2019-11-05 Speical Education Parent Advisory Council Minutes

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Town of Reading Meeting Minutes WL, • Old Business: o Read and approve minutes from 10/15/19 meeting ■ Amy Stewart made a motion to approve the minutes. Laura Noonan seconded. The minutes were unanimously approved. • New Business o Discussion of SEPAL purpose obligations, roles and meetine structure ■ Purpose and Obligations • It was agreed at the meeting that discussion of the SEPAL purpose and obligations will be deferred until after Leslie Leslie of the Federation for Children with Special Needs(FCSN)presents a workshop to the SEPAC regarding the role and purpose of the SEPAL in Massachusetts at future business meeting in December or January. o The FCSN presentation will cover topics including the purpose of SEPAL, statutory background,what works well and what does not work well,and strategies to engage the community. o The FCSN presentation is available as webinar to view on the FCSN website if anyone would like to view it outside of a SEPAL meeting. ■ Roles • Board Member Roles:Amy Stewart noted that the board members are not employees of the District and thus do not need email addresses from the District. The board will keep gmail accounts. • Role as Relates to School Committee: o Jeanne Borawksi noted that the SEPAC has a participatory and advisory role to the School Committee. Her role in the SEPAC is as a liaison who brings information from the SEPAC to the School Committee. She is also willing to give brief updates at the SEPAC meeting regarding relevant School Committee information. Jeanne acknowledged and confirmed that her role attending the SEPAC meetings is principally for observation purposes. o It was also discussed that the presence of a School Committee liaison at the SEPAC meetings is not a substitute for SEPAC members to do at least one annual formal presentation at a School Committee meeting. The SEPAC may also consider presenting its point of view at School Committee meetings each time the Director of Student Services presents,which is 3 or 4 times a year. o Michele Sanphy,a member of the SEPAC,volunteered to be the SEPAC budget parent. o There was discussion of the support previously given to the SEPAC from the School Committee-precedent included a MassPAC Plus Membership annually, photo copies and audio visual support at meetings. SEPAC members informed Jeanne that going forward SEPAC would like all of those same supports and would like the School Committee to consider giving the Page 12