The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About2019-10-15 Speical Education Parent Advisory Council Minutes own of Reading J Ti:, Meeting Minutes + rd ` I ERK soard - committee - commission - council: all No -8 PM 4: 04 Parent Advisory Council Date: 2019-10-15 Time: 7:00 Building: RMHS Location: Library Media Center Address: Purpose: Business Meeting Session: Attendees: Members - Present: Sarah McLaughlin Members - Not Present: Others Present: Jennifer Stys, Director of Student Services Alison Wright, Assistant Director of Student Services Florrie Johnson, District Psychologist ✓ Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Sarah McLaughlin Topics of Discussion: • Call to Order: Sarah McLaughlin called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM. • New Business: o Meetings and trainings for 2019/2020: ■Florrie Johnson,the District Psychologist suggested developing a summer parenting group maybe in conjunction with Extended School Year that is behavior management focused for help, support, information -for example, ways to structure the home,visual schedules, rewards jar, etc. • Target age group—elementary age kids • Start planning now to determine if need resources, funding, deciding what staff to include • Available resources can share with parents—ex. Village Parenting/Theresa Wiggins • Next steps- Florrie to share a brief description of what thinking about; include a couple questions in more broad parent survey SEPAC has been planning to send to get a sense of level of interest and areas of needed support Page 1 1 own of Reading X Meeting Minutes ■Police and fire department training for parents—interest from parents and district (Lisa Studer and Jane Finger)—collaborate with • Police have been trained and have other resources • Initial emails to discuss possibility and trying to get on schedule • Need to respond ■MassPac membership • AnnMarie Foley to follow-up on status of membership • Basic Rights workshop to be scheduled • Reach out to Leslie Leslie come out to do a SEPAC 101 regional training ■Transition fair/workshop/speaker—reach out to local SEPACs to find out if anything planned • Connect parents to resources/things already planned rather than spending resources on hosting/planning • Communitas (formerly emarc)—hosting one in November in Worcester • Jen/Alison can reach out to their network for resources c Update from Jennifer Sty£: ■Crossroads RMHS program collecting socks for Cradles to Crayons. Donations can be dropped off at the high school. ■Tiered focused monitoring(used to be called coordinated program review)—coming first full week of November to meet with Jen and Alison • Have been having proactive conversations to understand the kinds of things looking for to try and get ahead of it and are as clear and concise as possible. For example,trying to make sure structured with IEP meetings so not having more than need to have and everybody has clear sense of direction o Cycle of IEP is typically on 3 year—initial meeting, 1 year review, 2nd year review, and then re-evaluation. So times with dates in Reading with holding meeting and then having it effective for a year, there were often gaps. o Holding meeting"2 months in advance of IEP expiration so leave enough time for wiggle room (sick kids, snow cancellations, etc as well as enough time for parents to review) Page 1 2 own of Reading Y Meeting Minutes sIKMI� o Jen/Alison sending home letter explaining process and what to expect in next couple of weeks—TBD mode/method but probably via team chairs o Parent orientation during SEPAC meeting-'-30 min and can ask questions etc o New process so not sure what includes o Looking for dates Nov-Jan-ish • Section 504s—feedback from parents and staff the system is fairly unwieldy; wanted to shift to make sure it is kid centric and children are receiving services o Worked with Michael Joyce to create a 504 policy and procedures manual o Still using eSped to collect the data, but hopefully more streamlined and data is more accurate o Training staff to make sure on the same page and has access to information—how do students qualify,what are the mitigating factors • 504s don't have the same legal standards as IEPs so not necessarily the same kind of time frames—when request a 504 need formal testing consent, but actual testing doesn't have to be as formal as IEP testing—not as categorical and more who is this kid and what do they need. Ex. not every kid with an inhaler needs a 504 vs this specific kid needs access to their inhaler because it is critical o Access to manual or portions of information applicable to families posted on student services website ■ Trying to improve transition process from preschool into elementary • Meeting with local preschools to talk about the referral process and what that looks like and how to make it go more smoothly ■Services and programs -going back to what is this program,what is the service you are getting within this program, what is the road map • Having 5 year plan/road map for common understanding across district and parents • Do the same for learning center as well for consistency across grade levels and • Want parent input so will be reaching out to different groups at different times and coordinating small parent group meetings • Starting with one particular group- concerned about groups in Compass and Crossroads transitioning from MS to HS • Program descriptions will be developed as part of the feedback process to make sure communicating all the really good things that are happening within the schools Page 1 3 own of Reading Meeting Minutes • Feel that it's really important, but want to make sure aren't putting inaccurate descriptions out there o Walker Report 2013ish recommendations included developing program descriptions with entrance and exit criteria o Most frequently asked question by parents so definitely something people will be looking forward to o Election — • le in — ■Election coordinator,Alicia Williams, re-read section of bylaws related to elections and the names of the nominations received • Maria Morgan • Amy Stuart • Alyssa Scaparotti • Laura Noonan • Tom Wise—would like to be nominated for future consideration pending feedback from town counsel on whether he can serve due to his position on the School Committee ■Because there were fewer than 6 nominees there was no vote and all nominees were automatically voted in ■Next steps were discussed including open meeting law training and going to Town Hall to sign book o Action items ■Change date of November meeting due to conflict with Town Meeting ■Update SEPAC flyer ■Create new sepac email addresses and connect everybody together Sarah McLaughlin moved to adjourn the meeting. Alicia Wiliams seconded. Meeting adjourned at 8:32 PM. Page 1 4