ArlingtonSEPAC

SEPAC Meeting – January 8, 2019

Call to Order

Introduction – Alison, Kristin, Stephanie, Lynne, Chris and Christina attended.

Officers/committee reports –

– Last month’s meeting went well and we had a few people stay after for a social hour.

– Next month’s meeting will be at the Gibbs, at 7pm on February 12^th, and there will be a social after.

Workshops –

a. MRC – 5:30 in the High School on Janurary 22^nd, the Mass Rehab Commission is coming into the high school to talk with students about their programs. They are bringing vendors who can explain future job options/internship opportunities to students, parents. DDS, DMH are participating.

b. Nicole is looking up new and better presentations to hold, still haven’t heard back

d. Beyond Booksmart? Matt hasn’t returned so we aren’t sure where we stand on this

e. Gibbs Transition Night, Ottoson Transition Night?

f. January 28^th, 8^th grade transition night at the high school, will happen in the lower auditorium at the high school.

g. We are looking into holding another mindfulness workshop at the end of the school year with Carla Leone.

h. Alison posted summer camp opportunities on the list serve to view.

APS Staff Reports –

– School Committee is this Thursday night. Len is here to explain how the tax override will work. The school committee is looking into a multi-year five year plan to determine how much we need each year to fund the budget. The override vote is on June 8^th this year. Len wants to talk more about this at our February meeting.

– The location of the Preschool during the high school renovations is uncertain. The preschool will be at the high school next year. The Parmenter School (on Academy Street) is likely to be the future location of the preschool.

– There will be two different ballot questions, one on an override (permanent) tax increase, and one on a debt exclusion (will end when the high school is paid off in 30 years).

– The plans for the new school are being finalized. They are building it to a spec of 1750 occupants (current capacity is at 1200). Currently there are many places in the high school which can’t be used (dead space), and while the new building will be around the same size, its space will be much more functional. There will be some room for growth, but since the kindergarten classes continue to grow larger, we may reach a point where administration spaces are taken and used for classrooms.

– Construction will happen in two phases, each one taking two years. The first will be complete in 2022 and the second phase will be finished in 2024. They are still determining just how much parking space will be added, and how the land will be re-graded to prevent flooding.

Public Participation –

Announcements –

Adjourn

SEPAC Meeting – December 11, 2018

Call to Order

Introductions:

Alison and Chris attended.

Approve Minutes:

Minutes from September and November approved

Officers/Committee Reports:

We did our Basic Rights workshop in November. We are looking for people who are willing to help us put together workshops for the spring.

Planning Workshops for the coming year:

a. Jan MRC at the high school – MRC has services available to students starting at age 16, both funded and unfunded experiences/internships. Notification should be coming out soon on the date of the workshop. The presentations are somewhat like a job fair, where students hear from the different programs/get a chance to talk to them.

b. others . . .Beyond Booksmart? Transition night in the spring (Gibbs, Ottoson). OT/PT, Rec Fair?

c. Executive Functioning workshops? Many presenters out there, but most are pretty expensive. In the past, when we had Sarah Ward, we split the cost with another district. If a workshop is on a popular topic, we get a larger turnout. Our most popular presentation (Demystifying Neuropsych) drew about 30 people. Cindy Bouvier is willing to take a parent forum and focus on a SEPAC topic, such as executive functioning.

d. ILD in Lexington

e. Carla Leone – Mindfulness workshop

f. Sibling support workshops

g. emarc in Wakefield. Riverside offer workshops/groups

APS Staff Reports:

-We’re starting to hear the budget presentations this week and next week. As the high school building project moves forward we’ll hear more about the budget and potential tax override.

– Hardy building project is progressing, the Lake street playground is completed.

Public Participation / New Business / Open Discussion:

-Deb has been finding someone who does WordPress for a living who can work on the SEPAC website. She has the logo and is working on it. Once it’s complete we’ll contact Dan to link it to the APS website. We currently don’t have access to the current website, which is not up to date.

– Deb wanted to know if anyone ever applied for an AEF grant. Grants have to be sponsored by teachers/staff in the district and must be something that has longevity and is sustainable without grant funding. Social Emotional Learning was funded by grant from AEF and partially sponsored by Sped and Sara Burd. The elementary principals are proposing an initiative around reading. Julie Dunn is our district’s grant writer, and there are other smaller grants out there. Some are very specific in scope, but she’s someone to contact.

-District is a member of the Apple consortium. Dr. MacNeal just attended conference. FCSN has 3 day training for a SEPAC member and administrator, but the days are 8am to 5pm, and it’s difficult to find willing volunteers.

Announcements:

–

Adjourn

SEPAC Meeting – November 13, 2018

Call to Order

Introductions: Alison attended

Officer/Committee Reports:

-Need to get volunteers for workshops in the spring.

-Next business meeting is at Gibbs at night, in December. We should stay after and talk as long as there’s food.

Workshops:

a. Rec Fair

b. Jan MRC

c. Others. Beyond Booksmart? Transition Night in the spring (Gibbs)?

APS Staff Reports:

– Nothing new to report

Public Participation/New Business/Open Discussion:

-Peirce parents say the OT is on medical leave. Nicole Brown is currently covering for her. After the November break Ms. Beckman is coming back. Services are being covered.

Announcements:

-Deb was there and let everyone know about TASA.

Adjourn

SEPAC Business Meeting – September 11, 2018

Call to Order

Introductions – Alison, Lynne, Chris, Stephanie and Kristen attended.

Officer/Committee reports –

Nothing new to report.

Workshops for the Coming Year –

September Meet and Greet – Gibbs at 9am
October Basic Rights – Elizabeth Bostic?
November (?) Rec Fair – Erin is too busy to pull this off, so looking for someone else who is willing to work on it.
January MRC? – Education/Work/Internship Fair for older kids, with MRC – Mass Rehab Commission
Others?

APS Staff Reports –

Elizabeth Logue left over the summer. She had some medical issues so she resigned her position. Christina Ryan was hired from Lynnfield, but she still has to finish up her contract over there. Rachel Hanlyn is the new team chair for Brackett, and she’s coming from Malden Public Schools. She previously worked at New England Center for Children.

SEPAC Board Elections –

Inae was elected to chair. Jessica was elected to secretary.

Public Participation/Open Discussion –

Announcements-

We are holding four evening meetings and six morning meetings this year. October, December, February and April meetings will be held at 7pm at Gibbs.
As our enrollment is growing, our preschool is also growing. There is now a half day preschool class over at Peirce.
Over the summer Sarah went to the meeting at Peirce of the new parent-run diversity task force. There was one person there who was pushing inclusion of students with disabilities in gen ed. Sarah was wondering if we should send a representative from SEPAC to these meetings.
There is a town-wide PTO meeting once or twice a year, and maybe we should see if we can send a representative to these meetings.

Adjourn

Agenda for Election Meeting June 9, 2014

Special Education Parent Advisory Council Meeting

06/09/2014

PLEASE POST

ARLINGTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS

In accordance with the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 30A Section 20,

notice is hereby given for the following meeting of the Special Education Parent Advisory Council,

Monday June 9, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

at the Jefferson Cutter House*

AGENDA

1. Discussion of SEPAC events for 2014/2015

2. Vote to approve minutes for 2013/2014 meetings

3. Vote to approve bylaw amendments proposed at May meeting

4. Other business

5. Election of officers for 2014/2015

* The Jefferson Cutter House is located at 1 Whittemore Park at the corner of Mystic Street and Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington. The meeting room is accessed through the door at the rear of the building that opens onto the municipal parking lot.

Agenda for SEPAC Meeting Monday, May 12, 8:30 a.m.

Special Education Parent Advisory Council Meeting

05/12/2014

PLEASE POST

ARLINGTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS

In accordance with the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 30A Section 20,

notice is hereby given for the following meeting of the Special Education Parent Advisory Council,

Monday May 12, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

at the Jefferson Cutter House*

AGENDA

1. Report on SEPAC status as a public body using town meeting rooms without charge; update on confirmation of voiding of invoice for meeting space

2. Introduction of bylaws amendments required to reflect changes in Massachusetts General Law governing SEPAC (to be voted on at June 9 Election Meeting)

3. Open forum on parents’ vision for SEPAC activities in the coming year and beyond

4. Focus Group led by staff from Exceptional Lives, working with Boston College Lynch School of Education. The goal of the focus group is to learn from parents/caregivers how and where they currently find disability-related information, as well as their opinions on:

What they like/don’t like about these sources (ease of access, ease of use, quality of information)
How much time, money, and/or effort they invest in using these sources
What else about these sources would be helpful in empowering parents to care for their exceptional family members

4. Other business

General Meeting Monday April 14, 8:30 a.m.

Special Education Parent Advisory Council Meeting

04/14/2014

PLEASE POST

ARLINGTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS

In accordance with the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 30A Section 20,

notice is hereby given for the following meeting of the Special Education Parent Advisory Council,

Monday April 14, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

at the Jefferson Cutter House*

AGENDA

1. Report on SEPAC status as a public body using town meeting rooms without charge

2. Discussion of program descriptions

3. Discussion of summer programming

a. Programs

b. Dates and locations

4. Bylaws

a. Overview

b. Amendments required to reflect changes in Massachusetts General Law governing SEPAC

5. Other business

Turning 22 Workshop Overview

The Arlington Special Education Parent Advisory Council has the opportunity to host a free overview of “Turning 22”, a free workshop series, and I would like to schedule it so that as many people as are interested have the opportunity to attend. One possibility is May 12 at 8:30 a.m. but I could book space for an evening workshop on another date if this is something that many people would like to attend. As I have to make a decision quickly, please let me know asap if you would be interested in attending.

The overview will be presented by Stacey Leibowitz, Director of Family Services, CLASS, Inc., Vice President of the Massachusetts Council for Adult Foster Care. We are scheduling the overview (not the entire workshop series), of a workshop targeted to parents of children with disabilities, but I suspect that the information on what is available would be valuable to adults with disabilities as well.

The next series starts in the Fall. The current series started yesterday, April 2nd at CLASS, Inc. in Lawrence. Turning 22 is a program made up of a series of workshops designed to support and prepare families for what to expect when their son or daughter with a developmental disability turns the ages of 18 and 22. Workshops include information on legal issues, state benefits, employment and housing options, and so much more. Parents of children as young as 14 should think about attending these workshops.

April 14, May 12, June 9 Meetings

Save the Dates

There are three remaining meetings during this school year, scheduled for April 14, May 12, and June 9, all Monday mornings, 8:30 to 10:30, at the Jefferson Cutter House, 611 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02474. The meeting room is accessible at the rear of the building, through the door that opens onto the municipal parking lot.

The meetings agendas have not been finalized, but we are working to ensure that the meetings will provide valuable content for parents.

The June 9 meeting is an Election Meeting, at which the new board members will be elected and bylaws amendments proposed in the May 12 meeting will be voted upon.

Please feel free to inquire about the agendas or any other matter by contacting Jerri Newman, SEPAC secretary, at ArlingtonSEPAC@gmail.com

Who is Arlington SEPAC?

Please bear with us as we develop our new website. Our goal for this blog is to inform you about upcoming events so that you may fully participate in Arlington SEPAC, a parent-led volunteer organization.

The Arlington Special Education Parent Advisory Council (Arlington SEPAC) is a statutory body established by Massachusetts General Law (Chapter 71B, Section 3) and further guided by state regulations [603 CMR 28.07(4)] promulgated by the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Arlington SEPAC has a role in advising the school district on matters pertaining to special education. We host workshops and meetings in schools, and we also use meeting space owned by the town to accommodate members who attend from every part of Arlington.

As a public body, Arlington SEPAC has been determined by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office to be subject to the Open Meeting law. All of our meetings and workshops are free and open to the public.

Our brochure can be found at http://www.arlington.k12.ma.us/news/pdfs/sepacbrochure.pdf