S.E.L.A.C. Minutes of January 13, 2004

Attendees: Barbara Davis, Betsy Gooding, Anne Gorman, Gaeli Greene, Ginny Perry, Beth Pinto, Tony Rafanelli, Tracie Shea.

The meeting was called to order at 7:03 p.m. by Gaeli Greene.

AGENDA REVIEW - No additions.

COMMENTS, COMMENDATIONS, CONCERNS

Ginny Perry and Mary Berry received notification today that their proposal for the paraprofessional conference has been accepted. Mary Berry will discuss special education in libraries, and Ginny Perry will discuss friendship. Congratulations!!

SPECIAL EDUCATION DIRECTOR’S REPORT

1. The RIDE Winter Leadership Institute is at the RI Convention Center on February 6. The topic is Effective Strategies that Promote Participation in General Education Strategies for Students with Low Incidence Disabilities that Significantly Affect Function. She would like to send a team to this meeting.

2. CEDARR, a clearinghouse for families for behavioral and mental health has a a house that closed on January 9, 2004. Beginning the week of January 12, families with children served by Easter Seals through this program will be contacted.

3. School Support Visit - The team will be visiting next Tuesday, when there will be a big 2 - 3 hour presentation. Beth distributed summary papers for her slide presentation and asked for suggestions. The file review and parent interviews went very well. It has been a very positive experience so far.

4. The school district’s budget was presented to the Town Council on January 5, 2004.

5. Tony Rafanelli asked how the district monitors how well the program is doing. Beth Pinto explained that the program is measured by the children’s IEPs. There is no state collection of data on this topic. Our exit rate for speech/language is 20%. Beth explained that the state has no way to collect this data. Tony was concerned that someone might ask how we can tell if the program is effective. Beth explained that Jamestown is trying to do some data analysis which compares Grade 4 students without IEPs vs Grade 4 students with IEPs. Anne Gorman mentioned that some students will not exit special education programs, but the will make progress. Ginny Perry thought that if regular education scores stayed high, the special education budget would be left alone; however, if regular education scores dropped, the special education budget might be attacked in order to get the funds. Mrs. Sipala has not received questions from the Town Council regarding the special education segment of the budget.

6. Gaeli Greene passed around copies of the newsletter Smart Kids. It only costs $25.00 and it is user-friendly. It would be a good contribution to the library.

OLD BUSINESS

MINUTES REVIEW

Minutes for December 2003 were accepted corrected.

AWARENESS DAY PLANNING -

1. Tony Rafanelli announced that Jack Reed will be here for the day, barring an international incident. When the plans are finalized, his response letter will be sent to the School Committee and to Town Council. He will call Senator Reed’s office regarding possible topics for his presentation, which might include No Child Left Behind, reauthorization of IDEA, and new legislation. He will also find out who will attend if Senator Reed cannot come unexpectedly.

2. Tony Rafanelli distributed a preliminary outline. Since the meeting will be at Lawn Avenue School, he thought that the meeting should focus more on middle school information. Two tracks have been proposed: one for regular education and one for special education.

3. There will be two breakout sessions. For the first session, in which both tracks will be together, Mark Allard is willing to speak about the Search Institute and developmental assets. Tony Rafanelli said that he would email to members some information that he had on this topic. The district is considering integrating this into both schools. There will be a professional development day on this topic in March. The second breakout session will be divided into two tracks. Beth Pinto recommended that two of the topics include the Connected Math curriculum as well as a rollout of the School Support Visit. Additional topics which were suggested for this session included community-based learning, a panel discussion about transition, and depression and anxiety in children. Ginny Perry will provide child care, with assistance.

4. A subcommittee meeting was scheduled for January 27 at 4:00 p.m. at Melrose School. This subcommittee will finalize topics and speakers for Awareness Day.

5. Betsy Gooding asked whether the handouts that Mrs. Alamanzor was working on were done.

SUPPORT GROUP - Tony Rafanelli explained that he thought it was important that a parent could request a member of SELAC to sit with them through IEPs, etc. He asked whether SELAC members wanted to offer this service on a volunteer basis. Anne Gorman thought it would be great to have this program and saw it as more of a buddy role. Sheila Marsh and Fran Goode have done this type of thing in the past to help families; however, they are not so active now and we need more people to participate. Some members voiced concern about possible litigation and how it would affect this service. Beth Pinto said that the state keeps track of mediation cases. In the last 5 years, Jamestown has had only one case. It was suggested that we produce a flyer to let parents know what to expect in IEPs. Beth Pinto said that RIPIN has an advocacy program, and they may be able to come to talk about it . It was decided to table further discussion until next meeting.

PLANNING CENTER AT LAWN - Tony Rafanelli and Gaeli Greene met with Beth Pinto and Kathy Sipala. Mrs. Sipala laid out her vision for what the Planning Center could be. She has worked with staff to identify needs. What she envisioned is now posted as a Dean of Students at Lawn Avenue School. There is a behavioral component to the job, but it broaden the duties beyond present Planning Center activities. The person would be responsible for people in the building until the late bus came, would act as a liaison to the high school, and would be responsible for discipline. Tony Rafanelli said that, between Chris Daly and Sandra Reynolds, children with special needs (for example, central auditory processing difficulties) would still be provided for at Lawn. There will be an interview process for this position.

BYLAWS - This topic was tabled until the next meeting.

Beth Pinto invited SELAC members to the 8:30 presentation next Tuesday, January 18, in the Melrose School Library.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m.

Barbara B. Davis