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Home My WebLink About2024-09-17-COD-min Commission on Disability Meeting Minutes from September 17, 2024 Members: Victoria Buckley, Shaun Grady, Leonard Morse-Fortier, Francine Steiglitz, Nancy Wong, John Rossi, Janet Perry Town Liaisons: Hemali Shah, Chief Equity Officer; Jim Kelly, Building Commissioner Committee Liaisons: Pam Lyons, Center Committee; Rodney Cole, CEC; Stephanie Hsu, HRC liaison and Christina Lin, HRC Chair Guests/Residents: Radhika Jonnalayaga, Mona Roy Announcements • Welcome back to Hemali • Jim Kelly said there are several new projects. 17 Hartwell will be residential. There is a 7-unit condominium project on Bedford Street. The new building energy code will result in almost no extra heating costs. Jim will keep us posted and the Commission will review Planning Board agendas. • Jim said he does not know what the plans are for the Depot becoming a museum, a project of Lexington Historical but he will keep us posted. Minutes • Minutes for August will be reviewed at the next meeting. Discussion about suspension disparities • Dr. Johnny Cole, Director of Equity & Student Support at Lexington Public Schools talked about suspension inequities. He has worked for 6 years in his role. LPS partners with the district on the data. He stated that the data from the first year was 2019-2020 and that there was a significant reduction from 100/year to 25/year in 2022-2023. Johnny stated that there have been various diversion programs, staff discussions and staff trainings about this. • Mona Roy raised questions about trends, since the pandemic stalled social skills for students. She reflected that the overall suspension rates may be down but the disparities are even bigger. • Radhika talked about the challenges for those with neurodivergent issues and how the Student Council has been involved. • Johnny said he s not aware of any racial disparities for out-of-district students, but that more information can be gleaned from Laura in Special Education. He mentioned the Youth Risk Behavior Survey and `Black at LHS". • Victoria asked about whether the staffing is racially diverse so students have roe models. The answer is no, staff are 85% white. • Christina Lin, Chair HRC, stated that AAPI families were reporting not being treated well in IEP meetings. Johnny said those issues should be directed to him. • Christina discussed restorative justice as a tool for addressing systemic bias, with the first tier of three concentrating on community building. 1 • Victoria asked how could the Commission help, other than ensuring accountability and review of the data and relevant impacts. • Johnny replied that complaints should be directed to him and/or the Director of Special Education. • Hemali Shah, Chief Equity Officer, asked what is given to parents to help navigate racial tensions of their children. Johnny discussed the Parent Academy run by LPS SHAC group Student Health Advisory Council). • John Rossi asked what the current state of adaptive sports is. There needs to be more effort to make clubs and sports more accessible. Several model programs were mentioned including those run by Kate DeAngelis in Lexington, Athletes in Newton and Adaptive Sports New England. • Johnny said that a recent survey showed that 27% of the staff identify with systemic change unintentional disability bias. This needs to be addressed further. NOTE: Further agenda items including Willard's Woods were postponed until next meeting. Discussion on Willard's Woods was postponed until the next meeting. Adjourned 7:20 pm 2