Tuesday, March 11, 2014
HINGHAM SPECIAL EDUCATION PARENT ADVISORY COUNCIL (SEPAC)
Hingham Public Schools
Hingham Public Library, Fearing Room, 66 Leavitt St., Hingham, MA 02043
Meeting Agenda
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. – Informal social – opportunity for attendees to meet and converse
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Monthly Meeting to discuss SEPAC business
(Audience comments are always welcome as agenda items are discussed. Attendees are encouraged to attend the 30-minute social prior to the start of the board meeting to address matters not related to the agenda.)
1. Acceptance of Minutes from February 11, 2014
2. General Q&A for items that may not be on the agenda
3. Update from Director of Student Services
a. Budget update
b. Presentation collaborations
4. Update from School Committee Liaison
5. Sharing with School PTO Liaisons
6. Treasury Report
7. Subcommittees
a. Special Education Sitemap
b. Events/Presentations
c. Support Group
8. New Business
a. Patricia Hall from Dance Heroes to introduce and present adaptive dance program
b. SEPAC Board Elections
9. Old Business
a. HSPS – Collaboration, Spring season class kick-off anticipated
b. Fun Run/Walk 2014 planning
c. Article for Hingham Journal
10. Communications/General Inquiries
11. Other Items as may not reasonably be known within 48 hours of the meeting
12. Announcements & Adjournment:
a. Next SEPAC meeting will be at the School Department – Tuesday, April 8th
Meeting Minutes
Present: Co-Chairs Marisa C. Ronan and Daniela Andruszkiewicz, Sonja Finney; School Liaisons Kerry Ni, Sharon Burnett, and Brooke Gagnier; School Committee Liaisons Ed Schreier and Liza O’Reilly; and Special Education Director Liz Flynn; and two audience SEPAC members; and Patricia Hall, founder of Dance Heroes.
A thirty- minute social preceded the business portion of the meeting.
The meeting was called to order at 10:30 a.m.
The minutes from February 11, 2014 were accepted.
Guest presentation:
Patricia Hall, founder of Dance Heroes on Cape Cod, gave a presentation of her program. She currently runs a program at the Riverview School in Sandwich, MA. The program is designed for intellectually and developmentally disabled students and includes typical peer mentors. She is interested is setting up a program in Hingham through the South Shore SNAP. It was discussed that her program proposal for Hingham would be presented to the Program Development subcommittee of SNAP as a next step. She would like to offer three groups based on age: kindergarten-second grade; third-sixth grade; and grades seven and up. Peer mentors would be trained for specific disabilities. Her program would run the length of the school year with a performance around the holidays and at the end of the year. Programs would meet one time per week for 90 minutes. She can also offer a summer program that would meet twice per week. She would need a minimum of 10 students per session.
General Q&A for items that may not be on the agenda:
There was some discussion with Liz Flynn regarding a question from a SEPAC member received by email concerning an article in the Patriot Ledger which talked about changes to special education funding out of district tuitions. Liz said that the newspaper article was most likely inaccurate in its reporting.
Update from Director of Student Services:
The language of “Certificate of Attendance” which is conferred at graduation to students who opt out of MCAS testing to something more meaningfulwill be renamed to “Certificate of Accomplishment”.
Budget update: The Advisory Committee and the Board of Selectmen are $150,000 apart on agreeing to the final budget.
Presentation collaborations:
· 3/13 at 7 pm (HHS room 103) Dyslexia: The Big Picture
· 5/15 at 7pm (PRS) Natural PlaygroundMother Nature’s Child” showing with discussion led by Maryann Cushing and SPED team chairs.
· No discussion of 504 Presentation with Liz (perhaps on 4/10)
Liz has been communicating with her department chairs about the Fun Run and building interest.
Liz handed out “Regulations on Evaluation of Educators: An Overview”
Update from School Committee Liaison:
School Committee met on March 10 regarding the budget. The Advisory Committee and the Board of Selectmen had been in disagreement over the 4% increase in the overall budget from the prior year. The School Committee submitted a “needs based” budget. The budget going to Town Meeting is $43,490,722. There will be some adjustments made to allocation of funds for staffing up until May.
Sharing with School PTO Liaisons:
The next Foster PTO meeting is on April 30, at 8:30 a.m.
Treasury Report:
The SEPAC account balance is $10,142.30
Subcommittees:
Special Education Site Mmap: No discussion.
Events/Presentations: Marisa to follow up with Derek Smith regarding the special education portion of transition night for incoming middle school parents. A suggestion was made to set up a social evening at a restaurant or similar type venue and invite the out of district members specifically. A suggestion was made to designate an out of district SEPAC liaison.
Support Group: The March 6 meeting to be hosted by Brooke Gagnier was cancelled due to low attendance to date. There was discussion about how to best meet this need in terms of format and time. It was suggested to try a morning coffee at the new Stop & Shop Café.
New Business:
SEPAC Elections: We need to set a date and times for the election with Liz. Last year’s election was held on May 21. Marisa is up for reelection under the new one-year board member term adopted last year.
South Shore SNAP: There will be a meeting on Tuesday, March 18, at 7 p.m. at the middle school to introduce SNAP to Hingham parents as well as to roll out the first program, which will be adaptive rowing.
Grant Process: Need to get started. It was decided to keep this an annual event and to broaden the grant requests from just technology to more generally special education.
Old Business:
Fun Run/Walk 2014 planning: Planning is underway. Solicitation letters have been sent out to potential sponsors. It was suggested that PTO presidents specifically be sent a reminder.
Communications/General Inquiries:
No report
Other Items as may not reasonably be known within 48 hours of the meeting: N/A
Announcements:
Next SEPAC meeting – Tuesday, March April 11th8, in the School Department Conference Room
The meeting was adjourned at 1 p.m.
HINGHAM SPECIAL EDUCATION PARENT ADVISORY COUNCIL (SEPAC)
Hingham Public Schools
Hingham Public Library, Fearing Room, 66 Leavitt St., Hingham, MA 02043
Meeting Agenda
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. – Informal social – opportunity for attendees to meet and converse
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Monthly Meeting to discuss SEPAC business
(Audience comments are always welcome as agenda items are discussed. Attendees are encouraged to attend the 30-minute social prior to the start of the board meeting to address matters not related to the agenda.)
1. Acceptance of Minutes from February 11, 2014
2. General Q&A for items that may not be on the agenda
3. Update from Director of Student Services
a. Budget update
b. Presentation collaborations
4. Update from School Committee Liaison
5. Sharing with School PTO Liaisons
6. Treasury Report
7. Subcommittees
a. Special Education Sitemap
b. Events/Presentations
c. Support Group
8. New Business
a. Patricia Hall from Dance Heroes to introduce and present adaptive dance program
b. SEPAC Board Elections
9. Old Business
a. HSPS – Collaboration, Spring season class kick-off anticipated
b. Fun Run/Walk 2014 planning
c. Article for Hingham Journal
10. Communications/General Inquiries
11. Other Items as may not reasonably be known within 48 hours of the meeting
12. Announcements & Adjournment:
a. Next SEPAC meeting will be at the School Department – Tuesday, April 8th
Meeting Minutes
Present: Co-Chairs Marisa C. Ronan and Daniela Andruszkiewicz, Sonja Finney; School Liaisons Kerry Ni, Sharon Burnett, and Brooke Gagnier; School Committee Liaisons Ed Schreier and Liza O’Reilly; and Special Education Director Liz Flynn; and two audience SEPAC members; and Patricia Hall, founder of Dance Heroes.
A thirty- minute social preceded the business portion of the meeting.
The meeting was called to order at 10:30 a.m.
The minutes from February 11, 2014 were accepted.
Guest presentation:
Patricia Hall, founder of Dance Heroes on Cape Cod, gave a presentation of her program. She currently runs a program at the Riverview School in Sandwich, MA. The program is designed for intellectually and developmentally disabled students and includes typical peer mentors. She is interested is setting up a program in Hingham through the South Shore SNAP. It was discussed that her program proposal for Hingham would be presented to the Program Development subcommittee of SNAP as a next step. She would like to offer three groups based on age: kindergarten-second grade; third-sixth grade; and grades seven and up. Peer mentors would be trained for specific disabilities. Her program would run the length of the school year with a performance around the holidays and at the end of the year. Programs would meet one time per week for 90 minutes. She can also offer a summer program that would meet twice per week. She would need a minimum of 10 students per session.
General Q&A for items that may not be on the agenda:
There was some discussion with Liz Flynn regarding a question from a SEPAC member received by email concerning an article in the Patriot Ledger which talked about changes to special education funding out of district tuitions. Liz said that the newspaper article was most likely inaccurate in its reporting.
Update from Director of Student Services:
The language of “Certificate of Attendance” which is conferred at graduation to students who opt out of MCAS testing to something more meaningfulwill be renamed to “Certificate of Accomplishment”.
Budget update: The Advisory Committee and the Board of Selectmen are $150,000 apart on agreeing to the final budget.
Presentation collaborations:
· 3/13 at 7 pm (HHS room 103) Dyslexia: The Big Picture
· 5/15 at 7pm (PRS) Natural PlaygroundMother Nature’s Child” showing with discussion led by Maryann Cushing and SPED team chairs.
· No discussion of 504 Presentation with Liz (perhaps on 4/10)
Liz has been communicating with her department chairs about the Fun Run and building interest.
Liz handed out “Regulations on Evaluation of Educators: An Overview”
Update from School Committee Liaison:
School Committee met on March 10 regarding the budget. The Advisory Committee and the Board of Selectmen had been in disagreement over the 4% increase in the overall budget from the prior year. The School Committee submitted a “needs based” budget. The budget going to Town Meeting is $43,490,722. There will be some adjustments made to allocation of funds for staffing up until May.
Sharing with School PTO Liaisons:
The next Foster PTO meeting is on April 30, at 8:30 a.m.
Treasury Report:
The SEPAC account balance is $10,142.30
Subcommittees:
Special Education Site Mmap: No discussion.
Events/Presentations: Marisa to follow up with Derek Smith regarding the special education portion of transition night for incoming middle school parents. A suggestion was made to set up a social evening at a restaurant or similar type venue and invite the out of district members specifically. A suggestion was made to designate an out of district SEPAC liaison.
Support Group: The March 6 meeting to be hosted by Brooke Gagnier was cancelled due to low attendance to date. There was discussion about how to best meet this need in terms of format and time. It was suggested to try a morning coffee at the new Stop & Shop Café.
New Business:
SEPAC Elections: We need to set a date and times for the election with Liz. Last year’s election was held on May 21. Marisa is up for reelection under the new one-year board member term adopted last year.
South Shore SNAP: There will be a meeting on Tuesday, March 18, at 7 p.m. at the middle school to introduce SNAP to Hingham parents as well as to roll out the first program, which will be adaptive rowing.
Grant Process: Need to get started. It was decided to keep this an annual event and to broaden the grant requests from just technology to more generally special education.
Old Business:
Fun Run/Walk 2014 planning: Planning is underway. Solicitation letters have been sent out to potential sponsors. It was suggested that PTO presidents specifically be sent a reminder.
Communications/General Inquiries:
No report
Other Items as may not reasonably be known within 48 hours of the meeting: N/A
Announcements:
Next SEPAC meeting – Tuesday, March April 11th8, in the School Department Conference Room
The meeting was adjourned at 1 p.m.
