The school board in Massachusetts was overheard on a live microphone describing a father of a student as a ‘pain in the a**’ while he was advocating for his disabled child’s rights.

Gaurav Jashnani spoke up for his child’s requirements earlier this year to support his autistic son with ADHD. He later discovered that the board had made disrespectful remarks about him after the meeting.

As he read the transcript comments weeks later on March 13 at another School Committee meeting, he shocked listeners with what was said. 

‘After the meeting had ended, this was then transcribed and submitted to the state and to me,’ he said. 

Jashnani said that in the transcript the board ‘insulted him’ and compared him to a family member who is a ‘pain in the a**.’  

He continued that the board seemed to have tried to look up his social media and referred to him as ‘one of those “Save Our Schools” people.’ 

‘Concerningly indicating their prejudice toward my possible political affiliations during a meeting about services for my child,’ he continued. 

‘One of them… casually admits general and systematic non-compliance with IEPs as a norm in our school district.’

Jashnani read comments from one speaker who allegedly admitted that the school doesn’t ‘always give kids everything they should get on their IEP.’  

According to Jashnani, the speaker stated, ‘”And I think in some way, and this is not a good thing, but in some ways I do think its kind of understood. That sometimes there isn’t coverage or sometimes there isn’t staffing or whatever.”‘

‘”But then there are some people who, like this, come from a different community so he kind of doesn’t get it,”‘ Jashnani continued to read out, interjecting that the board was referring to him. 

The student’s father also claimed that in the transcript, the board admitted to ‘preying on a lack of information’ to ‘underserve’ the families of the school district. 

‘”We have so many, so many families of kids who need so much more, so much more than we give them. And they don’t know that they can come in and make a fuss,”‘ Jashnani read.

‘This is how our administrators talk about us,’ he declared. ‘Administrators admitting systematic violations of state and federal disability law and then submitting it to the state.’ 

‘This is what we have in our schools right now,’ he said.  

‘Administrators saying out loud they don’t give kids what they need,’ he said. ‘This makes me sick, I feel ill.’ 

Yet, despite the comments, Jashnani said he didn’t blame those individuals but instead made a point that they made in their comments about him; this is about funding. 

 The comments stemmed from a meeting earlier this year, where Jashnani advocated for his child not receiving the proper attention required. 

According to the transcript, obtained by the Boston Globe, the school officials continued to discuss the matter once Jashnani had left the room.  

Superintendent Portia Bonner said in a statement to the outlet: ‘Please know that the district is investigation this matter fully in consultation with our legal counsel. We will apprise the community when we have further information.’

Jashnani requested a copy of the recording of the comments, but Bonner told him it did not exist, according to a letter obtained by the Globe.  

In a Feburary 13, 2025, meeting with the school board, Jashnani’s first attendance, he advocated for the needs of all children who require better services from their school. 

‘I moved to Northampton in part because I heard good things about the schools here,’ he began. ‘My son is autistic and has ADHD. He’s also a beautiful and brilliant person.’ 

Jashnani claimed that when his son got to the school, his son’s needs didn’t go away but the help he needed to receive did. 

‘Why would he need a para-educator in his class three days a week and not the other two?’ he asked. 

‘You can imagine my surprise when last month I found out they had been violating the IEP, a legally binding document as you know, every week and possibly every day this year.’ 

He believed the issue was fixed when a para-educator was assigned to his son for five days a week, but after one week, Jashnani claimed she was reassigned with no communication to his son’s family. 

She’s since allegedly been replaced with a rotating cast of about five different people, which Jashani described as the ‘opposite’ of an autistic child’s needs of consistency and routine. 

‘I’ve learned that my sons experience is common here,’ he said. 

‘I hear students say they are being harmed in this meeting, I hear teachers say they are being literally attacked – there’s not enough staff,’ he said. ‘I’m a parent telling you this district is failing and harming my child… I expect better.’ 

 In late March, Jashnani heard back from the state about his complaint against the district. It was ruled that Northampton failed to follow state special education law, and denied Jashnani’s child the right to a free and appropriate public education as a consequence. 

The state ordered corrective action be made, requiring a student schedule to the education department be submitted by April 18, the Globe reported. 

Jashnani told the outlet he has also spoken to an attorney with plans to file a new complaint regarding the comments made, alleging systemic noncompliance. 

‘What I want to happen is not [for] those people to be scapegoated, and then everybody pretends there’s not a bigger problem,’ he told the outlet.