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Home My WebLink About2019-06-07-SEPAC-min Lexington Special Education Parent Advisory Council(SEPAC) Lexington Special Education Parent Teacher Association(SEPTA) Business Meeting Minutes June 7,2019 Attendees:Patricia Jacotin,Colette Powell,Scott Bokum,Carol Webb,Mona Roy,Kate Colburn,Jean DeSanto,Georgia Swann,Kathy Pan,Ashley Waring,Jennifer Yarr,Sara Cuthbertson Call to order: 9:47am Adjourn: 11:17am Introductions Dyslexia Group Update: • Hosting a movie night for Dyslexia Month in October. • Home schooling/therapeutic schooling keep coming up in their support group meetings—what are the SEPAC resources around that? o There is an Out-of-district liaison to have a forum for parents with kids COD. But the group also fields questions about parents looking for COD options. o SEPAC can provide information and educate but cannot promote. Also meant to be a resource for meeting other parents,so can go that way too. o Looking at doing a more structured resource page on the SEPAC website next year and potentially more COD options could be outlined there. o Also had a lot of the COD options come to the Resource Fair. o Minuteman HS presentation was very helpful,so might want to look at other options like that for speakers. o Will loop the Dyslexia group into the speaker planning for next year. • It was suggested that perhaps we can get the administration to add a SEPAC blurb at the bottom of the surveys that go out after an IEP is issued. • Also interested in anti-bullying curriculums and potentially pushing that. o A lot is going on with the HRC and the DEI initiatives. No decisions yet but a lot of work in coming to a plan. o The School Committee strongly supports anti-bullying measures. • Would also like to explore executive functioning training for staff. Believe it will become a larger area of concern for all kids,not just children in special education. o Clarke uses Guided Learning,but isn't well-advertised and who gets access to it seems random. o It might be worth bringing up with LPS about building some best practices. o Action: Will put on the agenda for next year to talk about with administration,and perhaps can do a working group (Carol Webb is interested). Approval of minutes for 5/10/19 meeting: • Approved and seconded. Slate: • Approved the slate as written(see attached). Officer reports: • Treasurer: o Patricia did in lieu of Carissa. o Brought in more money than expected and District funded Sarah Ward,which was very helpful. o Next year goal is to spend down more of the balance. • Membership: o Last year ended at 110 and this year at 137. o Goal for next year is to continue to grow y/y. o Goal for next year is to find a better database approach to better communicate with members. o Also want to do more outreach to cultural groups. School Liaisons: 0 Harrington(Heidi/Colette): o Rolled out UOD Intellectual Disabilities unit this week and went well. o Dr.Hackett has the quote for district-wide implementation. ■ Some concerns in the broader group around ability to consistently get volunteers,but so far Harrington has not had issues outside of the 5111 grade this year,which they believe is due to timing. ■ Ashley suggested we look at the Reading model where there are dedicated parents that go to all the schools. • LHS (Mona): o LHS PTO would like copies of the minutes emailed. o Action: Patricia will add Kate and Scott to website as SC liaisons. School Committee Update: • Given the short amount of time allotted,Kate's update at the SC meeting on Tuesday was top-level and she has concerned it wasn't substantive enough. Would like to discuss over the summer the best approach for how to present the information. Co-chairs: • Had a 504 coffee with Val Viscosi. Will do another event with her in the fall. • Homework survey finishes 6/11. o Colette mentioned that the email about the homework proposals was a bit confusing. • Summer coffee with Scott and Kate 7/10 7-9pm. o Action: Circle back with Carol Webb about hosting. • LEF weekend Friday 6/14: o Still looking for people to man the table. Get in touch with Patricia if interested. 2012 Survey Update: • Requested Jennifer Yarr,Mona Roy,and Carissa Black be included on the review team preparing the questions. • Dr.Hackett would like to have it out by end of school year,but in 2012 it took awhile to get through the legal review with the administration. o Would like to capitalize on the momentum and get it out over the summer realistically. o See it as an opportunity to feed into the DEI work. • Survey goal: o Goal of the 2012 survey was to help SEPAC advice SC/Admin on thoughts/feelings of the SPED community. o New goal: "The goal of the survey is to help advise the Lexington SEPAC,School Committee,and School Administration regarding parents's/guardians's perspectives on the special education processes and services their children receive. We also hope this survey will aid in planning special education delivery service and the District's efforts in Diversity,Equity,and Inclusion." • Could make the open-ended questions optional,but concerned about changing too much because then lose ability to compare directly with 2012 survey results. • Would like to know if there are improvements in communications and protocols. • Need to make sure it's done in full partnership and full buy-in because don't want to have the results some how ignored because of concerns about the survey questions. • Need agreement on what kind of sample size will be seen as successful. • Questions about getting the survey done in different languages. o Action: Mona will reach out to cultural groups about language needs. • Also need to make sure use neutral pronouns. LexEPAC/SEPTA Board 2419-20 Co-chairs (two) Emma Harding *** EB Patricia Jacotin ***EB Treasurer Carissa Black ***EB Secretary Colette Powell ***EB Membership Lauren Onorato ***EB Communications Marina Levitt Web/Tech Jaina Morgan Member at Large Melissa Berry Presentations and Special Events Kathy Cunningham Lisa O'Brien Lexington Public School Liaisons LHS Mona Roy, Robin Abrams Clarke Lisa O'Brien Diamond Carol Webb, Elise Phair Bowman Lori Wright Bridge Kinnary Raythatha Estabrook Sara Cuthbertson Fiske Susannah Hoch Harrington Heidi Mann Hastings Christy Waller LCP (Lexington Children's Place) Georgia Swann Out of District Jennifer Yaar School Committee Liaisons Mona Roy, Bronte Abraham, Marina Levitt, Georgia Swann, Carol Millard Interest Groups AND Parents Group Jennifer Yaar Autism Parents Group Elise Phair Dyslexia Parents Group Nicole Locher, Jean DeSanto Resource Fair Deb Osber, Ashley Waring