SEPAC MEETING MINUTES – 5/21/14

Attendees:
Lisa Heger,Jeffrey Rubin, Leah Nabstedt(meeting chair) and Kristen Zechello

Minutes from the April 17, 2014 meeting were reviewed and are awaiting approval for submission to the School Committee.

New

SEPAC Parent Member Meetings

  • SEPAC Parent Member Meeting held May 14, 2014, next one scheduled for June 5, 2014
  • Focus for the SEPAC Board members is currently on setting the Workshop Agenda for the next school year by the end of the school year. A general idea of what we are working on for topics is:
  • October 2014 – College Fair for the Challenged Student (working with Anthony Garofolo, Director of Guidance at BHS)
  • November 2014 – Transition (Working with the FCSN to focus on transition from Elementary to Middle school for special needs children)
  • January 2015 – Basic Rights (Working with the FCSN)
  • February 2015 – Educational Advocacy (Hoping to schedule with Mass Advocates for Children possibly)
  • March 2015 – MassHealth and Insurance Issues
  • April 2015 – Skills for Living in Norwell, MA(strategies to focus on younger students at home and in the community)
  • May 2015 – 7th Annual Inclusion Awards

Monatiquot Kindergarten Center – Opening Fall 2014

  • SEPAC will be collaborating with the Commission o Disabilities to ensure all accessibility and other special needs student considerations are addressed prior to opening in the Fall 2014.

Norfolk County Sherriff Camp – slots available to Special Education students for inclusion opportunity

  • The group discussed the fact that only two slots have been given to the Special Services Department for students. Since this summer’s opportunity is being considered a pilot and there are only two spots available, the group agreed that the fair way to open the slots to the students that are going to age out shortly. Agreed that only students aged 13 and 14 will be offered one of the slots and there will be a drawing.

New Program at East Middle School

  • SAIL and LEAP are being combined to one program called REACH.
  • The one new program will have three teachersand each will teach their students ELA, Math and facilitate a resource period.
  • Having one program with three different teachers will allow for more flexibility for the students and their needs rather than there being only two options. Some student needs didn’t fit appropriately in either LEAP or SAIL.

Subcommittee Updates/Goals for the school year 2013-2014:

  • MCAS (Eileen Donohue/Mimi Pugsley-Co-Chairs) – no update at this meeting
  • Anti-Bullying (Lyn McPhail/Erin Roche-Wise - Co-Chairs) - no update at this meeting
  • Diversity (Suzanne Brouillard – Chair)
  • The SEPAC Diversity Subcommittee is planning on working to have as muchtranslation done over the summer as possible. The subcommittee plans on working with Federation and their translators to get SEPAC documents translated for the Fall 2014 mailing.
  • The group asked that Mr. Rubin filter a report from ASPEN to find out which languages there are for students on IEPs that are spoken at home as another means to reach parents of those students.
  • Community Inclusion Awards (Kristen Zechello-Chair)
  • 2014 Recipients Announced at 5/19 School Committee Meeting:
  • Amy Valle, Amy’s Dance Dynamics
  • Dr. Mary Ford Clark, BHS School Psychologist/Super Saturdays Director
  • Flaherty Elementary - the entire 5th grade class
  • Community Outreach (Kristen Zechello-Chair)
  • SEPAC has scheduled roundtable discussions for preschool parents at Braintree High School for both daytime and evening for 5/22/14. A flyer has been sent home and teachers have been speaking with parents directly to encourage attendance.
  • When children are in the early stages parents need the most support so SEPAC has decided to come to them and give them the opportunity to access what information we can share about our experiences. Some topics to be discussed may include but are not limited to, insurance questions, outside therapies, MassHealth, etc.
  • Social Skills Curriculum (Michelle Owens/Leah Nabstedt – Co-Chairs) – no update at this meeting
  • SEPAC Website/Facebook Page (Suzanne Brouillard - Chair)– no update at this meeting
  • Transition (Leah Nabstedt/Barbara Bonigli - Co-Chairs) – no update at this meeting

Open

High school Exam Schedule Changes - Update

  • Ms. Heger is going to be present during final exams this year to try to get a feel for the schedule and then will work with Mr. Lee on how the changes will be made and will ultimately be presented to School Committee for approval.

PARCC - The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career – Update

  • Pilot testing continues for several Braintree students. There were some technical challenges while the test was “tested”.
  • Andy Delery, who is coordinating the PARCC pilot testing, reported to Ms. Heger that the pilot testing went really well and the issues that Braintree experienced have been reported to the DESE.

Ongoing Space Concerns/School Building Committee – Update

  • Tom Devin is the School Committee representative on the School Building Committee and as soon as the Committee makes their recommendations, Ms. Heger will share them at this meeting.
  • Massachusetts School Building Authority grant is in place for the East Middle School Improvement plan scheduled for completion 2016.
  • Braintree will not putting through a Statement of Work with MSBA this year, normally we do one as a district every year. It was decided by the School Building Committee that the district will not submit for another project until we are sure we have a plan to address space concerns for the whole district.

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Coordinated Program Review

  • What is examined in the DESE Coordinated Program review every six years are the Civil Rights, English Language Learners and Special Education Programs.
  • A draft report of results have been received from DESE and Mr. Rubin reported that the only deficiencies reported by the DESE had to do with space issues for the Special Education review. This particular issue is not unknown to the district. There were no compliance issues. When the final report is available he will share it with us as a SEPAC.

SEPAC Fundraiser – 118th Boston Marathon, “BFFE Marathon Run for SEPAC”

  • As of this meeting the SEPAC has raised a total of $6,998.00. Funds raised pay for workshop speakers, the Inclusion Awards and the SEPAC Scholarships awarded each spring. Mrs. Zechello stated that the fundraising goal was set at $5,000 and the SEPAC is delighted that the goal has been surpassed! SEPAC shared their appreciation for the support and generosity of the community.

Substitute teachers and para educators in specialized programs

  • SEPAC wants to advocate for staff in classrooms to be earmarked as “Special Education” within the substitute “list” like they are when assigned to a permanent position. SEPAC felt that the experience and skill of the substitute staff in Special Education programs should be considered whenever a substitute is assigned to a program.
  • Mr. Rubin has spoken to Dr. Murray about this issue and they agreed that Special Services couldhave a list of “preferred substitutes” for each program. All principals have been contacted and he is waiting to hear back from them. SEPAC also suggested that Mr. Rubin speak to the staff in each school/program as they work alongside the substitutes and will have valuable insight about who is a good fit to substitute in their programs and with individual students.

Open Discussion

  • Mrs. Zechello brought up the issue of inclusion and that it is SEPAC’s understanding that there are several substantially separate settings at the preschool and at the Flaherty School in the ABLES Program where the students are not included at all.
  • Mr. Rubin will look further into these questions and get back to the group.
  • SEPAC strongly advocates for all students to be included at some level with their typical peers, especially in the early childhood years. They need to develop a peer group and this happens naturally when children are young.

Next Meeting

  • June 11, 2014 11:45am Special Services

All meetings are held in the Special Services Department at Braintree High School at 11:45am.

Minutes prepared by:

  • Kristen Zechello