Call to Order
Introductions: Alison, Lynne, Joyce and Kristin attended
Approve Minutes: Minutes from June and October approved.
Officers/Committee reports:
– Basic Rights happened in October. There was a decent turn-out (around 10 to 12 people).
– Our next meeting will be at Gibbs in the evening, Tuesday December 10, at 7pm.
Workshops:
– On Monday, March 9th at 6pm in the High School auditorium, we are co-hosting a movie called “Intelligent Lives,” a film about students with intellectual disabilities in life post-high school. It’s about students trying to balance independence while navigating supports in their adult lives.
– Erin Hajduk is working on putting together a Recreation Fair for the winter.
– Aspire, out of MGH, offers presentations on topics such as Disclosure (talking to your child about their disability, or talking about your own disability if you’re an older individual). Sarah will look for more information on cost and bring it to the next meeting.
APS Staff Reports:
– We will be heading into the budget season soon, so there will be more school committee meetings happening in the near future, in January.
– Our mid-cycle tiered focus monitoring review of the SPED program will be happening in April. They will be interviewing families, observing facilities/programs.
– The high school building project is coming along nicely, they have infographics showing the progress and which grades will get to enjoy the finished space.
– The Parmenter will be used as “swing space” for the preschool as they’re tearing down the high school. They are going to be updating the building and making it ready for the preschool starting in June. For the next five years, everyone will be back together again instead of in two locations (High School and Hardy, the satellite preschool classroom.)
– Department of Mental Health and Mass Rehab Commission (MRC) will give a presentation in January at the high school about their programs, such as classes and internship programs for adolescents.
– The REACH program is inviting colleges with great services for students with disabilities in to talk about what they offer. High School Counselors will be present. The expected time for this is some time in the spring 2020.
Public Participation/New Business:
– We have talked about conducting a survey of parents on their level of knowledge regarding SEPAC and available resources in the past. We have started to come up with questions but haven’t finished it. There are sites such as Survey Monkey which could help us distribute the survey.
Adjourn
Arlington SEPAC 