Appalled by CHCCS's response to omitting disabled students

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Jessie Sue Smith Mewshaw

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Jun 4, 2026, 11:44:14 AMJun 4
to publicc...@chccs.k12.nc.us
Dear Board Members,

As a former CHCCS employee, pediatric SLP & disability advocate, I am utterly appalled, infuriated & ashamed of CHCCS's response to discovering that Chapel Hill High School omitted 12 disabled students from the 2025-2026 yearbook.

The offered solutions - a sticker, a printed sheet to shove in the yearbook "for those that want them," or reprinting ONLY for "affected students" are not solutions. They are bandaids, & poor ones at that. 

Disabled students DESERVE to be here. They deserve the recognition, respect & honor that all of their high school peers deserve. Reprint ALL the yearbooks to show those students that their disabled peers MATTER. They matter enough to find the funds & correct this omission appropriately.

Not only do these students & their families deserve private apologies, CHCCS owes the community a public apology along with a strategic plan to ensure this NEVER happens again - a plan that will allow the community to hold CHCCS accountable for inclusive support of future disabled CHCCS graduates.

If CHCCS isn't willing to take appropriate measures to correct the egregious error, then this system should discontinue performatively using the word "inclusive." There is no inclusion or equity for marginalized students without ACTION to follow those words.

I & the larger disability community look forward to HEARING from you on this matter. Continued silence on the behalf of this district serves to confirm what many of us already believe - CHCCS does not care about their disabled students. Please prove us wrong.

Sincerely,
Jessie Mewshaw


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Jessie Mewshaw, M.S., CCC-SLP (she/her/hers)
Radiant Moments & Therafriends Speech-Language Therapist
Owner of Diverge Services
Web: https://www.radiantmomentstherapy.com/
Office: 34 Valley Meadow Drive, Chapel Hill
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