BCSD Kid

It’s about time!

Governor Kathy Hochul signed Legislation A2687/S5569 which establishes the Center for Dyslexia and Dysgraphia within the State Education Department to improve how schools identify and support students with these reading and writing difficulties. The Center will create a statewide approach for collecting and sharing best practices, set standards for universal screening in K-5th grade and for new entrants, and establish evidence-based interventions and teacher training. It will also develop a guidebook within two years, updated at least every five years, covering legal responsibilities, screening practices, instructions, approaches grounded in the science of reading, and effective Individual Education Program development and accommodations. By signing this bill, the Governor demonstrates her commitment to ensuring New York students have the best educational outcomes nationwide — and that mission includes supporting the nearly one-in-five children navigating learning disabilities in the classroom.

Governor Hochul Signs Legislation to Establish New York’s Center for Dyslexia and Dysgraphia to Improve Outcomes for Students with Learning Disabilities Governor Hochul signed Legislation A2687/S5569 which establishes the Center for Dyslexia and Dysgraphia within the State Education Department to improve how schools identify and support students with these reading and writing difficulties.

Wed, Apr 2, 7:00 pm
Run Time: 75 min.

Left Behind tells the powerful story of a group of passionate mothers who unite to create the first public dyslexic school in New York City, the largest school district in the country.

A Q&A session follows the film.

Dyslexia impacts one in five children worldwide, yet while 20% of the population has this learning difference, a staggering 48% of incarcerated individuals are dyslexic. Families without financial means often lack access to essential testing and tailored curricula that their children desperately need. In a city like New York, where 70% of students are Black and Brown, around 200,000 children are left without the support they need to thrive. Kareem Weaver, who heads the Education Committee for the NAACP in Oakland, CA, and a key figure in our film, calls this the defining civil rights issue of our time. Dyslexia is not a barrier to success; many high-profile dyslexics—including 35% of entrepreneurs, filmmakers, musicians, and actors—prove that. Their unique brain wiring can hinder letter recognition but enhance creativity, risk-taking, and innovative thinking.

This film emphasizes the loss of potential brilliance and showcases a group of mothers fighting for equality in our education system. We aim to spark outrage, inspire hope, and ignite a desire for action among viewers.

Left Behind Left Behind tells the powerful story of a group of passionate mothers who unite to establish New York City’s first public dyslexic school, challenging an education system that fails thousands of children. Despite dyslexia affecting 1 in 5 people, many students—particularly in underserved communi...

🚨 A Critical Moment for BCSD Special Education – 10+ Years in the Making 🚨

For over 10 years, we—parents, advocates, and community members—have been fighting for meaningful improvements in special education at BCSD. Now, the district has finally completed a comprehensive review, and while progress is happening, there is still work to be done!

✅ The Key Issues We’ve Been Raising for Years:
📌 A real commitment to inclusion—not just words, but action
📌 Trust and transparency between the district and families
📌 Expanding critical special education programs to meet student needs
📌 Ensuring strong, stable leadership
📌 Fixing staffing and scheduling issues that impact services
📌 Improving IEPs—ensuring they include measurable, meaningful goals that drive student progress
📌 Changing the culture—special education must be a shared priority across leadership, teachers, and staff, not just an afterthought

💡 Why This Matters:
Too many of our children have struggled due to gaps in services, unclear processes, and a system that hasn’t always put their needs first. We’ve fought for change—and we’re not stopping now.

🔥 Now Is the Time to Speak Up! 🔥
👉 Attend district meetings—demand real accountability
👉 Get involved with SEPTO and special education advocacy groups
👉 Share your experiences and push for action, not just discussion
👉 Support real solutions that ensure every student gets what they need

📢 We’ve been fighting for years—let’s make sure this is the moment real change happens.

Special Education Review Report The full report, as well as an executive summary are available for review

“As I recently reported for The Free Press, the trend for grade inflation is becoming a national problem for all students, with New York, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma recently lowering the “cut scores” on their tests so students appear to be performing better—even as national standardized tests show that American kids’ proficiency in reading and math is at the lowest level in thirty years.

William’s lawsuit exposes how this phenomenon impacts some of our country’s most vulnerable students. As his second suit states, the district “has a pattern, policy, or practice of allowing students” with learning disabilities “to suffer with illiteracy.” This illiteracy “affects, and will continue to affect, William in profound and staggering ways relating to his engagement in public life—the right to vote, understand contracts and rights, find work, pay bills, read medication labels, secure housing, and participate in his own education.””

EXCLUSIVE: A High Schooler Graduated with a 3.4 GPA. He Couldn’t Even Read. Now, the Tennessee teen is suing his school district, Frannie Block reports.

Kelly Clarkson and U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. exchanged deeply personal experiences about parenting and getting through to their children with dyslexia in a recent conversation.

Kelly Clarkson opens up about having a child with dyslexia: ‘I feel like I’m failing’ The singer spoke to U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. about their effort to improve education for children with dyslexia.

Incredible opportunity to see this important film, free of charge!

Today is the BCSD budget vote! Please go vote at your zoned elementary school and Vote NO on the proposed 4.16% tax increase to Pound Ridge Residents.

The proposed $155,825,000.00 budget results in funding employee salaries using reserves, and adds more administrators to our already bloated Administration- while enrollment continues to decline.

Many worry needlessly that a budget defeat will somehow hurt the kids. This is a fear tactic and it is a lie. A budget defeat simply means the board and administration get an opportunity to revise the budget and put it back up for a vote. An austerity or contingency budget only happens if the budget is defeated a second time.

A budget defeat does not equate to more teachers being fired - that is fear mongering, plain and simple. This budget is irresponsible and is cutting music, art, and PE. It is creating larger class sizes at the MS - and these are only things we have discovered after the fact because a detailed line item budget has never been provided to the community. No budget to actuals data has been provided and no projections have been provided, either.

If this budget passes, next year will likely be a rewind of this year, with the same cuts to EC’s and other student centered positions over cuts to unnecessary administrators like the Assistant Athletic Director. Stop the madness now with a NO VOTE.

Please copy and share this post with your friends who are not on social media.

Big News!!

Tonight the Board of Education is poised to approve aligned curriculum, Bookworms, for all elementary schools except MKES. MKES will be using ARC, a curriculum that is controversial in that it appears to still utilize 3 cueing and whole language, but it is designed to work for dual language.

This is a huge moment for Bedford Central Schools, and it took a LOT of advocacy and hard work to get us to this point.

I am hopeful that with these changes and more still to come for secondary (HS and MS) literacy, that no child in BCSD ever has to suffer the effects of illiteracy.

For the last three years, our educators have worked tirelessly to learn the pedagogy and science of reading. The goal is simple: help every child reach their fullest reading potential.

We never set out to be a state model; our focus was always to do right by the children of Marietta. Along the way, we did both.

And don’t take my word for it. Yesterday, MCS was featured by NPR. The screenshot of the segment says it all.

Thank you to our Marietta Board of Education and our elementary educators - you both have set a new standard for literacy in Georgia. I could not be more proud and honored to work with and for you.

https://www.wabe.org/georgia-officials-are-changing-how-students-are-taught-to-read-educators-in-marietta-are-the-blueprint/

We are honored to release our newest podcast with literacy expert Dr Margie Gillis. Margie has been teaching children to read for over 40 years. Enjoy!

Watch Episode 8 here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0RAX7I5aeU72XaoGLJSXGy?si=6LOBnWR_QZ-1_Hf1q4-ivQ

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This is why LETRS training is critical for any district seeking to implement SOR aligned curriculum. Before students can be taught, teachers must first ve educated in the Science of Reading.

Few Teachers Learn About 'Science of Reading' in Their Prep Programs. Some Colleges Are Working on That As states and districts mandate evidence-based literacy practices, the burden of training in this approach falls primarily on teachers.