SEPAC Business Meeting – January 10, 2023
Call to Order
Introductions:
Alison Elmer, Chris Carlson, Kristin Burke, Inae Hwang, Sarah Barton, Jessica Dombrosky, Alison Babeu, Lou Duquette-Holmes, Jim and Suzie, Rohit Dhanjal, Lisa Welch, and Sarah Amitay (Sara Hamitay?) attended.
Approve Minutes:
Meeting minutes from October 2022, November 2022, and December 2022 were approved.
Officer/Committee Reports:
- As of today, we are confirmed for a presentation on February 15th from 7-8:30pm with a staff psychologist at the Baker Center on identifying and supporting students with anxiety. They were recommended to us by Jess Cloros, so be sure to check with your specialists to see if they might be willing to do a presentation
- The survey has been updated to include sections on emotional well-being and academic access
- Sarah and Alison are on the search committee for a new deputy Superintendent on Curriculum and Instruction.
- We will be hosting a workshop from the Federation for Children With Special Needs in the spring, either Understanding Your IEP or Transition Planning. We will be hosting it along with Somerville SEPAC, who was kind enough to include us in their Basic Rights Workshop in the fall.
Planning Workshops for the Coming Year:
-We will be hosting a workshop from the Baker Center on Coping with Anxiety, scheduled for February 15th at 7pm on Zoom.
APS Staff Reports:
- There is a search committee for a new Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. The finalists will be identified soon. These finalists will go through another round of assessments and round robin interview panels, including meeting with groups of teachers, admins, students, and parents.
- Over the next few School Committee meetings, they will focus on different aspects of the Strategic Five-Year Plan and Priorities that have been developed/identified as important for the District. It is also budget season, so funding for these priorities will also be discussed.
Public Participation / New Business / Open Discussion:
- Lou Duquette-Holmes from Wayside says that they offer many levels of support and outpatient mental health care (they accept both private health insurance and MassHealth). They run support groups for students during the week, and offer free monthly workshops (funded by Department of Mental Health) on topics important to parents/families, and they also hold IEP workshops.
- The center that services Arlington students/residents is Advocates, out of Framingham, MA. (Link: advocates.org Phone: (508) 628-6300 )
- There is a new Behavioral Health Help Line. (833-773-2445) It’s free and is available to anyone needing mental health help/support. It’s different from the National Suicide Hotline (988), but they can connect you to that hotline if those services are needed.
- There are many concerns about the degree of mental health challenges students are facing after having their education disrupted by a global pandemic.
- Sarah mentioned that many of these questions and concerns about mental health would be addressed in our upcoming survey questions, and also during the anxiety workshop next month with the staff psychologist from the Baker Center.
Announcements:
- Our next meeting will be Tuesday, February 14th, at 9am.
Adjourn
