Program Focused on Dyslexia in Pleasanton is on the Chopping Block

A popular program for Pleasanton students struggling with dyslexia will disappear if school officials approve a new list of cuts on Feb. 28.

The 10-year-old Barton Reading Program, which tutors 150 students at seven local schools, was cut by 50 percent during the last round and will be slashed so much this time that it won't survive, said its facilitator, Christina Clark.

"Once we're gone, we're not coming back," said Clark. "I feel like I need to make this clear."

Of course everything on the list of proposed cuts is important, and local educators who have put their soul and sweat into their work will argue vehemently for keeping their funding — as they should. And school officials will get started on the grueling task of picking and choosing — something they've all said they hate to do. 

Clark said that it would take about $106,000 to save the program, which provides 10,000 hours of one-on-one tutoring per year — three hours per student, per week — using about 100 volunteer tutors. Right now, it's funded with money as well as private donations (though it's not on the list of programs that Pleasanton Partnerships in Education, or PPIE, funds).

Clark, a former special education teacher, founded Barton after seeing that regular special ed lessons don't help kids with dyslexia and other reading problems.

She said that plopping a dyslexic child into regular or special education reading classes would be like trying to teach a blind child to read without providing braille.

There's a very specific, deliberate method the Barton uses. And, Clark says, it has been proven to work.

"It's crazy to choose to not teach kids to read — that's serious stuff; they're not going to magically catch up."

And kids who can't read won't do well in life, she said.

She said students from all abilities and backgrounds can struggle with reading; most have average or above-average intelligence, but their brains don't process the words the way they should. Brain scans even look different for people who are dyslexic, but Clark said that after a child has been tutored through programs like Barton, those scans look more normal — you see the correct portion of the brain light up, whereas it wouldn't before.

There are also stories about how the program has touched lives.

One time, she said, there was a retired teacher who wanted to tutor.

She bonded with a particular seventh grader, and the two became close — she, the mentor, and he, the mentee. Then when she was diagnosed with cancer and was too sick to leave her home, the boy rode his bike to her house after school so they could continue the lessons.

The boy's mother, a beautician, gave the teacher a wig to use as she lost her hair as a thank you. And the student began reading so well that his mom couldn't get him to put down the books.

Clark also has piles of graduation announcements and letters, and they always say the same thing — "I wouldn't have made it through school without Barton."

Right now, the program exists at , , , , , and .

Vivian Goetz says her daughter has thrived in Barton.

"Her reading is improving and she is really enjoying the program," she said. "We are thrilled since prior to the Barton program; she did not care for reading whatsoever."

Clark said it's not unusual for kids who struggle with reading to act out in other ways — through drugs, skipping school or acting out to take the attention away from their reading. She said she's heard of students purposefully getting in trouble during group reading exercises.

"Like kicking the student in front of them before it's their turn to read," she said. "They'd rather go to the principal's office than look stupid."

In that way, Barton helps calm those kids down; students who were discipline problems often get better in that department once their reading improves, she said.

One mother told the story of his son, who repeated the first grade, then went on to second, before anyone knew he struggled to read.

"He would cry, 'The words scare me.' It was a battle," said Brandi Donlon.

But after a year in Barton, he started third grade confident, she said.

Greg Nelson said his daughter Sabrina has thrived.

"Since joining the program, Sabrina has become more confident and excited about reading," he said.

To watch videos about the Pleasanton program, click here.

To donate, click here.

What do you think of the program and the looming cuts? Tell us in the comments.