Tag: SEPAC

Call to Order

Introductions: Alison, Lynne, Joyce and Kristin attended

Approve Minutes: Minutes from June and October approved.

Officers/Committee reports:

– Basic Rights happened in October. There was a decent turn-out (around 10 to 12 people).

– Our next meeting will be at Gibbs in the evening, Tuesday December 10, at 7pm.

Workshops:

– On Monday, March 9^th at 6pm in the High School auditorium, we are co-hosting a movie called “Intelligent Lives,” a film about students with intellectual disabilities in life post-high school. It’s about students trying to balance independence while navigating supports in their adult lives.

– Erin Hajduk is working on putting together a Recreation Fair for the winter.

– Aspire, out of MGH, offers presentations on topics such as Disclosure (talking to your child about their disability, or talking about your own disability if you’re an older individual). Sarah will look for more information on cost and bring it to the next meeting.

APS Staff Reports:

– We will be heading into the budget season soon, so there will be more school committee meetings happening in the near future, in January.

– Our mid-cycle tiered focus monitoring review of the SPED program will be happening in April. They will be interviewing families, observing facilities/programs.

– The high school building project is coming along nicely, they have infographics showing the progress and which grades will get to enjoy the finished space.

– The Parmenter will be used as “swing space” for the preschool as they’re tearing down the high school. They are going to be updating the building and making it ready for the preschool starting in June. For the next five years, everyone will be back together again instead of in two locations (High School and Hardy, the satellite preschool classroom.)

– Department of Mental Health and Mass Rehab Commission (MRC) will give a presentation in January at the high school about their programs, such as classes and internship programs for adolescents.

– The REACH program is inviting colleges with great services for students with disabilities in to talk about what they offer. High School Counselors will be present. The expected time for this is some time in the spring 2020.

Public Participation/New Business:

– We have talked about conducting a survey of parents on their level of knowledge regarding SEPAC and available resources in the past. We have started to come up with questions but haven’t finished it. There are sites such as Survey Monkey which could help us distribute the survey.

Adjourn

Call to Order

Introductions – Alison attended.

Officer/Committee Reports –

-We have Erin Hajduk looking into locations and vendors for a Recreation Fair with information on adaptive activities and summer camp opportunities.

-Our September Meet and Greet event went well and had decent turn-out.

-We are always looking for more ideas on workshops to hold during the year and would love to hear any workshop suggestions people have.

Staff Reports –

-The school committee meeting is being held this Thursday evening. You can watch the meeting online.

New Business/Open Discussion –

–

Adjourn

Call to Order

Introductions: Alison attended

Approve Minutes:

– Minutes from May approved

Officer/Committee Reports:

-Inae appeared before the school committee on her experience with Special Education in the district. At the elementary level, most parents are pleased with how things are going for their children, but at the middle school and high school level it’s less so. Much of this might be that many general educators aren’t as familiar with their students’ IEPs in middle and high school.

Planning Workshops for next year:

a. Meet and Greet in September is scheduled for 9am on September 17^th at the Gibbs, first SEPAC meeting of the year is on Tuesday, September 10^th, time is TBD.

b. Basic Rights Workshop will be in October, put on by the Federation for Children with Special Needs.

c. Working on hosting a movie/workshop at the high school “Intelligent Minds”, about adults with autism/disabilities

d. Demystifying Your Neuropsychological Report

e. OT/PT/SLP Workshop on home supplemental instruction to IEP goals.

f. Workshop for siblings of children with disabilities

APS Staff Reports:

– The vote for the High School building project and budget override is tonight.

– Alison presented to the school committee. The presentation talked about who is part of the department, the difference between students who receive Title 1 vs. Special Ed services, Professional Development, the expansion of the Summit Program at the Ottoson to add a teacher to better meet students needs in the sub separate classroom. The curriculum is Logic based on identifying the students’ specific needs and the desired outcomes. The Compass Program (for students with cognitive disabilities) will be expanding at the high school.

-Independent evaluators from LABBB collaborative came in to do an evaluation on the inclusion practices of the district.

SEPAC Board Elections:

– Inae was elected as chair and Jessica was elected as secretary

– Sarah was elected as member at large

Public Participation/Open Discussion:

–

Adjourn

Call to Order

Introductions:

– Alison and Lynn attended

Approve Minutes from April:

– Minutes approved

Officers/Committee Reports:

– Nothing new to report

Workshops for the Coming Year:

–

APS Staff Reports:

– The budget was approved at Town Meeting, including the additional Chapter 70 state funding. Now we can post new positions.

– The 5^th to 6^th grade transition meeting for students and families is the 16^th at Gibbs and 6^th to 7^th transition meeting is on May 30^th at Ottoson.

-The town is renting the Parmenter School beginning in the fall of 2020 for the preschool program.

AHS Building Project Update (with Mr. Thielman and Dr. Janger):

– Mr. Thielman could not attend.

Dr. Janger:

– Special Education needs and support systems were central in the discussion of the new High School design. The accessibility of community spaces in the new design is improved. There is a central spine, or “commons”, so there are two main entrances so students can come into the building from two different directions.

– The new plan for special education is to have all programs and academic support located around this central commons instead of in many corners of the current building. “Centrally located but discreetly accessed.” If a student wants to take a walk in the current building, they’ll get lost, but the space is much more open and visible in the new design. Programs will be clustered vertically so staff can be close to each other and collaborate. The Compass Program will have a space/apartment where they can practice activities of daily living. There will also be a cafe and school store which will be run by special education students.

– There are many more elevators in the new design. Each “tower” has its own elevator. The only space that wouldn’t be accessible would be the “monumental stairs.”

– We went to Billerica because they have a similar design, to investigate how the design impacts sound and light of the space. Sound treatments are planned to keep the sound/echoing level down.

– The preschool is near the central offices. The preschool numbers are made up of students who come for the full/half day and students who come in for related services (speech, OT, PT). The numbers provided to the architects were end of year numbers for last year, and include the satellite class over at Peirce because there isn’t enough room for all preschool students. Preschool will have a separate drop-off and entrance.

– LABBB has its own entrance at the back of the school.

– Ramps for bike and wheelchairs give access from the bike path and from Mass Ave.

– Bathroom access will be improved and gender-neutral bathrooms will be added at the location of every single other bathroom.

– Town-wide debt exclusion vote on June 11^th.

If we don’t fund the project, taxpayers will need to foot 250M building project that will take 5 years instead of the current 208M two-stage project with the MSBA funding. It will cost more and take longer if the debt exclusion fails, and we are at risk of losing our accreditation. We don’t want to have the debt exclusion fail and pay 3 times as much like Lincoln-Sudbury did after they voted down their MSBA project.

Visit www.ahsbuilding.org for more information, design drawings, project cost details, extensive FAQ and the Ponderings Blog.

SEPAC Board Nominations:

-Sarah was nominated for Member At Large, Inae for Chair and Jessica for Secretary.

Public Participation/ New Business/ Open Discussion:

–

Announcements:

–

Adjourn

Call to Order

Introductions:

-Alison attended.

Approve Minutes:

-Minutes from March approved.

Officers/Committee Reports:

-The Brackett Diversity and Inclusion Group (DIG) had Inae come and speak and it went well. In the future she will be reaching out to other schools’ diversity/inclusion groups to arrange times to speak. One of the things they discussed in the talk was how many students have invisible disabilities and how surprised parents were to hear that their kids were currently in classes with students with disabilities.

Workshops:

a. Gibbs/Ottoson Transition Night – near the end of May

b. Mindfulness – still need to speak with Carla Leone on availability/dates.

APS Staff Reports:

-Mr. Thielman and Dr. Janger (AHS Principal) will be attending the May meeting. Dr. Janger will be talking about services at the high school, such as the Compass program for students with intellectual disabilities and the parts of the new High School which will support the program (living spaces/kitchen).

-There will be one transition night for 5^th grade to Gibbs at the Gibbs school, hosted by Kristen DiFrancisco. The transition from 6^th to 7^th workshop will be hosted in May, and discussion will be based in part on survey questions generated from 6^th grade students.

DESE/MRC is switching to a new model, where individuals apply directly to various vendors in their communities/surrounding areas for pre-vocational services (ages 14 and up).

Public Participation/New Business/Open Discussion:

-School committee meeting on April 10^th to discuss 5 year plan and there will be another High School building committee meeting before the June vote on the High School debt exclusion and tax override.

-Representative Garballey was at a diversity recruitment event today at the high school, with the goal being to attract diverse staff to the district.

Adjourn

Call to Order

Introductions:

– Alison, Joyce, Lynne and Chris attended.

Approve Minutes:

-Minutes from December and January approved.

Officers/Committee Reports:

– We are working on getting more people to come to our meet and greet times after the meeting. Our February meeting was cancelled so we didn’t have a meet and greet, but there will be one after our April evening meeting. We’re considering swapping our June meeting so it will be an evening meeting, so we can have a social afterward.

Workshops:

a. Gibbs/Ottoson Transition Nights – Kristen DiFrancisco is hosting one meeting for the 5^th to 6^th grade and 6^th to 7^th grade transitions.

b. Mindfulness workshop with Carla Leone

c. Summer Camp/Recreation opportunities

APS Staff Reports:

– The special ed portion of the middle to high school transition night happens after the main presentation. On March 22^nd they’re hosting a separate meeting for transition from 8^th to high school for the REACH program.

– MRC (Mass Rehab Commission) is coming to the high school again on March 20^th to talk about work opportunities for students. LABBB is looking into becoming one of the vendors with MRC.

Len Kardon School Committee – Budget:

– Five Year Budget Plan – student population has grown by 27% over the last 10 years. Releasing a five year plan ahead of the June operating override vote gives us the opportunity to change the funding agreement with the town to one driven by our current student needs.

– Priorities include addressing enrollment growth, improving instruction for students, closing the achievement gap, creating safe and supportive schools and attracting/developing talented staff.

a. Enrollment Growth – Enrollment is expected to grow by another 10% over the next five years, putting the 15 year growth rate at close to 40%.

-Priorities include keeping class sizes below 25 students for elementary/middle school and below 27 for high school core classes, increasing the number of elective classes offered, keeping caseloads of counselors below 300, keeping caseloads of nurses/specialists stable and having part-time assistant principals at all the elementary schools.

b. Improving Instruction for Students – It has been difficult in recent years to implement modern instruction strategies since most additional funding has gone toward addressing enrollment growth. Arlington seeks to address this by:

-Funding library book budget to support better access to current and culturally relevant materials.

-Updating curriculum materials

-Adding a librarian/digital learning specialist at each elementary school

-Expanding computer science instruction at middle schools

c. Close Achievement Gap – Arlington will address gaps in achievement affecting low-income students, English language learners and students with disabilities by:

-Improving interventions by adding additional literacy/math coaches at each elementary school and by adding Harbor (for students with school avoidance) and Shortstop (for students returning from extended absences) programs at Ottoson.

-Adding directors in all areas, admin support, science/social studies coaches and data manager

-Giving each elementary school their own music/art specialists will add another special each week, which allows for planning time for the grade level teams.

-Improving Special Education Services by increasing number of inclusion teachers, increasing SLC staffing, adding Assistant Director of Special Education

d. Create safe and supportive schools by adding social workers/lead counselor at high school, fund social emotional learning professional development/programming, and add part-time admin assistants at elementary schools to free up principals to address social emotional issues.

e. Attract and develop talented staff by providing additional $500,000 funding annually for professional development and by bringing APS salaries closer to the average levels in comparable districts in order to improve recruiting and retention.

-Money will come primarily from property tax revenues, some money from the state (Chapter 70). A small amount of funding comes from grants, Circuit Breaker, AEF. Currently discussing additional funding (over 1.2 million left over after expenses) that we can get with the town. If a budget override passes, we can spend more.

– There will be two separate budget questions on the ballot in June. One will be the $800/year increase to pay for the high school (30 year mortgage). This will go into effect when we start borrowing money for rebuilding the high school. Another will be an additional $200-$400/year override vote to pay for expenses which will go into effect immediately if it passes.

Public Participation/New Business/Open Discussion:

– Dr. Bodie said that Mr. Thielman (sp?) is looking into a time that he can come to a meeting and speak with the group.

Adjourn

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