Wow! I am still dizzy from the wealth of information that was presented at last night's PAC meeting. The fact that I was overwhelmed just screams about the need for the filling of the Parent Liaison position that has remained vacant for 18 months. Having someone help in the navigation through the maze known as Special Ed. is vital and crucial.
First p last night the SPED deparmament of LPS descended on the meeting with an army of presenters describing their own little area of expertise wearing down the crowd with stimulation overload and intimidating the audience with their advanced degrees.
By the time the second PowerPoint program was put on the audience was weary from their journey through LPS. I am not going to type out the organization who presented. Its too early in the AM to go rummaging through my notes Suffice it to say, it was about maximizing the IEP process. Very educational about education. It was ashamed that I ad to leave before it was finished. But even sadder was the fact several left before me. I will dig more into this later. I have a lot to say about last night. STAY TUNED.
The second presenter last night was the Federation for Children with Special Needs. We simply call them the Federation, though.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I'll type it all out later.
ReplyDeleteWOW!!!
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree that the information provided by the LPS Special Ed. Dept. was very overwhelming for the average person or parent , who is just trying to make sure their child gets the services they need. As a former Prevention Director/Clinical Director/Lic Social Worker in one of the Behavior Schools mentioned last night, I would have to say "WOW"...they were in and out!!!
It was disappointing to see the looks on the faces of the parents.....all confusing unknown information being provided to them with no prior knowledge that they could even ask for some of the services mentioned last night.....
The meeting was conducted in a manner ...to me...that was intended for School Officials,Employees or Professionals in the Special Education field. Being in this field daily, I knew ALL of what they were saying and I live in the world of IEP's , FBA's and Benmarks etc....I continue to see such a disconnect between the SPED Administration and the Special Ed. parents...I hope to be one of the Lynn School Committee members with the knowledge base and experience in this field to help create CHANGE!!!
Dolores DiFillipo, M.Ed.,LSW
Candidate for Lynn School Committee......
DiFillipo4@comcast.net
Hey can we apply for CEU's (Continuing Education Units) for listening to their spiel last night?
ReplyDeleteActually Stanley, I think you can. The school department, when the PAC was housed at Breed, used to advertise the trainings to the teachers and offer them Professional Development or Continuing Ed Units. Do you think that is why we had two school adjustment councilors, an occupational therapist, a speech therapist, a school psychologist, a behavioral therapist, and what was that other guy? I counted at least nine regular employees of the Lynn Public School last night.
ReplyDeleteOr do you think the special education department was preening in front of School Committee Member Rick Starbard and Candidate for Lynn School Committee Dolores DiFillipo? Because let me tell you - I have seen that exact same (and by exact same I mean number for number, doesn't anyone ever update those Power Points?) presentation for the last three years and the sped dept has never hired an ensemble cast like that!
Melissa, thugs don't preen. That was bullying. Didn't the school department just pass a bullying prevention plan?
ReplyDeleteDo LPS employees get overtime for going to the meeting? Did we really need NINE people? Just curious.
ReplyDeleteOf course they needed nine. There is strength in numbers and they had to have a victory over greedy parents who expect them to follow the law.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, it was a learning experience for me and I got a lot out of it. As I said last night, we have some pretty good tools and programs for our kids that are in need. As a matter of fact, I met a guy there from another town and he said what they had available to them was horrible. If we could just improve communication, cooperation and mutual respect, everyone would win. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteIt as good to see you there, open to learning. Communication is the key.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it was just the same information with the same results. Once again, we can do better and we need complete "Teamwork" between SPED, Administration and the Families/Children. The number of children being diagnosed with "speical needs" is growing daily and currently our schools are not able to keep up with the growing numbers. We need to be more creative and seek out alternatives with the PARENTS input. Lack of communication and teamwork continues to be the core issue, whether your child is on an IEP or not. Regular Education and Special Education are under the gun to provide positive "statistics"...MCAS, DESE etc. We have wonderful educators and administrators who are commmitted to our children, but we are lacking the funding and resources...I am asking where the money is going? Why is this happening?
ReplyDeleteI have had the pleasure of attending the PAC meetings in the past, but I have to say, I do not see any changes between PAC and SPED Administration. Not sure why?
Regards,
Dolores