Kyla Malladi is the co-chair of Stoneham's Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC). She's also a mother. Her daughter Riley has been on an Individualized Education Program (IEP) through Stoneham's Special Education department for over six years, receiving multiple services to help her succeed in school.

Throughout those years, Riley's education has been repeatedly disrupted by staff shortages and the district's inability to attract and retain qualified personnel at the salaries Stoneham offers.

When Riley was in first grade, her vision specialist was unexpectedly out for three months. Stoneham couldn't fill the vacancy. For those three months, Riley received no vision support in the classroom. Because of the nature of her disability, compensatory services couldn't make up for the lost time. The damage was done.

Last year, when Riley was in third grade, the district was unable to hire a physical therapist at the salary they offered. The adaptive physical education teacher was also on leave for part of the year, and that position remained unfilled. For most of last year, Riley didn't receive any physical therapy and had no support to help her fully participate in gym class. The district couldn't provide compensatory services for physical therapy during the Extended School Year program. Riley missed almost an entire school year of physical therapy.

Riley also has Type 1 diabetes and requires regular monitoring by the school nurse. For the past several years, the middle school nurse position has appeared on the chopping block during budget discussions. Each year, parents and nurses have fought to keep it. Next year, Riley will be at the middle school.

Even though her diabetes is well-controlled, she still requires monitoring throughout the day and intervention multiple times every single day. Just last week, her blood sugar dropped to the low 40s, an extremely dangerous level. Without the nurse's prompt intervention and monitoring, Riley could have lost consciousness and been sent to the emergency room. If her blood sugar runs too high or her insulin pump fails, she can go into diabetic ketoacidosis and require hospitalization.

The school nurse quite literally prevents life-threatening situations multiple times a week. And every year, that position is threatened.

Since Riley started with Stoneham Public Schools, many of her teachers and therapists have left their positions. Most cite the low pay scale as their reason for leaving. Her first grade teacher, third grade teacher, speech language pathologist, physical therapist, and adaptive PE teacher all left Stoneham at the end of last year. Each one took valuable knowledge and experience with them.

Each time a new specialist joins Riley's team, it takes time for them to get up to speed with her behaviors, her speech and movement patterns, her IEP. Progress stalls. Trust has to be rebuilt. The work of learning begins again.

"As a parent, it's frustrating to feel like I'm always having to fight for my kid to get what they need to be successful in school. I frequently feel like I'm fighting the district to communicate with me when there are gaps in services, I'm fighting for Riley to get the services she requires, and I'm fighting the community who has no understanding of special education and have little to no empathy for what parents are going through."

As SEPAC co-chair, Kyla hears from many families about their experiences with special education in Stoneham. The pattern she describes with Riley isn't unique, it's systemic.

Every year there are gaps in services being provided, and those gaps are not always communicated to families. Any missing services are supposed to be tracked and compensatory services offered to make up for the time that's missed. But open staff positions frequently mean that compensatory services cannot be provided, even during the summer Extended School Year program.

Last year, a physical therapist wasn't hired until just before Thanksgiving. That person left before winter break. Another therapist wasn't identified until March, when the district had to contract with an agency at higher cost. Students went approximately six months without physical therapy. Communication went home saying compensatory services would be offered during the summer. Those services couldn't be provided because the position still wasn't filled.

Kyla often hears from families that their student isn't receiving the Educational Support Personnel (ESP) support outlined in their IEP. She hears that students' counseling sessions are being cut short or not provided due to openings for school psychologists. Just this year, within the first month and a half of school, she heard reports of missing ESP, speech, counseling, Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA), occupational therapy, and reading intervention services.

Families often report that their first knowledge of these missing services comes from their student rather than receiving advanced notice.

"Imagine your six-year-old coming home and telling you that they won't be receiving vision support for three months and it's the first you're hearing of it. That's what happened to us, and I'm thankful that my child could communicate that to me."

The unspoken question hangs in the air: What about the children who can't communicate that to their parents?

Beth Inconiglios is a veteran kindergarten teacher with over twelve years of experience in early childhood education, including nine years teaching in Stoneham. She has watched the special education support system in her school crumble.

Over the past four or five years, Beth has seen programming slashed due to budget cuts and huge numbers of special education staff leave because of these issues.

At South School alone, the district lost their adjustment counselor of six years, their BCBA of three years, their second school psychologist in less than two years, and their special education coordinator, all last summer.

"Our entire support system for our most at-risk students gone in less than two months."

The consequences show up in her classroom daily. In the past few years, Beth has had to evacuate her classroom multiple days a week to give dysregulated students space to calm down. That means her entire class of kindergarteners leaves with her so one student can have the room. She has had to remove the entirety of her classroom, including furniture and learning materials, into the hallways. She has had personal property destroyed. She has been Safety Care trained, learning de-escalation techniques, because of the needs of students in her classroom.

"I've had to fight for those students to receive the correct supports in school to help them learn to the best of their ability. Why? Because the special education programming has been demolished in our town."

Here's the irony that Beth points out: when students don't get the support they need in Stoneham, where do they go? They get outplaced to specialized programs in other districts or private schools, "costing Stoneham millions of dollars each year."

We are spending more money by cutting supports. Students who could succeed in Stoneham with proper staffing and resources are instead sent away from their community, their neighborhood friends, their sense of belonging. The town pays far more for outplacements than it would cost to properly staff the programs here.

This is the financial paradox at the heart of our special education crisis. We have already cut 27 certified staff positions and 12 non-certified positions from the schools. Teachers and specialists are leaving for better pay in neighboring towns. Students are going months without mandated services. And the budget pressure continues to mount.

Without an override, the School Committee has stated that 50 to 60 more positions will need to be eliminated. (Source: 18:55) All non-mandated programming would be cut. That includes guidance counselors, educational support personnel, and the very staff who make the difference between a student managing in a general education classroom and a student in crisis.

Two override questions will appear on the ballot. The $12.5 million option would stabilize school and town budgets and allow the district to restore positions that have been cut. The $9.3 million option would address some needs but not all. Either option is better than nothing, which would mean devastation.

Without an override, there will be more children like Riley going without physical therapy for an entire school year. More classrooms being evacuated multiple times a week because teachers lack support. More families fighting alone to get their children the services the law requires. More teachers leaving Stoneham for districts that can afford to pay them what they're worth.

That $4.7 million increase in special education costs over two years? It represents children who can learn and thrive with proper support. It represents teachers who want to help but desperately need resources and backup. It represents families who shouldn't have to fight this hard for their children to receive what federal and state law guarantees them.

The cost of doing nothing isn't just financial. It's measured in lost potential, in childhood struggles that could have been prevented, in families who will eventually leave town because Stoneham cannot meet their children's needs.

Kyla said she's thankful that Riley could communicate to her when services were missing. Not every child can do that. Not every family has a SEPAC co-chair's knowledge of what their rights are and how to fight for them.

The question on the ballot isn't really about whether we can afford an override. It's about whether we can afford not to pass one. It's about what kind of community we want to be, and whether we believe that every child deserves the support they need to learn, regardless of disability, regardless of cost, regardless of how the numbers look on a spreadsheet.

Vote yes on both Questions 1 and 2. Pass the full $12.5m override. Because behind every number is a child who deserves better than what we're currently able to provide, and half-measures won't fix a crisis this deep.