HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-11-18 Speical Education Parent Advisory Council MinutesOF
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Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
Parent Advisory Council
Date: 2015 -11 -18
Building: Pleasant Street Senior Center
Address: 49 Pleasant Street
Purpose: General SEPAC Business - Board
Nominations
Attendees: Members - Present:
Alicia Williams
Melissa Pucci
Nicole O'Neil
Terri Teixeira
Rob Carney
Jarra Carney
Kusum Dmonte
Karen Serevich
Kate Goldlust
Christina Parks
Melinda Richardson
Erin Gesmundo
Tara Herlihy
Members - Not Present:
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Great Room
Session: Open Session
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Others Present:
Carolyn Wilson, Director of Student Services
Linda Snow Dockser, School Committee liaison
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Teresa Teixeira
Topics of Discussion:
1 Call to Order: Alicia Williams called the meeting to order. She gave a short history of
the Reading SEPAC's past problems related to outdated bylaws which prohibited our
ability to move forward. She contacted Leslie Leslie of MASSPAC for guidance on how
to reestablish the Reading SEPAC. Leslie Leslie stated that at our meeting tonight we
are allowed to amend and adopt new bylaws without officers. The people here
tonight make up the SEPAC and we can work together to move forward.
2 Approval of 5/14/13 Meeting Minutes: Meeting minutes from 5/14/13 were read
aloud for approval.
Alicia Williams moved, seconded by Melissa Pucci, that we accept the
5/14/13 meeting minutes. The motion passed unanimously.
3 Bylaws: In the 5/14/13 meeting, the quorum number, officer term and election date
were amended. These amendments were voted on and passed. These current bylaws
will be posted on the SEPAC Edline page.
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4 Proposal for Amending Current Bylaws: Several changes were discussed:
a Notification of New Board Members : The current bylaws state that the SEPAC
needs to inform the Director of Student Services of newly elected SEPAC
board members as of June. However, since the date for elections were
changed as of the 5/14/13 meeting to October, this notification date needs to
be changed to November.
Alicia Williams moved, seconded by Christine Parks, that the
Reading SEPAC notify the Director of Student Services of newly
elected SEPAC board members by November 1 instead of June
1 given the change to October elections. The motion passed
unanimously.
b Name: Members discussed whether to use the name SEPAC (Special
Education Parent Advisory Council) versus PAC (Parent Advisory Council).
Majority agreed to use SEPAC.
Timing of This Year's Election : Members discussed whether to vote in a board
tonight or wait until next month. Majority decided that we should proceed
with an election tonight so that the SEPAC can move forward.
Board Positions : Descriptions of positions used in the past (chair, secretary,
treasurer, fundraiser, school liaisons) were read aloud. Parents suggested
that it may be easier to find people willing to commit to a general board
position rather than a position with a specific title.
The following SEPAC members agreed to serve on the board: Alicia Williams,
Nicole Fidas, Kate Goldlust, Terri Teixeira, Rob Carney.
Nicole O'Neill moved, seconded by Christine Parks, that the
SEPAC board shall consist of a minimum of two and up to six
board members. A quorum shall consist of a simple majority of
current board members. In the absence of a quorum, the
SEPAC chair may appoint a general SEPAC member to make up
a quorum. The motion passed unanimously.
Alicia Williams moved, seconded by Nicole O'Neill, to approve
appointments to the board of: Alicia Williams, Nicole Fidas,
Kate Goldlust, Terri Teixeira, and Rob Carney. The motion
Passed unanimously.
Liaisons: The following people volunteered to serve as liaisons:
Terri Teixeira - Reading Memorial High School
Melinda Richardson - Out -of- District Placements
Erin Gesmundo - Joshua Eaton Elementary
Tara Herlihy - Barrows Elementary
Kusum Dmonte - RISE Preschool
Christine Parks - Parker Middle School
Alicia Williams and Jarra Carney - Birch Meadow
Liaison positions for Wood End, Killam and Coolidge are still open.
6 Publicizing Meetings: Various ways of publicizing meetings were discussed.
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7 Meeting Dates: Members agreed to try for monthly meetings. Carolyn Wilson has
access to a district wide calendar and is willing to sit down with a SEPAC member to
go over future meeting dates. Tara Herlihy volunteered to do this.
8 Email: The general email address for the Reading SEPAC will be:
sepacreading @gmail.com . Board members need to establish new gmail accounts for
SEPAC business separate from their personal accounts. The format should be similar
for all board members, if possible.
9 Meeting Topics : Several ideas for topics were discussed, as well as the format (i.e.,
utilizing a World Cafe approach) and how to maximize a limited speaker budget.
Two meetings are already scheduled for January: one in early January on Basic
Rights, and one in late January on Extended School Year and Transitions.
10 Next Meetinq: A December meeting was tentatively scheduled for Thursday, 12/10.
Preliminary agenda items will be approval of 11/18/15 meeting minutes and further
discussion of 2015 meeting topics.
Alicia moved to adiourn the meeting. Melissa seconded.
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