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Home My WebLink About2019-05-10-SEPAC-min Lexington Special Education Parent Advisory Council(SEPAC) Lexington Special Education Parent Teacher Association(SEPTA) Business Meeting Minutes May 10,2019 Attendees:Emma Harding,Patricia Jacotin,Colette Powell,Carissa Black,Scott Bokum,Bronte,Casey Lan,Kathy Cunningham,Kate DeAngelis (Rec department),Melissa Betitte (Rec department),Lisa O'Brien,Mona Roy,Carol Webb Call to order: 9:34am Adjourn: 11:13am Introductions Guests: Kate DeAngelis and Melissa Betitte,Lexington Recreation Department,Adaptive Programming • Model has been based on someone asking for assistance and then accommodating. Want to change the strategy so they are adaptive-ready and are set up for immediate success if someone with disabilities enters the program. • LCP will be opening next door so excited to look for partnering opportunities there. • Community Therapeutic Recreation—using rec and leisure programming to improve quality of life in a fun setting where you're with your peers and don't know you're working on goals. • Will have some inclusion specialists on the teams for the summer camps this year,and looking at wants/needs so can have a better tailored offering next year. • Will be sending out a survey for community feedback next week. • Partnering with Burlington Rec Dept. They have an established program but are limited on facilities,so can be symbiotic. • If anyone wants to use Rec resources,contact Kate and she will do an intake with your child to see what programs would work best and who matches best with them. SEPAC can send an announcement to get families to start the intake process now. • As of now,anyone can sign up for summer camps and there will be supports for them. • The department has been approved for a Community Needs Assessment in the fall,and would like SEPAC's help getting the word out. • Ideas: o More afternoon ESY options o Adaptive ski day o Better partnering with Special Olympics and individual events (golf,tennis,etc) Review of Action Items: • There was some miscommunication between Colette and Mona on the LCC calendar,so will be fixed for next meeting. Approval of minutes for 3/15/19 meeting: • Motion to approve and seconded. Approved unanimously. Officer reports: • Treasurer: o Brought in$1300 more than budgeted—mostly due to extra fundraising. Eventbrite was a great platform for events. o Expenses are right on-track. Majority of expenses tied to events,and we upped the staff appreciation budget. o Were not able to spend down budget as much as would have liked,so would like to have a discussion about additional ways to spend the money at next meeting. o Printing costs are higher than would like,so should continue to discuss alternatives for next year. • Membership: 0 134 members. • School liaisons: 0 Diamond: ■ Would like to brainstorm better ways to identify IEP parents. ■ Have a commitment that Sara Jorge will send a separate email about SEPAC to the LPS community. 0 Chairs are working on a year-end communication that will summarize the year • Would like a flyer with the ETS coffee mailers that includes a message that SEPAC can't contact you directly,so if you want special education updates to please sign up for SEPAC. ■ Lisa suggested having Julie or one of the SC members write a blurb that will go in the SEPAC newsletter that will go out through the administration. o Harrington: ■ Upper DLP has a new teacher for next year. ■ Thomas Haier,inclusion specialist,came to observe at Harrington and Clarke. Had a parent meeting with him as part of his initial assessment. Unclear how long his engagement is. ■ Will be doing UOD Intellectual Disabilities unit for 51h graders on 6/6/19. ■ ESY summer program: was told there is a commitment to the full-day summer program but almost all children have been offered half-day. So parents are disappointed and frustrated. Parent SPED Survey: • Had Q&A with Ellen,and plan was to have the pre-submitted questions answered as part of the presentation. That didn't happen,so went back and asked for the questions to be answered. Ellen has delivered responses and they have been disseminated. • Have had SC members push to have the survey repeated,but at this juncture the administration wants to do incorporate potential concerns into the DEI reports. It was stated incorrectly that Mona was holding up the survey and that is not correct. • We want to be supportive of Dr.Hackett's work,but that doesn't change the need for this survey. • We need to do this in partnership if we want traction. • Action: At 5/22 meeting will tell them that we have the resources to recreate it and want to have the conversation about the process. School Committee: • No specifics to report,but Scott is excited to be on the team. Nominating Committee: • Slate is looking good. • Jean DeSanto will add to Dyslexia group. • Still looking for a Hastings liaison. Co-chairs: • Action: Co-chairs will ask administration to clarify the transition options for non-ILP kids. Event Updates • Events for next year: o Micah's sister? Carol Millard added as SC liaison.