LYNN — The school district’s Parent Advisory Council met Monday night to see the results of the Life Skills program review presented by independent consultants.
Parents present at the meeting expressed their bitter frustration with the program.
Administrator of Special Education Phylitia Jamerson promised to develop an action plan based on the review recommendations and findings, as well as on the collaborative efforts of various levels of administrations, teachers, paraprofessionals, related service providers, community agencies, and parents.
Parents complained about the lack of trust between parents, teachers, and administration, not getting responses from the district, the inadequate or lack of vocational training, and concerns that their kids are not getting everything they need to become successful adults.
In response, Jamerson said she has “always acknowledged that there were issues with the program.” She suggested scheduling meetings with the engaged parents to encourage them to have a voice and a presence in the improvement of the program.
“I want it to be collaborative,” said Jamerson. “I want the community involved. I want the parents involved. I want the teachers involved. I want the related service providers involved, the building-based administrators. I think it is going to take all of us to develop this program and build it up.
Jamerson said when she started her position four years ago, a parent reached out to her to raise concerns about the program.
She realized issues “needed to be addressed.”
She said that the pandemic put a hold on this initiative, but “this year we want to start again with looking at the program and looking at the program review.”
Invited as independent special-education consultants, Robert McArdle and Sandra Einsel interviewed 21 secondary department heads, middle and high school principals, special-education teachers assigned to the program, as well as speech pathologists, and other professionals involved.
In the course of that work the consultants tried to establish the themes that needed to be addressed.
While giving a positive review of such accomplishments, among others, as supportive culture that existed at each program level and mentoring, McArdle and Einsel also outlined several areas that could be improved. These included what could be broadly described as the lack of communication and the relevant protocols and vocational training.
According to the consultants, some of the major problems can be addressed through developing the mission statement of the program and “program descriptors” — “something that tells parents and staff specifically what the program is intended to do and how it is intended to work.”
Another pressing issue identified by McArdle and Einsel is high staff turnover that can be addressed through exit interviews and other means that still need to be identified.
“(It’s about) really getting a sense that there is a staff turnover articulating and trying to really zone in on what we need to do as a district to hold on to the quality teachers that we’ve been losing,” said McArdle.
Jamerson stressed that it was important to understand that the review was not a pass or fail mark, but rather a review that looked at all the programs “as a whole,” to begin building a new environment.
The consultants said it might take one to two years to build this program to its full capacity. However, some of the adjustments can be finished quicker than that.
“The action plan will have dates and timelines and different things of when things will be implemented, how they will be implemented and who is coming in. I get that it is going to take a lot of work; we are dedicated to that work,” said Jamerson.
The meeting ended amicably.
“Tonight is a good start of the communication building — a very enjoyable evening,” said McArdle.
