CRANSTON SPECIAL EDUCATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE

MEETING MINUTES

February 6, 2018

Members present: Dannelle Littleton (President), Liz Wilson (Secretary), Suzanne Arena (parent), Nikki Hanauer (parent), Jack Hanauer (student representative), William Littleton

Excused members: Ed Angilly

Guests:

School Committee: Domenic Fusco

Administrator: Lisa Abbott, Anne Bouchard

Asst Principal:

General Education Teacher:

Special Education Teacher:

Dannelle called the meeting to order at 7:05pm and the following business took place.

Approval of minutes – December minutes were approved. There was no January meeting due to inclement weather.

Chairperson Update-

RISEAC and CEAB Update

The CEAB meeting on 1/8 was a tour of the Nel/CPS Construction Career Academy. The next meeting is March 5th at Cranston High School East’s Media Center.

RISEAC- Ed was not in attendance however the below is a transcript for last month’s agenda (posted on-line)…

-SPP/APR Dr. Susan Wood, Ph.D., Senior Administrator, Quality Assurance Services at OSCAS

-Announcements/Discussion ~ RISEAC Leadership Team Membership Announcement Supported Decision Making Conference Update, January 11, 2018 ~ RIC SurveyWorks ~ Combined Survey, Administration is January 16, 2018 to March 30, 2018 Meeting with Commissioner Wagner and RISEAC Leadership Team Rescheduled ~ January 31st College Planning Forum ~ March 3rd at Providence College 6 th Annual Transition Institute ~ March 8th at Rhode Island College

SEAN (meeting May 2018- update at that time)

RIPIN- upcoming workshops…

11th Annual Family Voices Partnership Conference, Supporting the Caregiver- Radisson Providence Airport Hotel, 8:30a-3pm,

TBD 2018

9th Annual Dare to Dream Student Leadership Conference- Wednesday, May 23rd and Thursday, May 24th 2018 at URI, 8a-3p

14th Annual College Planning Forum (students with disabilities, parents and school personnel)- Saturday, March 3rd 2018,

8:30a-2pm

Full listing of on-going workshops listed on ripin.org

Administration Report-

Teachers are currently going through training on accommodations for RICAST testing. This is the new test in place of PARC for grades 3-8. PSAT’s and SAT’s have a different set of accommodations that are determined by the College Board. Testing is on April 10th and 11th respectively.

Trainings on the DLM (Dynamic Learning Map) Alternate Assessment System are also being done with a focus of the “Essential Elements”- grade level specific expectations.

Transition meetings are starting to be coordinated.

School Committee Report-

On 2/5 the budget was submitted to the Mayor. A 1.4% increase is being requested ($1.3 million increase). Details to follow on future meeting for parent support.

Crowd Funding- a policy is now in place (#3280), Domenic gave a hard copy of the verbage to Dannelle- also available on-line, exerpt includes...

“…Posting photos of students is prohibited. Photos of items purchased, classroom settings and images of individuals that cannot be identified are acceptable. The Cranston Public School parent permission for media does not apply to Crowd Funding requests. A file will be maintained at the school/department for any crowdfunding requests. This file will include; the principal’s/director’s documentation of the request, pre-approval as submitted to the Assistant Superintendent, written detail of the project, photo images posted with the project and documentation of final distribution of items. The final approval will be filed in the Assistant Superintendent's office with a copy forwarded to the school/ department.”

New Business-

SEAC website- Dannelle is now able to update with current meeting schedule info and minutes

The SEAC board had a meeting with Michelle Simpson and the following was reviewed:

School Support Visit (RIDE)

School visits will be taking place soon and are slightly different than prior years. Reports are being pulled and a random request of records to review compliance. Possible drop in during testing. Results will be available internally in May and released to the public in a year.

Parent Survey- Panorama Education

This year both general education and special education are combined in one on-line survey. Survey submissions run through March 30th.

Private/confidential settlements-

Michelle is following up with John Anderson who is the Special Education attorney for the District.

SEAC Workshops

We would like to have Dave Schiappa host a panel in March that would help parents interpret data like explaining the bell curve (both Psychological and Educational). Michelle to coordinate with Dave.

Perhaps a separate session for speech and other programs like Assisted Technology. Another consideration is budgeting- ABLE savings plan. We are open to suggestions.

Parent recommendations…

-Have the March event hosted at the library. Suzanne will reach out and see if the date is available and what is required to book it. They may be able to promote it as well.

-Facebook event (invitation purpose only- no live feed, etc.) Dannelle to create and post on the new website.

-CPS website (rotating banner)- a flyer will need to be created for this. The same flyer can be submitted to Friday Flyers. Dannelle to look into who could create the flyer.

With advance notice this can be distributed to teachers as well.

Details to follow.

Old Business:

Crowd Funding and Settlement agreements updated above.

Adjournment- The meeting was adjourned at 7:40p

Minutes respectfully submitted by, Liz Wilson