Thank you for publishing the April 26 story, “Brunswick parents object to changes to school special education service,” by Jason Claffey. I would like to add some important context.

In the article, Superintendent Phil Potenziano was quoted as saying that the district will continue to “focus on minimizing regression.” However, when pressed multiple times in emails from me and other parents, he and his staff failed to address the regression which will likely occur during the nearly six-week gap between the end of the extended school year (ESY) and the start of school in the fall, which resulted from a shift and shortening of the ESY session.

Phil and his staff were also asked multiple times to explain why the ESY was cut nearly in half, from 60 to 80 hours in the past to just 36 hours this year, only saying that the decision was not a budgetary one. If it wasn’t a budgetary decision, then why was it cut back at all, not to mention so drastically? It makes no sense considering the purpose of the ESY is to minimize students’ regression.

Moreover, Brunswick’s ESY falls far short of similar communities — Yarmouth, Falmouth and Cumberland — whose ESY sessions last for six weeks compared with Brunswick’s four and operate for 16 hours per week (a session total of 96 hours) compared with Brunswick’s nine hours per week (a session total of just 36 hours.) Of the 10 nearby school districts that I surveyed by phone, only two, Freeport and Lewiston, operate for as few hours as Brunswick, while the remaining districts have far more robust sessions than Brunswick. Lisbon offers 80 hours per session; Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Topsham, and Harpswell all offer 64 hours per session; Bath offers 48 hours per session.

My hope is that among Maine’s school districts, Brunswick would choose to be a champion for its most vulnerable student population by expanding its ESY rather than cutting it back to what appears to be a bare minimum.

I’m disheartened by the way the district has handled these concerns for our children who have no way of advocating for themselves — some of them literally have no voice — or rallying support from their peers and from the larger community.

Brunswick schools, please do better by our kids.