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Next Meeting Previous Meetings
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October 14, 2004 Meeting |
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The Sevier County Special Education Parent Advisory Committee (SC SpEd PAC) held its thirteenth meeting on October 14, 2004. Nine members attended and three guests who are becoming special education teachers also attended. Ongoing Stuff Jeff started an online Yahoo! Group for the SpEd PAC. If you aren't already signed up for it, when you go to the link, the first button you'll have to click on is the "Join this group!" one. If you are already a Yahoo! member, your current log on will work. If not, you'll need to sign up for your own ID and password, which isn't too tedious. Once we get a few members, we can use this online group for messages to all, file and picture sharing, polls, meeting notifications, and live chat. Samantha Ensley and Linda Ogle will check at the four high schools to see both what good programs are in place already and what programs could be better. They will make recommendations to Dr. Sandy Enloe about what to keep, add, or change and later get into middle to high school transition issues. Samantha has the lead on this transition subcommittee and will decide the pace and direction of its activities. John suggested we start an after-school childcare specifically for the special education students. We have some information on how a few counties close by are doing it, but we need to work out the level of need/interest county wide to figure out at what schools to locate this childcare and what needs might be unique to Sevier County. We intend to offer tutoring and enrichment activities during these hours and there will be a charge for this service. Jeff will lead this subcommittee and Allen Lee showed interest in being on it. Anyone else interested contact Jeff by e-mail or phone (748-7711). The Herman and Wilson reading systems are in the SpEd classrooms. TouchMath materials arrived on October 13 and will be in the the self-contained, social development, and resource classes soon. Jeff asked for volunteers to serve as individual education planning meeting parent advocates. We're thinking that, especially for the parents of newly diagnosed students, it might be good if they had an experienced parent to talk to ahead of time about what will happen at the IEP meeting. This advocate could also attend the IEP meeting and provide whatever assistance the parent might need (from finding the meeting location to translating SpEd jargon). Kathy Dufau is already the first volunteer. Anyone else interested should contact Jeff by e-mail or phone (748-7711). These parent advocates don't have to be SpEd PAC members, but they do have to be (or have been) parents of Sevier County Special Education students. New Stuff The East Tennessee Regional Meeting of the Division of Mental Retardation Services is having an evening meeting on November 3, a Wednesday, from 7 to 9 at The Boys and Girls Club, 220 Carrick St., Ste 318, in Knoxville. This will cover short- and long-term care issues for those of us with children who aren't likely to be able to live on their own. Call 865-544-3825 for information. The problem of diploma requirements came up. John mentioned that they are evolving, but the latest is that passing the three Gateway Exams (English, Biology, and Algebra), plus the agreement of the IEP team that the student's coursework is sufficient, is all that is needed to graduate with a regular diploma. A student who does not pass any one of the three will get either a certificate of attendance or special education diploma at graduation. However, even with a regular diploma, certain credits are required for specific jobs. The military and certain other government and civilian jobs require specific courses. Although the school has some leeway on what it can call a course, not all names mean the same to all employers. Every so often, an Estate Planning Seminar is offered by Alpha Omega Family Services. Although the Sevierville date was October 12, they come around two or three times a year. The seminar is free, but their is a charge for the service. Even so, it could be worthwhile. Creating a "living trust" shelters much of the income and assets you and your child earn. This can mean a difference in social security's supplemental security income. It can also clarify what should happen with your child's situation after you are gone. Their toll-free number is 1-800-350-6376. Next Meeting December 13, 2:30 pm. An after-school inservice on Specific Disabilities and Available Classroom Supports follows from 3:45 to 5:45 pm. and parents are welcome. Seven different disability areas will be covered by nine presenters. |
