Watertown Panel Hears Special Ed Survey Results

School Committee · Meeting of June 15, 2026

WATERTOWN — The Watertown School Committee's Curriculum Subcommittee reviewed caregiver survey results showing families distrust special education communication. The superintendent reported 171 families responded to a special education survey and 48 to a 504 plan survey, with 53 families also participating in listening sessions. Communication ranked as the top concern in 92 open-ended responses, followed by trust and difficulty "navigating the special education system." Twelve responses described distrust of "district level administration, citing dismissiveness and adversarial dynamics." A staff member called the themes "triangulated" across the survey, listening sessions and a separate parent advisory group survey.

The district's year-one special education improvement strategy, revised since a March draft, is due for presentation June 22. A separate DEIB report showed at least 99 percent of elementary households are reachable through the ParentSquare communication platform.

In the full story:

• Caregiver Survey Methodology and Response Rates
• Quantitative Survey Findings: Communication and Trust
• Open-Ended Themes: Communication, Trust and Navigating the System
• Subcommittee Debate: Missing Academic Data, Scale Consistency and Student Voice
• The 504 Plan Survey: Implementation Gaps in General Education Classrooms
• Special Education Improvement Strategy Deferred to June 22
• DEIB End-of-Year Report: Family Engagement Facilitators
• Student Leadership and Restorative Practices
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,167 words

Source: the School Committee meeting of June 15, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.