A Lot of Seattle Special Education News

Via Facebook:

If your student identifies as 2e, please note and if you can help share that there is:
2e meeting tonight (Monday Night) at Thurgood Marshall and Dr. Liliana Sacarin will be the parent speaker tonight discussing Tomatis & Audio Therapy.


Additionally for anyone who wishes to come there is a Seattle Special Education PTSA Meeting Tuesday night at JSCEE at 7:00 and there are topics related to 2e, Dyslexia and Advanced Learning and Denise Juneau will be coming to answer questions on how the strategic plan will address these student and teacher needs.  

Here is a recap on SSEPTA and if you can help make people aware via your school web pages and PTA, it will be such a help to support and advocate for children with disabilities. This can also be attended via Zoom, but in person support is appreciated to let Juneau and her team know we are expecting excellence on these topics outlined below.

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Who is the SSEPTA?
The Seattle Special Education PTSA are https://www.facebook.com/seattlespecialeducationPTSA/ Seattle parents, educators, friends, and students with the mission to represent all students in our schools with disabilities. 


We are a racially, culturally, and socio-economically inclusive group that is representative of the students we advocate for in our schools.

SSEPTA Membership
We invite you to become a member of the Seattle Special Education PTSA an help advocate for student disability rights.

Individual Membership is only $12/person or $16 for a second household membership.
Join us! Dues are accepted via PayPal or you may print the form and send to us via check.
https://seattlespecialedptsa.memberplanet.com/…

SSEPTA GENERAL MEETING 11/19 @ 7:00 @ JSCEE
Superintendent Juneau will be at our next general meeting on Tuesday, November 19th @ JSCEE, 7 - 9 PM. She will be giving us an update on the strategic plan.

We have compiled questions for her and she will respond to these questions submitted by SSEPTA members.

Overall Vision for Special ED:
What is the Superintendent’s vision for special education in SPS? What does she think are the core values of the programming and how is she communicating that to staff?


What is the Superintendent’s understanding of the District's obligation to serve special education students?

Under your leadership can we expect the needs of disabled students to be considered in every department that has control over that child's life for determination of placement and services?


This would mean that disability considerations (i.e. IEP team decisions respected and enforced ) are part of:
1) School assignment: priority to schools closest to the students home. Non-discrimination based on disability for enrollment in choice schools with environments that are uniquely suited to the needs of some disabled students.


2) Advanced learning: so that disabled students have equal access to advanced learning opportunity as their non-disabled peers (currently, students have to be in resource level services to attend HCC program schools)


3) Transportation: is available for every student for every school day, no matter their disability.


4) Oversight: of school administrators and feedback mechanisms


What is the superintendent’s view of the “wait to fail” model used by many psychologists when determining adverse impact for students with disabilities?

Overrepresentation of African American Males in Special Ed:
Do you agree that African American male students are over represented in special education? What does she plan to do to reverse that over representation?


Training/Accountability of Staff and Administration:
What is being done to improve retention of IAs and ensuring 1:1 supervision for students that require it to access their education?


Are school psychologists and SLP required by law to be licensed or certified to work with our children in schools and provide services to students with disabilities in schools in the state of Washington? 

Why are these certifications not required for school psychs, but they are required of nurses, OTs and PTs?


Where do parents complain/praise principals that impede IEP team decisions or support IEP teams well?


How do we make this part of principal evaluation measures at a district level?


How can you assure uniform, and responsive, special ed service delivery in all buildings?

What processes will you implement to ensure principals promote a true inclusion culture?


High School Students
How can Special Ed high school students be expected to graduate when they need all 24 credits for a diploma but don’t have access to summer school offerings until 11th & 12th grade?


Dyslexia
What is your commitment to structured literacy and evidence based intervention and reading instruction for dyslexic students?


What is your understanding around the need for structured literacy and multisensory approaches to build decoding skills in students struggling with learning to read due to dyslexia?


What is your vision and what is the current status of the Seattle Public Schools plan for choosing and implementing scientific and evidence-based screening tools and multi-tiered interventions to identify and serve students with dyslexia? 


Will a Literacy and Dyslexia Advisory Council be created?

Will stakeholders (children, parents and staff) have an opportunity to participate in the process? 


If so, when will such council form and when should we expect the first public meeting?


Restraint of Special Ed Students
What is your position on restraint of students with disabilities and the SEL classroom practices that have been highlighted in recent news articles, such as the isolation room at BF Day? Will this practice continue to be tolerated by your administration?


And, what are the consequences of not following policy on this?


Twice Exceptional Student Service Delivery
What is the data on the number of students with disabilities and AL students (2e students), and whether they stay in neighborhood schools or go to Spectrum/AL programs?


ATTEND BY ZOOM
For those who are unable to attend in person Seattle Special Education PTSA is inviting you to join by Zoom meeting.

Topic: General Meeting
Time: Nov 19, 2019 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/507127406…
Meeting ID: 507 127 406
Password: 562237

Comments

Anonymous said…
Gosh, lots of "soft ball" questions for Denise Juneau by the Special Education PTSA: "What is the Superintendent’s understanding of the District's obligation to serve special education students?" "Under your leadership can we expect the needs of disabled students to be considered in every department that has control over that child's life for determination of placement and services?" All she has to do is say "I believe." I hope that parents who attend will demand more than generic bland statements. It would be better to offer her actual case studies that illustrate what parents and students are dealing with and then we can know if she has any insights at all into how things work and don't work for SPED studnets.

Reader
Jet City mom said…
I wish they would allow parents to be voting members of the PTA without paying dues.
Some schools like Garfield, don’t require members to pay dues.
As many students with 504s or IEPs are low income, or just above low income, they likely would double membership without that barrier.

I would expect someone who is Superintendent of any district to be conversant with federal law, and where the law falls short.
Questions should take that into account.

The Childfind web page on the SPS website for example just has phone numbers to call.
How helpful.


Whereas a district with fewer resources than Seattle has clearer guidelines and a downloadable pdf, rather than just a phone number.
All this info should be easy to find on the website, plus additional community resources.

As a member of the Educational Service District 112 Special Education ESA, Methow Valley School District conducts Child Find activities for the purpose of locating, evaluating, and identifying individuals with a suspected disability who are residing within district boundaries, whether or not they are enrolled in the public school system.
Child Find activities apply to individuals birth through 21 years who are not currently receiving special education and related services. Parents having concerns about their child’s health, hearing, intellectual functioning, language, learning, movement, serious behavioral needs, speech, or vision can contact the principal in their child’s school or contact the Educational Service District 112 at 800-233-0067.


https://methow.org/teaching-learning/special-services/
Anonymous said…
There is only one solution for the problems with sped, it's the courtroom.

--Lawyer up

Oh it's happening sweethearts

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