Hingham Public Schools Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC)
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
7:00-9:00 PM
School Committee Conference Room, Town Hall
Meeting Minutes
Attendees: Diane Denapoli. Nate Rand, Katie Gaughen, Liza O’Reilly, Kay Praschma, Carlos DaSilva, Ed Schreier, Elizabeth O’Neill, Elizabeth Kurlan, Dorothy Galo, Hans Von Der Luft, Kerry Ni, Glen Ni, Richard McManus, Bryna Rogers, Janice Sullivan, Sharon Allen, Sue Roy, Evan Sheehan, Megan Rowan, Laura Sorgi, Beth Koyce. Additional members of the public who chose not to sign in were also present
Liza O’Reilly called to order school Committee meeting at 7:03 PM.
Diane Denapoli called the SEPAC meeting to order at 7:03 PM.
The minutes from the 11/16/16 SEPAC meeting were approved.
SEPAC financial were approved. Membership voted to donate a $100 gift card to a Hingham family in need with a child receiving special education services. Membership also voted to approve a $30 holiday card budget.
SEPAC Business
Parents meet at Brueggers Bagels at 9:30 AM on 3A on second Thursday of each month. The last breakfast occurred on December 8th. Attendance at the last breakfast was low given the number of meetings that have taken place in December. The next parent breakfast is scheduled for Thursday, January 12th at 9:30 AM at Bruegger’s Bagels.
SNAP has agreed to sponsor two family fun days at the Rec Center for free or at very low cost.
The SEPAC Board discussed sponsoring a "Love is Special" month in February, which might include:
The Library and Patriot Cinemas were mentioned as possible screening locations. Membership approved $500 budget. Diane Denapoli agreed to look for partnership sponsors.
Report from HPS administration regarding current initiatives in special education and update regarding status of parent committee information request
Liz Kurlan and Liz ONeill presented Five Pillars of Continuous Improvement in Special Education and expressed hope that together through the process we can make an impact on the special education system in Hingham. The presentation reflected on work done in past years, ongoing work and longer term work that has yet to commence. Ms. Kurlan emphasized that work in special education is never done and that she stands with parents in wanting strong educational outcomes for students with disabilities. Ms. Kurlan also noted that the HPS core beliefs are the same for neurotypical students and students with challenges.
The Five Pillars of Special Education include:
Ms. Kurlan also noted the District’s positive standing with DESE and strong indicator findings, while noting that there is always room for improvement.
2016-2017 areas of focus for special education include:
Dr. Galo then presented an overview of her goals
Liza O’Reilly noted that the School Committee evaluates Dr. Galo based on her goals, but that their assessment goes beyond just her annual goals.
Dr. Galo then shared the commendations and recommendations from the Walker Associate Report. Dr. Galo noted that she and Jeanne Loud met with the evaluator to define particular areas of interest and that parent input is not reflected in the report. The recommendations included:
The Walker report also noted several Commendations for the District, including:
The administration is working on providing a comprehensive written report
Kerry Ni asked number of students on BCBA caseload
Jaime Kenney asked if school committee had seen Walker report
Courtney Orwig noted that parents don’t want to wait until March and could do a public record request to immediately gain access to the full text of the Walker Report. Courtney also asked about increase in paras despite the recommendations in the Walker report.
Jaime Kenney asked asked if there was a plan to create a timeline for on-going work
A parent asked about how the District gathers parent feedback
Parents noted that they strongly support sharing the Walker report in its entirety prior to March.
Aquestion was raised regarding Level IV classes. The administration noted that every year when they put together program of study, they sit down and looking at staffing and student registration for classes. During this process, they assess whether there are a sufficient number of students to create a Level IV class. Not every parent feels the same way.
Carlos DaSilva made a motion to the school committee to release the Walker report. Kay seconded the motion for discussion. Liza noted that she wants more information to understand what actual report says versus what progress has been made in it. She noted that the report was written a long time ago and different staff were involved. Liza not opposed to having it public, but agrees that it needs proper context. Dr. Galo said there’s a narrative in the report describing each building, which is inaccurate. Carlos clarified that the motion is to release Walker report as is before it’s updated. Liza noted that she wasn’t clear on the amount of work required to put the report in context, but that she supports the release of the report prior to March and that the schools should identify a date. Ed noted that he thought the motion should be brought to the full School Committee to vote, and that he would vote “no” to release the report tonight, but would vote “yes” in the full School Committee meeting.
Liza O’Reilly agreed to draft an agenda item for the next School Committee meeting to create a specific plan of action around the Walker report. As a result, Carlos withdrew his motion.
Meg Rowan asked for a more specific timeline regarding implementing the initiatives listed by Ms. Kurlan, noting the SMART goals format. HPS did not provide a more specific timeline.
Parent Subcommittee Reports
Katie Gaughen presented the findings and initial recommendations from the Finance Workgroup (see attachment). Liza noted that the charts comparing the averages of benchmark towns to Hingham may be misleading and asked for the opportunity to look more closely at the data. Reccommendations included:
Jaime Kenney presented on behalf of the Transparency subcommittee (see attachment). Ms. Kenney offered to provide examples of peer towns with special education goals and benchmarks. It was noted that the Transparency subcommittee did not come together as a full group to construct the presentation. Katie Gaughen noted that she would send an email to the full subcommittee to identify new co-chairs.
Bryna Rogers presented on behalf of the Best Practices subcommittee (see attachment).
Laura Sorgi raised the issue regarding whether we would be voting on whether SEPAC should formally recommend an independent evaluation of special education. Katie Gaughen made a motion that SEPAC formally recommends that the School Committee budgets for a formal evaluation of special education in the 2017-2018 school year. The motion was not seconded. Katie Gaughen withdrew the motion with the understanding the a discussion of a formal evaluation would be on the agenda at the January SEPAC meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 11 PM.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
7:00-9:00 PM
School Committee Conference Room, Town Hall
Meeting Minutes
Attendees: Diane Denapoli. Nate Rand, Katie Gaughen, Liza O’Reilly, Kay Praschma, Carlos DaSilva, Ed Schreier, Elizabeth O’Neill, Elizabeth Kurlan, Dorothy Galo, Hans Von Der Luft, Kerry Ni, Glen Ni, Richard McManus, Bryna Rogers, Janice Sullivan, Sharon Allen, Sue Roy, Evan Sheehan, Megan Rowan, Laura Sorgi, Beth Koyce. Additional members of the public who chose not to sign in were also present
Liza O’Reilly called to order school Committee meeting at 7:03 PM.
Diane Denapoli called the SEPAC meeting to order at 7:03 PM.
The minutes from the 11/16/16 SEPAC meeting were approved.
SEPAC financial were approved. Membership voted to donate a $100 gift card to a Hingham family in need with a child receiving special education services. Membership also voted to approve a $30 holiday card budget.
SEPAC Business
Parents meet at Brueggers Bagels at 9:30 AM on 3A on second Thursday of each month. The last breakfast occurred on December 8th. Attendance at the last breakfast was low given the number of meetings that have taken place in December. The next parent breakfast is scheduled for Thursday, January 12th at 9:30 AM at Bruegger’s Bagels.
SNAP has agreed to sponsor two family fun days at the Rec Center for free or at very low cost.
The SEPAC Board discussed sponsoring a "Love is Special" month in February, which might include:
- Partnering to host a screening of the "Mini &Dona" documentary
- Sharing stories about love in the special needs community on FB and in the Hingham Journal
- A Chocolate Social
- School/ community based activities
The Library and Patriot Cinemas were mentioned as possible screening locations. Membership approved $500 budget. Diane Denapoli agreed to look for partnership sponsors.
Report from HPS administration regarding current initiatives in special education and update regarding status of parent committee information request
Liz Kurlan and Liz ONeill presented Five Pillars of Continuous Improvement in Special Education and expressed hope that together through the process we can make an impact on the special education system in Hingham. The presentation reflected on work done in past years, ongoing work and longer term work that has yet to commence. Ms. Kurlan emphasized that work in special education is never done and that she stands with parents in wanting strong educational outcomes for students with disabilities. Ms. Kurlan also noted that the HPS core beliefs are the same for neurotypical students and students with challenges.
The Five Pillars of Special Education include:
- Programmatic Assessment, Development and Improvement
- On-going review of programs and services offered in Hingham
- Revise and publish Hingham SPED procedures manual
- Looking at appropriate and effective use of paraeducators, including assignment and training and how to leverage them to support parents data collections, etc
- IEP writing – look at writing data-driven measurable goals and benchmarks. Using data to provide concrete information to families
- Support of students with emotional and behavioral challenges. Continue ongoing work with the district-wide BCBA. Offer Registered Behavior Technician training for paras and teachers
- Working with Jamie L regarding professional development and tiered social-emotional support for all students
- Intensive skills programming
- Look at this pre-K to grade 12+
- Last year created intensive skills 2 for grades 3, 4, and 5 at South
- Now intensive skills for K, 1, and 2 at East
- Look at this pre-K to grade 12+
- Two years ago hired first OOD liaison
- This year added observation and training for new teachers was added to the job responsibilities of the Assistant Director of Student Services
- This year added observation and training for new teachers was added to the job responsibilities of the Assistant Director of Student Services
- Professional Development
- Revised procedure and practice manual
- Look at long-term evidence-based practices.
- Partnering Hingham mentoring program with new SPED teacher induction bootcamp
- Enlist regular ed teachers with inclusive practices, curriculum access and grading practices
- Middle school focus group – quality of teaching and learning, course offerings, look at RTI across academic and social-emotional domains
- Behavior technician training. The past two summers there was a well-attended institute (1 week long and follow-up online coursework to get credits) that trained 45 paraeducators.
- Look at Functional Behavioral Assessments – root causes of behavior and how schools can intervene.
- Robust training on Social Thinking and MassGen collaborative problem-solving
- Community Engagement
- SEPAC
- Partnering around prof development and speaker series
- Working collaboratively to resolve issues
- Partnering around prof development and speaker series
- Work on redesign of student services website
- Community presentations
- Look at searate budget series re special education
- Presentations around transition process and ESY
- Look at searate budget series re special education
- SNAP
- Collaborate around logistical needs, transportation, and presentations
- Collaborate around logistical needs, transportation, and presentations
- Strategic Partnerships
- Strengthen partnerships with local, state and national organizations
- Social-emotional behavioral domains looking at Tiered System of Support (RTI around social-emotional domains)
- Did not receive grant but there’s a plan B to move the work forward
- Did not receive grant but there’s a plan B to move the work forward
- Looking at universities and colleges for young adults in sub sep classrooms
- Look at partnering with Bridgewater State to support transition to college
- Look at pipeline of new recruits and student teaching
- Look for strategic internships to move this work forward
- Look at partnering with Bridgewater State to support transition to college
- Engaged Triangle Program in Randolph to engage needy students – also IMPACT program
- Leverage partnerships with schools – Cardinal Cushing and the South Shore Collaborative
- Partnering to bring students back to home districts
- Partnering to bring students back to home districts
- Research and Development
- Look at internal procedures to research and develop evidenced-based practices
- Work around paraeducators
- General benchmarking for students
- Academic Tiered Support
- Specialized reading instructions (both special educators and tutors)
- Level IV classrooms
- Work around paraeducators
- Look at internal procedures to research and develop evidenced-based practices
Ms. Kurlan also noted the District’s positive standing with DESE and strong indicator findings, while noting that there is always room for improvement.
2016-2017 areas of focus for special education include:
- Program improvement
- Strengthening the Intensive Skills programming
- Additional BCBA support, especially at preK level (ages 3-5)
- Additional BCBA support, especially at preK level (ages 3-5)
- Emotional behavioral support
- Identify good tool for curriculum use and the RTI model
- Continue work around ABA technician training, social skills and functional behavioral skills and practices and ensure interventions are data-driven
- Identify good tool for curriculum use and the RTI model
- Targeted IEP improvement
- How do we write a measurable goal to help a student make progress?
- Focus on collecting data and using paraeducators to collect data
- How do we write a measurable goal to help a student make progress?
- DESE Coordinate Program Review
- Readying for self-study in 2017
- Revise program and procedure model
- Strengthen website
- Readying for self-study in 2017
- OTHER
- Ongoing work with families re transitions (PreK-K, Ele-MS, MS-HS)
- Ongoing parental feedback regarding SPED and team process
- Look at survey and will add a field around parental comment
- Look at survey and will add a field around parental comment
- Budget
- Reviewing contracts to ensuring dollars are used effectively
- Ensuring fiscally sound decisions for OOD placement, including looking at students’ progress and attendance and assessing when students are ready to return in district
- Reviewing contracts to ensuring dollars are used effectively
- Ongoing work with families re transitions (PreK-K, Ele-MS, MS-HS)
Dr. Galo then presented an overview of her goals
- Her first goal focuses on special populations, including working with principals, SPED subcommittee and SEPAC to identify unmet needs, including:
- Clarifying routes available for problem resolution
- Reaching out to individual parents for personal conversations
- Discussing and considering for implementation, new programs and emerging practices for specific categories of disability
- Creating forums for HPS staff to express concerns and suggest resolutions
- Engaging teachers and educators in defining best practices
- Engaging teachers and educators in defining best practices
- Providing budget information for SEPAC
- Fostering a spirit of collaboration and culture of respect in interactions in all areas
- Preparing and sharing a five-year look back that details progress and recommendations from the 2012 Walker Partnerships and Independent evaluation
- Clarifying routes available for problem resolution
- Dr. Galo’s second goal related to special education focuses on social and emotional well-being
- Analyze and share data collected by adjustment counselors that quantify and define school issues
- Engage parents with staff in designing and implementing effective plans and responses to school refusal
- Provide additional staff training for common social/emotional and behavioral challenges as part of the “in process”
- Explore pilot program models and resources that have demonstrated positive impact on social/emotional and behavioral issues
- Analyze and share data collected by adjustment counselors that quantify and define school issues
Liza O’Reilly noted that the School Committee evaluates Dr. Galo based on her goals, but that their assessment goes beyond just her annual goals.
Dr. Galo then shared the commendations and recommendations from the Walker Associate Report. Dr. Galo noted that she and Jeanne Loud met with the evaluator to define particular areas of interest and that parent input is not reflected in the report. The recommendations included:
- The District needs to study staffing pattern of paraeducators. Consideration should be given to increasing the number of special education teachers across the district and phasing out paraeducators.
- At time of report had HPS had 109 paras . Approximately 80% were dedicated to special education and the majority of hours are in 1:1 paras
- Now, HPS has 135 paras. 80%+ are in SPED and majority are 1:1 paras (30 hours a week in elementary and 32.5 hours per week in HS)
- HPS is working hard to ensure they are using paras in the right way
- Decided there should be equity in para useage across buildings
- Dr. Galo noted that they made some progress, but did not reduce the total number of para hours
- Dr. Galo noted that they made some progress, but did not reduce the total number of para hours
- At time of report had HPS had 109 paras . Approximately 80% were dedicated to special education and the majority of hours are in 1:1 paras
- Additional SPED teachers improve a comprehensive continuum services
- Since the report, HPS has added two special educators and a district-wide BCBA
- Currently looking at middle school to determine whether it may require a second intensive classroom
- Enrollment at elementary level going down so it’s hard to justify additional teachers
- Currently looking at middle school to determine whether it may require a second intensive classroom
- Since the report, HPS has added two special educators and a district-wide BCBA
- Taskforce of stakeholders at the elementary level to develop a uniform model for RTI
- District wide guidelines for accessing and exiting specialized reading services
- Roles and responsibilities of district school adjustment counselors should be examined to ensure that positions are effectively utilized for providing essential and required services
- Dr. Galo noted that the report was written during a time of budget crisis
- At this point, all buildings have full-time adjustment counselors
- There is a transition room at the high school
- Currently, there is enough funding in the budget to put Transition Room in the MS for second half of the year
- There is a transition room at the high school
- There’s a tension with adjustment counselors to address general social-emotional needs and those with acute/diagnosed needs
- Dr. Galo noted that the report was written during a time of budget crisis
- Currently, there’s a push to provide therapeutic services in IEP
- Middle and HS should reconsider current placement of students in Level IV standard courses
The Walker report also noted several Commendations for the District, including:
- Initiating the evaluation
- Staff’s working knowledge of regulations
- The cooperative culture
- Quality and effectiveness of early childhood programs
- Quality and effectiveness of two life skills programs at the HS
- Strategies for learning curriculum at MS and HS for executive functioning interventions
- Collaboration between SPED and Title I educators
- General education teaching staff’s willingness to provide appropriate accommodations
- Designation of clerical staff
The administration is working on providing a comprehensive written report
Kerry Ni asked number of students on BCBA caseload
- The administration did not immediately know that number, but noted that they were asking for an additional BCBA in the budget
Jaime Kenney asked if school committee had seen Walker report
- School Committee has not seen the Walker Report
Courtney Orwig noted that parents don’t want to wait until March and could do a public record request to immediately gain access to the full text of the Walker Report. Courtney also asked about increase in paras despite the recommendations in the Walker report.
- Dr. Galo noted that they needed to review the total para FTEs
Jaime Kenney asked asked if there was a plan to create a timeline for on-going work
- Liz Kurlan noted that their work is never fully done and the goals list for 2016-2017 were the immediate focus.
A parent asked about how the District gathers parent feedback
- Liz Kurlan noted that during the Coordinated Review Process during the 13-14 school year parents were sent a survey by the state
- Last school year in the Spring, there was a parental feedback indicator and HPS participated
- Previously at conclusion of IEP meetings there was a survey around compliance that was inconsistently gathered. The district is adding a narrative to that survey to allow parents to give feedback.
Parents noted that they strongly support sharing the Walker report in its entirety prior to March.
Aquestion was raised regarding Level IV classes. The administration noted that every year when they put together program of study, they sit down and looking at staffing and student registration for classes. During this process, they assess whether there are a sufficient number of students to create a Level IV class. Not every parent feels the same way.
Carlos DaSilva made a motion to the school committee to release the Walker report. Kay seconded the motion for discussion. Liza noted that she wants more information to understand what actual report says versus what progress has been made in it. She noted that the report was written a long time ago and different staff were involved. Liza not opposed to having it public, but agrees that it needs proper context. Dr. Galo said there’s a narrative in the report describing each building, which is inaccurate. Carlos clarified that the motion is to release Walker report as is before it’s updated. Liza noted that she wasn’t clear on the amount of work required to put the report in context, but that she supports the release of the report prior to March and that the schools should identify a date. Ed noted that he thought the motion should be brought to the full School Committee to vote, and that he would vote “no” to release the report tonight, but would vote “yes” in the full School Committee meeting.
Liza O’Reilly agreed to draft an agenda item for the next School Committee meeting to create a specific plan of action around the Walker report. As a result, Carlos withdrew his motion.
Meg Rowan asked for a more specific timeline regarding implementing the initiatives listed by Ms. Kurlan, noting the SMART goals format. HPS did not provide a more specific timeline.
Parent Subcommittee Reports
Katie Gaughen presented the findings and initial recommendations from the Finance Workgroup (see attachment). Liza noted that the charts comparing the averages of benchmark towns to Hingham may be misleading and asked for the opportunity to look more closely at the data. Reccommendations included:
- Based on current percentage of total HPS budget as compared 27 benchmark towns, the committee does not recommend an overall increase to the amount spent on special education services
- Given Hingham’s disproportionate use of out-of-district placement as compared to the state and benchmark towns, it is likely that at least some children could be effectively served in district in Hingham was investing in evidenced-based services and implementing those services with fidelity
- Requires investing in evidenced-based in-district services
- Likely results in long-term cost savings
- Requires investing in evidenced-based in-district services
- An independent evaluation is important to identify specific areas to strengthen the SPED system in order to make effective use of tax payer dollars
Jaime Kenney presented on behalf of the Transparency subcommittee (see attachment). Ms. Kenney offered to provide examples of peer towns with special education goals and benchmarks. It was noted that the Transparency subcommittee did not come together as a full group to construct the presentation. Katie Gaughen noted that she would send an email to the full subcommittee to identify new co-chairs.
Bryna Rogers presented on behalf of the Best Practices subcommittee (see attachment).
Laura Sorgi raised the issue regarding whether we would be voting on whether SEPAC should formally recommend an independent evaluation of special education. Katie Gaughen made a motion that SEPAC formally recommends that the School Committee budgets for a formal evaluation of special education in the 2017-2018 school year. The motion was not seconded. Katie Gaughen withdrew the motion with the understanding the a discussion of a formal evaluation would be on the agenda at the January SEPAC meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 11 PM.
