2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the birth of modern special education. In 1975 Congress passed what’s now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA.
Throughout the year, Boston 25 News is celebrating the achievements of students and educators. We’re also highlighting the challenges and barriers that still exist in our state for young people with special needs.
When you visit with students at the Kevin O’Grady School in Beverly, you might only see the challenges they face. But in this program, the focus isn’t on the hurdles, rather everything the students can achieve.
Success is measured in smiles, small movements, and subtle sounds.
“As soon as we came here, we felt like we belonged,” said Shannon Perry of Danvers. Perry’s 9-year-old daughter, Mary attends the program.
Mary has had medical complications since the first weeks of her life. She has cerebral palsy, is non-verbal, and needs her wheelchair to get around. She has a gastrointestinal tube.
A typical school was never an option for Mary.
“We were totally in the dark about this path we were going on,” Perry says.
She says thankfully, the Danvers school district, where the family lives, quickly referred her to the Northshore Education Consortium and its program at the Kevin O’Grady School.
Mary started at age 3 and has attended daily ever since.
“We just felt this immediate sense of relief,” Perry says. “Well, she smiles in anticipation of things and in reaction to things. She’s learned to use her right arm to indicate wants and needs, both in school and at home.”
Fran Rosenberg is the Executive Director of the Northshore Education Consortium, which oversees the Kevin O’Grady School.
“None of us can learn or meet our maximum potential if we don’t feel like we belong or that we’re understood or fully included,” Rosenberg says.
Rosenberg is also the president of MOEC or Massachusetts Organization of Educational Collaboratives.
“Every child has the right to not just an appropriate education, but a great education, right? And that we should be able to provide that for all of our kids.”
But Rosenberg says Massachusetts has a capacity problem, especially for children with behavioral disorders, social emotional issues, and severe autism. Rosenberg pointed to one contributing issue is the ongoing workforce shortage.
There are 24 special education collaboratives in Massachusetts helping school districts meet the needs of all children. According to MOEC,18 of them recently responded to a survey revealing all but one have students on a waitlist. 489 students are either on waiting lists or, the programs had to decline their acceptance altogether.
The 1975 guarantees a free and appropriate education public education for all children with disabilities. Rosenberg says lack of capacity and funding can leave some kids behind.
“I think people in schools really care about doing what’s right for kids, but they’re really up against tight resources,” she says.
Funding for special education is done primarily on the local level.
“Unfortunately, when there aren’t enough dollars going into the system, you’re sort of pitting different groups of kids against each other,” says Rosenberg,
This MOEC and advocates are pushing lawmakers to reexamine how the funds are allocated so that all kids get the type of education that best suits their needs. MOEC is asking the state to reimburse more of the costs that local districts pay out for special education. They believe taking some of the cost burden away cities and towns will enable some of these vitals resources for kids to expand.
Kids like 9-year-old Mary, who Shannon Perry says has thrived in her setting.
“This is the place in this world where Mary is just like everybody else. She fits in. She has her peers, and all the kids are like Mary. And she’s just Mary here.”
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