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Home My WebLink About2019-01-28-SEPAC-min Lexington Special Education Parent Advisory Council(SEPAC) Lexington Special Education Parent Teacher Association(SEPTA) Business Meeting Minutes January 28,2019 Attendees: Emma Harding,Patricia Jacotin,Colette Powell,Deb Osber,Carissa Black,Lauren Black,Bronte Abraham, Lauren Onorato,Carol Millard,Carol Webb,Sarah Cuthbertson,Kate Colburn Call to order: 7:09pm Adjourn: 8:54pm Introductions Approval of minutes for 11/30/18 meeting: • Motion to approve and seconded. Approved unanimously. Officer reports: • Co-chairs: o Action items: ■ Transition survey update—survey only went to the ILP program at the HS. Ellen indicated that the thinking was to start with the students that would need the most support and focus on learning/takeaways from there. Will get an update at the February update. ■ Program review schedule: • TLP will be reviewed next • ILP will likely follow ■ FAQs: are online and have been shared in the newsletter. Ellen approved them and a big thanks to Jenn Yarr for producing them. ■ IEP rating system: • Asked Ellen again to double check with administrators that surveys are going out. • The chairs are advocating that surveys go out to everyone,not just those who receive services. • Several members suggested revisiting the 2012 survey. o Sandro brought it up in the December quarterly meeting. o There is a timing issue with the pending Equity Audit survey that appears to be the main issue with repeating it,as there will be some overlap. o Have had assurances that SEPAC will be part of the Equity Audit survey team,so will get to look at it and make sure the proper areas are addressed. • Action: Gather and provide feedback to Julie on the draft Equity Audit questions. ■ School start times: • Discussed at quarterly meeting and the administration is aware of SEPAC's concerns. • Aide availability is not consistent across elementary schools,meaning some kids could be waiting on the bus for increasing amounts of time. • Action: Co-chairs will raise lack of uniform aide support procedures again at the quarterly meeting. ■ Next quarterly meeting end of February. • Treasurer: o On-target with the projected budget. ■ Have raised more money than anticipated through the run,corporate donations,and the film screening. ■ Treasurer suggested that we use Eventbrite for future events because we weren't anticipating the donations but ended up being significant. • Membership: 0 113 members,in-line with historical trends. o Ways to further engage: ■ Social media postings ■ Sign-up sheet at Resource Fair ■ Have ETS put a SEPAC information form in with the IEP packets. ■ Greater liaison role: • Hoping to start next year with the liaisons having very clear idea of what the role is and what is expected. • Colette started working on a liaison job description • Carissa suggested over the summer working on a packet of info to have before the start of next year and perhaps a brochure about SEPAC and who to contact. • Have liaisons post to PTA/0 Facebook groups too. ■ Also have increased exposure into PTA/0 newsletters ■ Also should make sure we have a presence at Central Administration • School liaisons: o Carol(Diamond): ■ The principal has engaged Jeffrey Benson of"How to Teach the Kids Who Challenge Us"for a year to address some of the equity/discipline issues. $1300 grant for both Diamond and Clarke. o Bronte(speaking for LHS): ■ Main concern right now is a lack of communication on changing transition options—getting conflicting messages. It's unclear if this is a problem just with ILP or a broader communication issue in SPED at the high school overall. ■ Action: Co-chairs will discuss it at the next quarterly meeting with administration. o Deb (Hastings): ■ Deb is looking for guidance on what to tell families who are experiencing bullying. • Riverside Family Services • Talk to teacher,principal,superintendent ■ SEPAC should consider adding a panel/speaker event on bullying for next year. School Committee Update: • Quarterly meeting went well. • SC was very impressed with UOD observation at Harrington. • It is in the budget to add a Director of Equity&Safety to make sure there is a cohesive approach across the district. • Funds also included for an Inclusion Consultant primarily focused on the DLP program. • Equity Audit is stili in process. Kate will reach out to Julie to see what the best approach is to hear feedback from SEPAC. • Patricia suggested SC continue to explore a structured way to provide anonymous feedback much like a patient satisfaction survey. SEPAC Input into the Strategic Planning Process (Bronte): • The district is taking a much more inclusive approach at elementary and middle school level,but less movement at the high-school. • There are no ill-intentions,but students not college-bound or MCAS-proficient are often moved at 8th grade,with no vision for including them on-campus on a regular basis. • It was highlighted that we need the Visioning process to feed into the Strategic Planning process too. Event Updates • Resource Fair: 0 26 vendors signed up. Goal is to exceed last year's total of 40. o Having a meeting this Friday and will be sending out a job sign-up. o They pian to have a live person with a laptop doing membership. • SPED update meeting: o March 19th at 7pm with Val/Ellen. o Format details TBD. o Action item: Co-chairs will solidify details at next meeting with Ellen.