One Parent to Another
A Parent's Notes from EG SEAC Mtg (informal)
January 19th Meeting: Special Education Director's Report (~30 min)
- Can't speak to until proposed to the school committee formally
- Can answer questions from last year's perspective (Patty shared documents)
Project Search
- Collaboration between ORS and Career Oppt
- EG looking to create collaboration w Kent Hospital
- 3 school districts have done this already (Cranston, Prov, & a third)
- Looking to partner w Narragansett and Coventry to share costs of a teacher (1 to 6 students each year served)
- Waiting for Kent to find a "space"-other options include Metlife, Citizen's Bank
Partner w RI Partner Assistance Services
- Provide training to all the staff and the students (more middle & HS)
- Topics: Suicide prevention, self harm, children in crisis
- Collaboration between RI Dept of Health, RI Student Services, Life Span Health Care System, and Brown Univ
- FREE!!!!
- While mental health sub group continues to work on prevention (including future plans to screen for depression)
- Now two stars
- To be three star by June b/c Teachers attending training every Tuesday
- Question: Does this include special needs training (e.g. Autism, Communication Disorders, etc.)
- "prepare EVERY child" "college AND careers"
- "Dear Colleague" letter to say the term "dyslexia"
- Diagnosis versus IDEA IEP qualifying buckets
- Question: How is that going to help the children? What is changing?
- Special Ed Introduction (Director takes new member on tour, informs, answers questions, etc)
Data Subcommittee Update: Special Needs Parent Priority Survey
- Completed November of 2015
- Sent out via SEAC list serve, Facebook (East Greenwich Parents for Excellence), and through the Special Education Director’s list serve (twice)
- Represents regarding 156 students/families (some families took more than once because multiple students with disabilities
Highest Priorities?
- (rated high priority by 80% of parents) Curriculum/Teaching Materials-ensuring that Special Needs classes have teaching materials and related training that are "scientifically based" for optimal learning (per Individuals w Disabilities Education Act 2004)
- (rated high priority by 94% of parents) Staff Training and Skills-striving to ensure that teachers and para-professionals are adequately trained for the specific disabilities before them
- (rated high priority by 76% of parents) Communication/Student Learning-improving day-to-day communication between home and school, particularly around student learning/growth/lack thereof
Access all results below
Data Sub-Committee Update: PARCC Results for Students with IEPs
- Shared the PARCC results for students with IEPs in East Greenwich
- Data accessed: https://iss.ride.ri.gov/AssessmentResults
Attachment with Math and ELA results below
Special Education Facebook Page
Purpose: Repeatedly, at our meetings, parents have expressed interest in sharing resources, community opportunities, and to be connected with parents whose families have similar experiences. Social media presents a potential avenue, but family privacy and group norms need to be respected. This Facebook group was created with this in mind.
By making the group ‘secret’:
- A ‘secret’ group is completely invisible to non-members
- Membership is only available through the invitation of a member & SEAC leadership approval
- Otherwise, functions just like Facebook (share posts, pictures, online links, announce social events, etc)
- Login to Facebook and search (bar at top) for Cherie Cruz or Betsy Aulisio (Co-Chairs), send a friend request to connect (it is okay to 'unfriend' after)
- Once you two are friends, message her asking to be invited to the group and you just need to accept
- ONCE YOU ARE A MEMBER YOU CAN INVITE OTHERS!! SPREAD THE WORD!!
School Committee and Budget by Patty Harwood
- Patty requested that Special Education be first since last last year
- To remind them when Patty shares out from the meeting at next SC mtg
- Budget Overall Concerns (cost of Full Day K, cost of earlier start times, loss of state funding, etc)
- Tech costs will be missing this year b/c those are moved now to the Tech Director report outs
- Handout: This year's budget-big bucket categories (pg 2 of 4) (letter is school name)
- Handout: Special Education from last year
- In the regular budget, there is much that is contractually obligated (although in Special Education are legally obligated)
Other School Committee Question/Topics: Curriculum - No new money spent there (per Carolyn Marks newsletter update), but noted that School Committee had curriculum presentations from all other content areas but none from special education. Parent survey (data above) says this is a big need & last year when Director gathered curriculum information from Special Educators it reflected mostly social emotional curriculum with little/outdated reading and no math, etc. Also given poor PARCC data, this is a subgroup in need of attention. Patty noted concerns to share with School Committee.