assigned coverage of staff absences, as well as a spreadsheet for one grade level at JFK that shows each student with IEP needs for paraeducator coverage. Those documents must be submitted to DESE by Sept. 19.
In a statement to the Gazette this week, NPS Superintendent Portia Bonner said the district is committed to ensuring all students receive the support they need in a safe and supportive learning environment.
“The DESE report identifies areas for improvement, and NPS is fully committed to implementing all required corrective actions,” Bonner said. “Many of these areas had already been recognized by the current administration before the report was finalized, and steps to address them are underway.”
Bonner said the actions underway by the district include creating a system to track missed services, reviewing service interruptions and strengthening documentation of IEP support.