Parents told the school board that students in a Buckeye Elementary special‑education classroom were routinely dismissed well before their classmates and urged the district to provide compensatory education and greater oversight.

David Westfall, a parent of a student in the Gateway “moderate spirit” program, said his son’s class was dismissed 45 minutes earlier than general‑education peers and that the practice continued for roughly two years before the district corrected the dismissal schedule. “Fixing the dismissal now does not erase the harm already done,” Westfall said. “Students in this program lost hundreds of hours of instructional time, and they are owed compensatory education to make up for that loss.”

Why it matters: Parents said the schedule change denied equal access to instruction and procedural safeguards because they were not given prior notice and were not asked for consent. Those claims raise possible special‑education procedural and civil‑rights concerns that parents said require a formal review.

A second parent, Tristan Lemay, whose son is in the same classroom, described long‑running problems he called systemic: shortened school days, limited in‑class supports and a pattern of services that “meet only the minimum” and resemble daycare rather than instructional programming. “These children are suffering every day,” Lemay said. He also raised concerns about therapy provided by video conferencing, saying it was ineffective for many students and that poor school services blocked families from obtaining outside supports that could be reimbursed by other programs.

Discussion vs. action: The statements were made during public comment; the board did not take formal action during the comment period. A board member indicated the district would gather more information in response to the speakers’ concerns, but the transcript does not record any formal investigation directive or vote on compensatory education during the meeting.

Details from the record: Parents said the early dismissal persisted after they raised concerns two years earlier and that the district’s recent schedule correction did not address past lost instructional hours. Westfall asked the board for transparency, accountability and safeguards to prevent recurrence; Lemay urged better pay and support for special‑education staff and warned of long‑term fiscal and social costs if services remain inadequate.

What’s next: The parents asked for a district review and compensatory education determinations; the board did not announce a formal timeline or specific follow‑up action in the provided transcript.