2015-12-10 Speical Education Parent Advisory Council Minutes

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a. PLCs: Professional Learning Communities (PLCS) have been established to enable staff to learn from each other. Special education teachers meet at least once a month and are currently focused on developing special education program descriptions, entrance and exit criteria for programs, and other documentation. They will present to the entire staff in February with the long -term goal of making the information available to parents and Edline by the end of the school year. b. Program Names: Carolyn would like to change the names of our special education programs. Staff is currently brainstorming possibilities. Exploration Process: When students require more support than their current placement can give them, the IEP team will make the decision to begin the Exploration Process. This is a team decision. The process involves exploring the various programs, such as: teachers from other programs coming to observe the student, staff visiting the school and talking to program teachers, parents getting a tour of the school by the principal, etc. The process is not to exceed 30 school days (but may happen more quickly). 6. Meeting Topics: January 12 —Basic Rights January 28— Extended School Year (ESY) and Transition March 15 — World Cafe style Meeting focused on Disabilities April 12 — Understanding Disabilities Presentation June 7 -TBD Nicole Fidas will chair the April 12 meeting. The chair of the March meeting TBD. Understanding Disabilities Meeting (4/12/15): UD has received a grant to revamp their entire curriculum. A new component will be added with the topic of Social /Emotional Issues. A representative of UD will provide an overview of the program and how to get involved. 7. Other: Other topics of concern raised by parents included: • The need for small vans transporting students to have standard yellow school bus paint and other markings to alert drivers of the need to stop when the lights are flashing. • IEP meetings scheduled for 1 -hour time frames — Carolyn noted that this is due to the need for coverage and to maximize efficiency. Follow up meetings can be scheduled as needed and team chairs may allot more time to the initial meeting if it is deemed necessary. • Joshua Eaton PARC Scores — Parents are interested in finding out more about what will be done for special education students whose scores have not improved. Alicia moved to adjourn the meetintt. Terri seconded. Page 1 2