FCCPTA Special Education Committee

Minutes of the April 22, 2004 Meeting

In Attendance:

Carolyn Edner, Lisa Fagan, Margaret Fisher, Barbara Foster, Karen Freiberg, Marsha Goldberg, Tana Leasure, Claire Leftwich, Dave Lenox, Donna Martinez, Stephanie Running, Mary Beth Slack, Melissa Stoner, Betty Wilson, Mary Zempolich

 Local PTA special education activities:

Laura Nelson: Publishes “Celebrating Special Children,” a very comprehensive guide for parents. The Northern Virginia version will be coming out soon and she is looking for suggestions about articles to include.

Mary Zempolich: Next week, the Union Mill ES PTA has organized an Autism Week. Visitors and volunteers would be welcome. The head of PEATC will be addressing the entire student body. During gym, students will rotate among sensory centers. Each day will have a theme, such as Mindful Monday, Whisper Wednesday (to teach the point that children with autism have noise and other sensitivities), and Friendship Friday.

Dave Lenox: Works for the Special Olympics. Has sent out newsletter articles on inclusion and acceptance. Wants to develop a Parent and Sibling Center: siblings at Mantua ES report feelings of helplessness.

Lisa Fagan: holds monthly parent groups at her house for Dranesville ES parents. Plans to distribute a video on special education in Spanish to parents of ESOL students. Serves as a resource. Updates library.

Carolyn Edner: Serves as a liaison for teachers to the PTA if the teachers are in need of volunteers or funds for projects.

Barbara Foster: Has expanded the role at Bren Mar ES to “Parenting and Health” committee.

 Common themes expressed:

Difficulty in reaching parents due to confidentiality policy.

Many special education “committees” are one-person shows.

Parents of ESOL students are particularly hard to serve.

 

Parent Resource Center presentation:  (Marsha and Claire):

There are two satellite PRC’s in addition to the Dunn Loring one. The PRC has three major functions: a library, training and workshops for parents, and serving as a consultant to families (mostly done by phone and email).

There are three active Sib Shops groups this spring.

Carmen Noonan plans to hold parent workshops in Spanish

The special education handbook is available in all major languages.

Keep In Touch reaches 5000 sets of parents.

The PRC web site has a tutor list.

The PRC plans workshops on inclusion for general ed parents.

The parent workshops deliver the same information to parents that the teachers are given. They are trying to hold workshops around the county geographically. Getting space in schools can be a challenge; we can help out here.

 

Ombudsmen presentation:

Tana Leasure (former co-chair of the Advisory Committee for students with disabilities, now Cluster II ombudsman)

This program grew out of the need to provide support for individual families.

One ombudsman for each of the eight clusters; each has an office in one of the schools. They underwent several months of training. Each is a parent; the pay is low so they are doing it mostly for love!

They are there as advocates for the parents and children. Tana sees her job as empowering parents to become better advocates for their children and better team builders. She encourages all parents to attend an IEP workshop. Conflict resolution is a big part of her job; 75% of the problems she runs into are due to communication problems. She will attend IEP’s with parents when requested. Gives parents strategies to use at IEP meetings (such as bringing food to the meeting, trying to focus the meeting on the student, arranging the seating to minimize an adversarial atmosphere, introducing the meeting by outlining your long term goals for your child.)

 

Some suggestions that came out this meeting:

There was sentiment in favor of another meeting to be held in May, again with guest speakers. (Any requests as to who? Speak up quick!)

Donna asks that everyone look over the Special Education PTA representative guide (available on fccpta.org) and submit suggestions for improvements and updates.

As a group we should develop a very short, plainly worded handout for parents on “Where you can go if you are worried about your child” to include a few basic items such as who the rep is, who/what the ombudsman is for the school, who to call in the school to help, etc.

Each representative should keep a procedure manual to pass on to their successor.

Each representative should consider asking their PTA president to reserve time at one of the monthly PTA meetings for a presentation by the representative on special education.

PTA’s that are without a special education representative should list the position as unfilled (in order to make parents aware of the vacancy.)

We should organize our emails in specialedfairfax to make it easier for people to spot the ones that will interest them, designating them in the title line as containing informational material vs discussion items. We might explore other venues such as Blackboard.

As the time for public comment on the selection process is quickly coming to an end, folks should write the School Board members now to ask them to make sure that the new superintendent has a proven background vis a vis special education.

There is a rumor that inclusion – “Target 7” – is being dropped as a target by the School Board. Something else to write them about.

Submit a motion to your PTA board that your school create a parent kiosk with information about the PRC, Celebrating Special Children, PEATC, etc.

Call your ombudsmen and introduce yourself; invite them to your parent meetings. Announce the ombudsmen program in your newsletters.

 

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