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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-05-11 Special Education Parents Advisory Council Minutes OFq Town of Reading RECEIVED e� Meeting Minutes TOWREADNNGI R A. Bcard -- Committee - Commission - Council: 2021 JUN 15 AM 8: 2 Special Education Parents Advisory Council Date: 2021-05-11 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Location: Address: Session: Purpose: Business Meeting Version: Attendees: Members - Present: Alyssa Scaparotti (Chair for meeting) Laura Noonan Amy Stewart Members - Not Present: N/A Others Present: John Doherty, Superintendent of RPS Dr. Jennifer Stys, Director of Student Services Allison Wright, Assistant Director of Student Services Erin Gaffen, School Committee Member/SEPAC Liaison Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Laura Noonan Topics of Discussion: Call to Order at 7:02 PM District Updates Running a meeting for SAIL and SOAR Parents at HIS and MS level. Hoping to get the new principal joining them.This is coming soon. Dyslexia guidance was released from the state. Dr. Stys is doing a high level overview Thursday night at the school committee meeting.This will be presented in conjunction with the curriculum dept. Creating a power point for each chapter of the Dyslexia Guidance(small snip its). Kelly DiCato's Power Point presentation from the last SEPAC meeting will be on the student services website. As well as tonight's Progress Report Presentation. Upcoming social-emotional learning presentations. Lynn Lyons,who is an expert in field of anxiety will be offering a presentation for staff, as well as one for families. Procedural Updates to Special Education Handbook.This is'behind the scenes". It includes all the laws, regulations and guidance. It is for staff and will have links embedded into it for form letters, as well as connections to all of the handbooks.This is so that they can make sure that there is a process followed for nogficabon of parents when necessary,for example,and that everyone follows up accordingly. All of that will be embedded and easy to update. Special Olympics.—Traditional events cancelled. Staff at Coolidge offered to organize it so there will be a Special Olympics in district. Expect to hear about this soon. Page 1 1 (4& OFq `o Town of Reading 5 x Meeting Minutes ,•�t IF(OP ESY.Allison Wright is working on finalizing schedules. Communication will come via email again this year. RISE and elementary will be at Birch and the Middle and high school will be at Birch. ASK of SEPAC or Friends of SEPAC—Welcome packet.This welcome packet could include a map of Reading and answers to questions such as"Who do I reach out to for x, y,z?"This packet could help newcomers form connections.Would SEPAC like to take this on to help the district continue to do the family outreach?Made Morgan, Michele Sanphy and Kit Lonergan volunteered. A high school student continues to work on the videos.Those will be coming soon. Working on new information regarding foreign language requirement. Working with middle school to bring this down to the middle schools so that when they are making decisions they are thinking about what the impact is for students in middle school and also into high school. Does the student's disability hinder their ability to participate in taking a foreign language and should they waive that requirement?Be on the lookout for this-you may be hearing about this at your team meeting. Alyssa Scaparotti asked if students could waive requirement in grade 7, but take a foreign language in grade 8. Answer from Dr. Stys: yes. Understanding Progress Reports Presentation given by: Linda Boyages, Occupational Therapist, RISE Kassie Boilard, SLP, Joshua Eaton Anne Korwan, Occupational Therapist,Joshua Eaton and Barrows Auriana Musselman, Special Education Teacher in the LEAD Program, Parker Presentation included: • Components of the Progress Report • How to Read the Progress Report • Benchmarks that drive the progress report(and future IEP development) • Data collection • Sample of a completed Progress Report. • Progress Reports help to guide specially designed instruction.They are offered at least as often as regular education students are given report cards at that grade level.They contain only data for specific goals. If there is a lack of progress, the team may need to reconvene. If a student has exceeded the objective the team may need to reconvene to add objectives. The Presentation went over the layout of the Progress Report. Developing the objectives that drive the Progress Report. What skills does the child need to progress toward grade level? The Presentation went over"What are benchmarks?" Benchmarks include a specific time frame. Data is collected in that time frame until the benchmark is met. The Presentation went over Goal Focus and Objectives, and what some requirements within objectives might look like. Data collection is dependent upon the objective.There are lots of methods that could be used. Mastery can be measured in different ways. (examples:2/5, 3/5,8/10) How often the provider meets with the student would be an example of something that could impact how it would be written. Page 1 2 �N rqf 'W Town of Reading z Meeting Minutes A Q&A session followed the presentation: Amy Stewart had a comment and a question. Her comment was that she appreciates the way the way that the RPS lays out the Progress notes, in that it is easy to read. This was not her experience in a different school district. Her question was that she has heard of progress data and maintenance data, but what are the other kinds of data that are out there? Answer: None of the presenters were aware of"maintenance data".The data is always progress data. IEPs are not written for maintenance. Looks at regression, recoupment, access to summer school, can the child remember a skill for a while?Objectives need to be achievable yet will push them further. Data is also used for to determine whether a provider may need to see the child more often. Kate Goldlust asked-what are the steps taken by a therapist when it is apparent that the child is not going to meet the objective?Answer: Linda Boyages indicated that she would call a team meeting. Progress that isn't happening is just as important as progress that does happen.Auriana Musselman says maybe more data would be necessary, or a test, etc. Dr.Stys commented that parents should feel comfortable reaching out about whether or not they are seeing the progress that want to see, etc. Made Morgan asked a question about how would progress be measured if an IEP was written immediately prior to a PR being issued. Linda Boyages answered that the report might indicate that a skill was introduced but there is no more data at that time.Auriana Musselman commented that the data is the current performance,and that she might include a narrative. Amy Stewart asked another question-could the speakers touch on the 3 yr evaluation and how that dovetails with the progress reports?Kassie Boilard says the updated goals get written from the re-eval. New IEP, new goals, new objectives. It is a cycle. Michele Sanphy thanked the presenters and then asked, if a child qualifies for ESY,what is the distinction of the report given at the end of ESY and the progress reports?Allison Wright answered that students are eligible for ESY if a team collects data that depicts that a child would regress N the child was not provided with services over the summer. ESY is just a repetition of skills that they have been working on. It's just to prevent regression.The end of the summer report is just a summary of skills that they worked on and whether the child was able to maintain their skills over the summer. Not as detailed as a Progress Report. Anne Korwan commented that it's a"summer summary."Would contain whether the skill was worked on"and things like that". Review and Approve Survey About Topics of Interest Worked on by Michele Sanphy, Kate Goldlust and Kit Lonergan.Alyssa shared the draft of the survey. Five possible presentations.To be ranked 1-5.What type of format would be most engaging?These were the top topics from topic suggestions gathered from the community in the outreach done. Kate Goldlust pointed out that the gen ed community had expressed that they would like to see how they can reach out to be allies with the special ed community,and that this was really nice to see. Dr. Stys offered that the distract put this in a format and help send it out. Michele Sanphy thanked Dr. Stys and Dr. Doherty for this offer. Laura Noonan made a formal motion to approve the Survey About Topics of Interest. Seconded by Amy Stewart. Roll call vole-all members of SEPAC community.Approved unanimously. Update from SEPAC reading/literacy subcommittee Alyssa gave update. Meeting scheduled for next Tues.The current plan is to figure out a plan for the next reading presentations-there will be two more. Maria Morgan asked a question-Was the first presentation well attended?Tom Wise commented that it was reasonably well attended and added that it was published onto the district website. Maria Morgan commented that a colleague from the district where she works had told her that she saw the end the presentation and that she was very impressed. Tom Wise commented that the presenters had done a phenomenal job on the presentation. Page 1 3 � FR Town of Reading 09 �x Meeting Minutes .r r�� Michele Sanphy as if there was something specific the subcommittee is looking for in the data?Tom Wise answered that looking at it in the raw form made it easier to understand, and see what future topics might be addressed. Michele Sanphy asked if there are topics that are repetitive could the subcommitee share them with her for her SEPAC topic survey?Answer:Yes. Maria Morgan suggested that Dr. Doherty's weekly update email include that the presentation is posted to the district website.Answer:Yes. Review and Approve Minutes from 4113121 Meeting Michele Sanphy suggested that the Board make a motion to table the Minutes. She stated that she felt tension and was uncomfortable with a discussion on this subject at this time. Dr. Doherty suggested that SEPAC post the minutes from last month's meeting with the agenda for the next month's meeting and put the tliscussion of the minutes on the agenda. Alyssa motioned to table the minutes to next month's meeting for discussion and approval. Roll call vote. Unanimously approved. Public Comment Maria Morgan asked if SEPAC could reintroduce the idea of a daytime meeting.Alyssa Scaparotti stated that could go on the list of things for a future meeting. Michele Sanphy had a question for Dr. Stys-who are these welcome packets intended for?Kindergarteners? Or students coming into Reading?Dr. Stys answered:whatever you all think is appropriate. Dr. Doherty commented that incoming superintendent, Dr. Milachewski,will come to the June SEPAL meeting. Melissa Davis commented that it would be a good idea if SEPAC worked with the library in order to group special education related books in one easy to find location. Action Items Send an email to the SEPAC listserve soliciting community members to volunteer to work on the Welcome Packets? Meeting Adjourned at 8:24 PM. Alyssa Scaparotti moved to Adjourn the Meeting.Amy Stewart Seconded. Unanimously Approved. Page 1 4