Bring charter schools to EP, lay them all off, all 500. I work 180 days a year, I need a raise, please!!!

I think his name is Daft not Taft. Not sure but might want to check.

His name is Daft not Taft. Laying off any special education would be a devastating to special needs children.

Hi users! Thanks for the correction. I typed the story very late last night.

Obviously Paul does not have a special needs student. Our special needs student has made remarkable progress since we moved to EP, EP is much better compared to some other districts in this state, and would be a big loss for us.

And Paul's solution is to put them on disability... hmm who pays for that? The taxpayer, either way - in school or on disability. At least at school, they are getting an education

We should not forget the benefits that the Bradley Partnership has brought to EP.

EP is lucky to have always had a strong special ed division.

Kids are now lucky to have access to Bradley specialists.

A win/win as Deborah Gist has highlighted.

Thanks Tony, Mario and the prior school committee for making this program available to our kids.

The Bradley student have access to Bradley specialists - not the EP students. They are in the EP schools and EP is paying $41,000. a year for each student to be educated by Bradley in the East Providence Schools. They use several classrooms, cafeteria, gym, nurse and more and in some cases only have 4 -5 students in the classrooms. Not sure if this program is really a win/win.

If you asked the kids in the program and their parents they would say it is a win/win.

I don't think this budget commission would allow for a failed program to continue if it wasnt good for the city and the kids.

Sometimes, our anger at the unions is misdirected.

It's never good for someone to lose their job, even if we feel that the teachers union (through shell organizations like the Working Families Coalition) stole elections. It's never good for us to belittle fire fighters and the police because their union leaders and their political lackeys negotiated expensive contracts that are now bringing our city to its knees. It's also not the fault of the special needs kids that they are disabled; that should not be cause to deny them an education.

The unions and the politicians have taken much from our City. Don't allow them to take our sense of compassion, and our respect for those who keep us safe and who teach our children.

Is occupational and physical and speech therapy considered "education"? How much of the school budget is spent on special education covering these "medical" therapies?

Paul your such an idiot, it's people like you who are pathetic excuses for human beings!

Actually Paul maybe you should go on disability for your stupidity!!!!!!

Paul is an idiot and obviously has no compassion or regard for people I believe what you are stating is called discrimination

Hi everyone - dialogue is encouraged. These are noteworthy issues. But please keep it clean.

I do not wish to make little of the needs for special Ed. As Charlie asked “why does EP seem to have a disproportionately high amount of special Ed students”? I think Jacks comment may shed some insight here. He appears to have moved here partially because the special Ed program here is very good, better than several communities he compared he states.
We spend a lot of school funds on special Ed, and I have yet to see a superintendent’s report mentioned as to how well this money is being spent.
I am not saying we should cut this funding but the taxpayers deserve an explanation in real terms of how a disability is defined and how special the resultant education needs to be. I know every person is precious and deserves the best chances they can get; their training early is very much responsible for their success later.
And the costs to provide that training are very much the right of the taxpayer to understand how that affects them and their city’s future. Come on Daft step up and explain to us what we need to understand about the issue, after all you are the person with the answers !!

Our property taxes (taxes in general) continue to rise as people continue to move here because we have such a great special ed department. Many of these folks dont pay taxes because they rent apartments. We need to stop acting as though it's our job to save the world. My house is now on the market and hopefully is sold soon god willing because we can not afford to live in East Providence anymore. When we bought our home we couldn't afford Seekonk, so we settled here and now we are looking in Seekonk because we can no longer afford EP. It's crazy.

Can someone explain to me what is so good about our special ed dept here in EP? I am not asking to be sarcastic. I am genuinely curious and would like to hear something good about this school system for a change.