Margaret Fisher, Debbie Brodsky, Carol Hagen, Lisa Roti, Phyllis Yosida, Joan Rizek, Sheree Brown Kaplan, Sarah Meiburg, Kathy Webster, Melissa Stoner, Debbie Wilson, Karen Downs, Tia Marsili, Louise Keast, Venus Banta, Mary Nell Clark, Steve Shannon, George Barker.

Meeting began at 6:30pm and ended at 8:30pm

Our last thank you was given to our outgoing Chair, Margaret Fisher.  Many thanks for all Margaret has done. 

 Senator George Barker on education and health committees advocates for states to step up and go beyond the Federal regulations of IDEA . He points out that Federal rules set the floor of legislation and the state sets the ceiling of legislation. Legislators want to hear what happens to the individual when it come changing legislation, to hear the personal stories. He suggests the best use of time would be to have an organized effort, use self-advocates, and call our district office to schedule 1:1 time with our individual legislators.   He mentioned that 9 of the 40 Virginia senators are from Fairfax County, thus ¼ of the senate from Fairfax gives us significant leverage for our concerns. He also pointed out that three of the Fairfax County School Board members are at-large and serve all of Fairfax County. We should also make our concerns known to them as well as our own district school board representative.

Delegate Steve Shannon on education and appropriations committees voiced his concern with the David vs. Goliath situation between the schools and the parents of children with disabilities.  For children with disabilities it all starts with academics and socialization to reach the average goal. The push is to maximize the possibility to thrive. His personal view point stems from his relationship with a sibling with Down Syndrome. Shannon suggested that we ask our individual legislators to write a formal response to the proposed regulations to submit as their public comments. He also mentioned that the VDOE gets its power from the Legislature and it can always write a law that usurps (or decreases) the powers of the VDOE.

Our guests said goodbye and would like to be invited again. 

Chair Announcements: 

 Sheree Brown Kaplan:

*Public Comment on the Proposed VDOE regulations begin on April 28th and end on June 30th.

June 2nd at 6:30-9:30pm Oakton High School, 2900 Sutton Road, Vienna, Va will be the closest venue. Three minutes will be given to each speaker. Please bring copies of the FCCPTA Public Comment on the Proposed VDOE regulations to individually sign and hand in as your public comment.

 There is a concern that the VDOE has only received 300 specific comments. This reflects the number of comments, not the number of people commenting which is far less. This could easily signal a lack of parental input. Can we generate more parental input through our school’s PTA members? In addition to going to our PTAs we can try writing letters to the editors of local papers. We could email the FCCPTA Public Comment on the proposed regulations to five friends who could email 5 friends…

Cluster Lead reports:

Phyllis Yosida:

FAIRGRADE is a parent advocacy group whose research has demonstrated that current FCPS grading policies put students at a disadvantage with respect to college admissions, merit scholarships, honors programs, NCAA athletic eligibility, and car insurance "good-driver" discounts.

We urge you to support the following revisions through the petition.

Adopt a 10 point scale, defined as:

90 - 100 = A = 4.0 pts
80 - 89 = B = 3.0 pts
70 - 79 = C = 2.0 pts
60 - 69 = D = 1.0 pts
59 - below = F = 0 pts

 FAIRGRADE petition website:  www.ipetitions.com/petition/fairgrade