The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by Gaeli Greene.

AGENDA REVIEW - No additions.

COMMENTS, COMMENDATIONS, CONCERNS

Beth Pinto congratulated Gaeli Greene for reaching her goal of competing in the Olympic distance triathalon at Disney World.

Beth Pinto stated that there is $61,000.00 in Title 1 money.

• Family Leave Act was printed in the Warrior in September.
• Kathy Alamanzor will present a program on differentiated instruction in January 2004.
• Jim Filkins is not here tonight, but he will tell us about the Strategic Plan when it is approved.
• The issue of 504 policy was brought up at the School Committee. Beth Pinto made a recommendation concerning this policy and stated that there is a major policy revision going on now. She will bring this up at the School Committee meeting on Thursday.
• There is a meeting concerning state residential resources.
• RIPIN will come to Jamestown in November or December. The speaker can discuss, basic rights, IEP or transitioning to adult life.
• There is a handbook to peruse: Helping Children with Learning Disabilities.
• There was a brief discussion updating the IDEA reauthorization. Senate Bill 1248 passed late in September. Both bills support No Child Left Behind. They are attempting to improve in the IDEA legislation and to include NCLB. It may be another year before this is complete.
• Sandra Reynolds and Beth Pinto have met with RIPIN regarding transitioning. There will be a section of books and pamphlets in the public library. There will be discussions with the children regarding careers. Resources are also available for parents. Transitioning is not only to adulthood but might also include transitioning from early intervention to pre-K. Sandra has questionnaires that parents can use.
• Eighth graders have been invited to N.K. High School in November. It was suggested that perhaps SELAC could meet in North Kingstown with special education staff.
• There are several new IEP students in the district.
• Year 2 of the Autism Grant has been written and is requesting $10,000.00. The program is being expanded to pre-kindergarten and 1^st grade. There are about a dozen children in Jamestown that fall within the autism spectrum.
• The autism team has been asked to present a program on successful inclusion at a state conference in November.
• Due to an increase in the number of children, additional services for a speech-language pathologist have been contracted in order to give more intensive interventions.
• Gaeli asked if any special instruction regarding autism has been given to the 6^th grade children for their kindergarten buddy program. Beth Pinto said yes, this was done before and would continue. She will let us know about the dates.
• There has been an increase in the number of private school children with IEPs.
• There are now monthly meetings for the Special Education Department.
• What’s next? 1) budget; 2) enrollment data; 3) School Support visit ins January 12, 2004. There will be 30 charts pulled for review for children from pre-K through 8^th grade. The team will be onsite January 12-15, 2004.

Membership forms were distributed and everyone completed them.

• Minutes for September 2003 were accepted as read.

This special presentation will be on Tuesday, October 28, 2003 at 7:00 p.m. Ginny Perry will provide child care. Information will go in the Warrior.

• Beth Pinto encouraged members to attend the meeting in North Kingstown for incoming students. She will be completing the IEP page in more detail.

A RIPIN speaker will come to Jamestown on December 9, 2003 and speak about transitioning to adult life. The meeting will be in the Melrose School Library. There will be a business meeting at 6:30 p.m. and a speaker at 7:00 p.m. Sandra Reynolds will contact RIPIN to confirm. There will be a mass mailing to get the message to parents, and this will include parents with special education students at the high school. It will be printed in the special education newsletter in November. The issue of a bulletin board for SELAC was discussed. If none can be found in the school, SELAC will purchase one sp that there will be space for displaying this information at the Lawn Avenue School.

Lisa Casey is working on special education resources in the library.

• Copies of materials will be kept in the library. Special education parents will be told that the materials are there. It is hoped that people will donate books to the library that they have read and found to be helpful. It is meant to be a lending library.
• Bev Green said that she thought teachers might be willing to donate books to the library.
• Beth Pinto noted that SELAC has $300.00 in the budget and advised the group to spend it before the next budget cycle.
• Fran Goode recommended that we purchase Exceptional Parent, which she says is excellent.
• The National Institute for Handicapped Youth and Children has a lot of pamphlets that could be put in the library.

• It is important in terms of the coming budget to show what programs we have and what they do.
• Beth Pinto said that special education enrollment is going down. One-third of our special education students are placed out-of-district (including North Kingstown high school students); one-third are students at Lawn Avenue; and one-third are students at Melrose Avenue.
• It was suggested that this document be community-friendly. Beth Pinto will bring a sample document to the next meeting.

• Barbara Davis discussed the process of the strategic planning workshop and the next steps that need to be taken.

• Start an advocacy group for parents.
• Budget support. A letter of support should be sent to the School Committee regarding the budget. It is important that we let the School Committee know that the special education budget helps more than only special education children.
• First grade occupational therapist is teaching Handwriting without Tears program.
• Bylaws and how to revise them.
• Jamestown Awareness Day.

The next meeting will be on November 18, 2003 and will either be here or at North Kingstown High School.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:33 p.m.

Barbara B. Davis