Parents urge return of physical books; family alleges special‑education service gaps

At the district’s public‑comment period, resident Tracy Rubin (Speaker 15) urged the board to reintroduce physical books into classrooms and the media center, saying print reading supports deeper comprehension and fewer distractions than screens. Rubin cited research attributed to Marianne Wolf and recommended a district survey of teachers, students and parents to inform practice and ensure transparency.

"Print offers advantages to deep reading processes," Rubin said, urging the board to make classroom novels tangible items rather than PDFs and to restore media‑center circulation where possible. The education committee later confirmed the intent to establish a collection of classroom novels and a media‑center set of tangible materials, but some details about circulation and an expanded checkout system were not finalized during the meeting.

Another resident, Anthony Grenier (Speaker 16), told the board his child with disabilities was receiving no education or related services through the district. He characterized the district’s current placement as "woefully deficient," said the family had been negotiating with the district attorney and requested a meeting to finalize an agreement. "It is your legal obligation to provide my child with an education," Grenier said, and asked that the district attorney call him so services can start before the end of the month.

Board leadership responded that they would look into the statements and follow up with the commenter, and that some matters would be handled in executive session or routed through appropriate district staff because of privacy considerations. The board's public‑comment rules (district policy 1100) were cited, and the district attorney read the rules before public comment began.

The meeting record shows the board endorsed reintroducing tangible classroom novels as a district initiative (education committee discussion); the timeline for broader circulation of media‑center books and details about special‑education casework were not specified in the meeting and will require follow‑up.