Well, grab your popcorn and settle in, because the curtain’s been pulled back on the dysfunctional little theater of government-run education — and once again, it’s uglier behind the scenes than the glossy brochure promised. This time, it’s the fine folks on a Massachusetts school board who got caught doing what bureaucrats do best: talking trash about a concerned parent behind closed doors while failing, spectacularly, to do their actual jobs.
The parent in question, Gaurav Jashnani, made the grievous error of advocating — politely, respectfully — for his disabled child’s rights. You know, basic stuff like getting the services that a legal, binding IEP says the school is required to provide. Radical concept, right? Well, apparently in the world of public education bureaucracy, speaking up about your kid’s needs makes you a “pain in the a**,” as the board so eloquently put it when they thought the microphones were off.
The insults didn’t stop there. According to a transcript that was submitted to the state — yes, submitted — the board gossiped about Jashnani’s political leanings, referred to him as “one of those ‘Save Our Schools’ people,” and even creepily admitted to snooping through his social media. Because nothing says “student-first” like weaponizing Facebook against parents. One official even remarked that people “like this” — a not-so-subtle jab about Jashnani’s background — “don’t get it.” Ah yes, the inclusive, compassionate educators we hear so much about.
Even more disturbing than the insults was the shocking honesty — or perhaps carelessness — with which these administrators admitted to systematically violating the law. As in, not delivering IEP-mandated services to kids with disabilities and hoping the parents just wouldn’t notice. One board member even said it out loud: “We don’t always give kids everything they should get on their IEP.” But hey, sometimes there’s not enough staff, sometimes there’s not enough coverage, and sometimes — let’s face it — they just don’t feel like it. That’s government accountability in action, folks.
And it’s not just incompetence. It’s strategic. These people know most families won’t raise a fuss. One of the quotes from the transcript flat-out said that they prey on “a lack of information” to underserve kids — as if it’s a business model. Maybe that’s because, deep down, they understand that if every parent like Jashnani stood up and demanded what was rightfully theirs, the entire system would collapse under its own bloated, ineffective weight.
And the kicker? When Jashnani tried to get the audio recording to confirm the insults, he was told it didn’t exist. Sure, and Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation, right? This is the classic move — deny, delay, and downplay until the news cycle moves on and the parents are too tired to keep fighting.
School officials in Northampton, Massachusetts were recorded on a hot mic admitting to denying special education services after a meeting about a child’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP). The transcript revealed them calling the child’s father, Gaurav Jashnani, “a pain in… pic.twitter.com/8X7idWihFr
— Marilyn Muller (@1in5advocacy) April 1, 2025
The truth is, this wasn’t a one-off blunder. It wasn’t some rogue staffers having a bad day. What Jashnani exposed, with receipts, is a deeply broken system where special needs kids are treated like budgetary inconveniences, and parents who advocate for them are treated like agitators. And what’s the response from the superintendent? A bland, lawyer-approved statement saying they’re “investigating.” Translation: stall until the heat dies down and maybe throw a junior staffer under the bus if it comes to that.
It should be a national scandal that public servants can sit around mocking parents, violating federal law, and playing games with the education of vulnerable children — and still collect a taxpayer-funded paycheck. But unless enough people start paying attention and demanding real change, this story will be filed away like so many others: forgotten, brushed aside, and ultimately uncorrected.
So hats off to Mr. Jashnani — not just for advocating for his child, but for exposing what happens when “public service” becomes a shield for arrogance and unaccountability. If only more parents were that kind of pain in the a**.
