Arlington Special Education Parent Advisory Council
Business Meeting Agenda
Initial Meeting for 2024-2025 Academic Year
September 17, 2024 at 8:00p*
Meeting Minutes
Attendance: 19 families, 6 administrators
WELCOME and MEETING NORMS
- Welcome and introduction of new board:
Elizabeth McWhorter, Chair: elizabeth.kidd.mcwhorter@gmail.com
Kate Radville, Co-Chair: kateradville@gmail.com
Courtney Marsh, Secretary: courtneymarsh14@gmail.com
Ann Weissman, Webmaster: waymirea@gmail.com
Krasi Petkov, Membership: Krasichervenkova@gmail.com
- Meeting Norms for SEPAC meetings: Elizabeth shared the norms we’ll use to guide our meetings to ensure we have productive, collaborative meetings. As conflicts arise, they are also meant to help us navigate them together. The norms can evolve based on member feedback. See presentation (slide 3).
[Elizabeth invited feedback from the group]:
- It’s important to know that people have “different brains” and different styles of communication (e.g. straightforward vs. lots of pleasantries, etc.). No one should read into the tone of a presenter/speaker’s comments at a meeting.
- We should consider mentioning disability.
***ACTION ITEM***: Have additional feedback? Please let us know at: arlingtonsepac@gmail.com.
BUSINESS UPDATES
- What is SEPAC? (see slide 4 of the meeting presentation for more details)
The mission of the Arlington Public School Special Education Parent Advisory Council is to work towards the understanding of, respect for, support, and appropriate education for all students with disabilities in the APS community.
- Bylaws: State law requires they be reviewed every 3 years. Ours have not been reviewed in 10. Earlier this year, an ad hoc subcommittee was formed to review and update them. Changes were made in a few key ways:
- Updated language (e.g., replaced “special needs” with “disabilities” and added preamble regarding use of “disability”)
- Clarification of the purpose of the SEPAC (see presentation slide 4)
- Clarification of Voting Membership (parents, guardians or caregivers of children in need of special education services in Arlington) vs. General Membership (anyone interested in special education)
- Adjusted Officer Roles and Responsibilities
- Defined the structure of meetings: in order to make space for different types of conversations (general vs. voting members vs. voting meetings)
- Voting – limited to parents/guardians of surrogates (important because of change to meeting structure)
- Role of the board
***ACTION ITEM***: SEPAC members should review the new SEPAC ByLaws. They will be voted on at the October meeting.
Questions? Please reach out to Elizabeth McWhorter (elizabeth.kidd.mcwhorter@gmail.com).
- Opportunities for Involvement in SEPAC: There are several ways to get involved with SEPAC, and they are all relatively a low time commitment except where noted.
- Survey Committee– no research experience necessary!
The SEPAC annual survey is one of our most powerful and visible tools for capturing feedback from the APS community. Members of this subcommittee can help with any of the following:
- brainstorm ways to reach a wider audience and help spread awareness.
- survey development/updates: review the questions in the current survey and recommend possible changes / edits.
- help analyze the results and plan the final report and presentation to the school committee. (Note: this responsibility does not need to fall to the entire subcommittee but does require a bit more of a time commitment in the spring, after the survey results are in).
- Speaker committee – We are hoping to bring several speakers across a variety of disability-related topics this school year to enrich the community. This subcommittee will:
- brainstorming topics of interest and potential guest speakers for future SEPAC meetings.
- facilitate scheduling, contracts, and payment of fees of speakers (if necessary).
- identify opportunities to attend neighboring communities’ SEPAC events and share with the Arlington SEPAC Secretary for awareness.
- School liaisons – The people in this role help to connect parents to the resources SEPAC offers. Don’t worry – you don’t have to know everything! Board members are always available to help answer any questions you get), Responsibilities include
- staying abreast of your school’s happenings (often, this just means through the PTO or principal newsletter!) and share any information that impacts the Special Education community with the SEPAC Board.
- share important SEPAC news with the school community via the PTO or principal newsletter, as permitted.
We are in need of liaisons at all schools, out-of-district, and homeschoolers. Volunteers so far:
- Hardy – Tunde Horvath – liaison but PTO meets at the same time.
- Homeschool community – Kim Carney Wong
***ACTION ITEM***: Interested in any of these opportunities? Please sign up or email co-chair, Kate Radville at kateradville@gmail.com
***ACTION ITEM*** Courtney Marsh, Secretary, will reach out to PTOs to find out when monthly meetings are.
UPDATES
6. Special Education in Massachusetts and in Arlington
- New IEP Form (Where to find it via DESE)
- APS still dealing with vendor tech issues for new IEP
- Transition requirement is prior to Thanksgiving. So families will start seeing the new IEP form at this school year’s annual IEP review.
- MA DESE Resources: https://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/improveiep/
- Presentation from the APS SPED team about the new IEP:
- Other APS Resources: https://www.arlington.k12.ma.us/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=2858219&type=d&pREC_ID=2327427
- New ‘Consent to Evaluation’ Form: You can find it here on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). If you request an evaluation from APS, they will send it to you.
- APS Child Find Policy – drafted and passed by the Arlington School Committee.
[Abbreviated]
It is the responsibility of the Arlington Public Schools to identify any child who is a resident of Arlington, who may have a disability, regardless of the severity of the disability. It is also the responsibility of Arlington Public Schools to evaluate those students to determine if they are eligible for special education or related services under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) or 603 CMR 28 (Massachusetts Special Education Regulations)…
[SEPAC notes]:
- Child Find is part of the Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education ACT (IDEA).
- It is a parent’s right to request an evaluation of their child if they suspect a disability may be affecting their child.
***ACTION ITEM*** Parents should contact the Principal at their child’s school for information about referring your child for an evaluation.
- Helpful Resources for the School Year
- Sign up for the SEPAC email list
- Share feedback with SEPAC (see below for details)
- Cartwheel: a mental health organization that APS partners with
- APS Family Welcome and Resource Center
ADMINISTRATIVE
5. Share feedback with SEPAC! Periodically, the SEPAC co-chairs meet with APS administrators and the superintendent, and community feedback is essential to their ability to share timely, relevant feedback. It is not meant to capture detailed individual family situations, but SEPAC is striving to share themes we hear/read in the feedback so that we can collaborate with APS administration on improvements in the system. The first meeting is on 9/26 but this form will remain live ongoing.
***ACTION ITEM*** Arlington families – please share feedback!
NEW BUSINESS AND OPEN DISCUSSION
- Nature’s Classroom – Gibbs
- Concern was expressed about whether or not it is a field trip that is accessible to all students.
- A parent shared that the Gibbs principal let her know that data would be collected. We would like to get the data and figure out if there is a path forward.
- Clarification was provided for the group that this is a two-night, overnight trip for sixth grade students. The trip was held during fifth grade in previous years.
- Feedback:
- A parent whose child did not attend shared that communication was difficult – she didn’t know which supports would be available before the deadline to commit.
***ACTION ITEM*** SEPAC will ask APS to provide data on attendance of students with IEPs and 504s.
- Extended School Year (ESY): A parent shared that proposals came late – e.g. last day of school. This makes it hard to plan. Could these plans be shared sooner?
***ACTION ITEM*** SEPAC board to work with APS administration to learn more about ESY processes related to planning and communication.
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