HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-12-07-SEPAC-minLexington Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC)
Lexington Special Education Parent Teacher Association (SEPTA)
Business Meeting Minutes
December 7, 2015
Attendees: Bettina McGimsey, Justine Neely, Lisa O'Brien, Barbara White, Ann Wolf, Jennifer Yaar
Location: Lexington High School, Room 147
CaII to order: 9:30 am
Adjourned: 10:53 am
Reports of Officers
Treasurer Report
• Current balance is 3119.49
• No outstanding balances or expenses
• Barbara White to follow up with Justine Neely regarding charitable donations documentation.
Membership Chair Report
• 85 members currently, with about 7 -8 duplicates that will need to be resolved.
• Attendees discussed idea of adding a registration confirmation page to the Membership Form
on the Web site, along with charitable donation information.
• Lisa O'Brien has sent out membership drive information to all liaisons.
• Attendees discussed the idea of a newsletter to help drive membership. Lisa O'Brien to work on
a draft for January.
• Attendees discussed outreach to preschool population for upcoming meetings.
• Attendees discussed adding checkboxes to meeting sign -in sheets to allow people to opt -in to
announcements listserv.
Upcoming Meetings
• December 17 —Mike Law meeting regarding guardianship, 7:00 pm
• January 14— Sibling Support
• March 3— Occupational Therapy /Speech and Language Therapy Panel. Ellen Sugita working on
finding an in- district presenter.
Lexington SEPTA By -Laws Update
• Attendees agreed that updated by -laws will specify an Executive Committee (vs. Executive
Board) consisting of two co- presidents, secretary, treasurer, and membership chair.
• Attendees agreed that executive committee will be responsible for recruiting co- presidents if
one or more co- presidents resign during their term.
Debt Exclusion
• Attendees voted unanimously to approve the Debt Exclusion campaign. Lisa O'Brien to draft
letter of support for debt exclusion campaign and email the letter to the School Committee,
Board of Selectman, Board of Appropriations, and Town Meeting Members.
Updates from Meeting with Sandro Allessandrini (School Committee Liaison to SEPAC)
• Val Viscosi will be asking for a part -time 504 Coordinator at the high school —SEPAC leadership
to follow up with Sandro to ask for his support of this hire.
Other Business
• Coleen McAdams has offered to host monthly coffees for special education parents, to start in
January. Jennifer Yaar to follow up on specifics and to advertise the event on relevant listservs
and Web site.
• Decision trees for Guidance /504 plans to be added to LexSEPTA.org.
• Attendees discussed the idea of having a Life Skills Summer program in coordination with Mike
Law, possibly with a pilot for summer of 2016. Funding would need to be requested in spring
budget. Co- presidents to follow up with Ellen Sugita on this idea, as well as the possibility of
asking for Lexington Education Foundation (LEF) funds.
• Team discussed ongoing parent concerns with new ILP programs at Lexington High School.
Parents to schedule time with Dr. Czajkowski to discuss.
• Holiday gift for Central Administration unanimously approved.
• November 5 Business Meeting minutes unanimously approved.