Minutes from October 2016 SEPTA Meeting

Here are the minutes from the October SEPTA meeting, courtesy of SEPTA Secretary, Karen Sosnoski:

Minutes of Arlington Special Education PTA

Thursday October 13, 2016

Syphax Education Center

Arlington, VA

Caroline Levy, SEPTA President, called the meeting to order.

• Caroline introduced September minutes; voted on and passed.
• Caroline introduced Adam Mann, new treasurer

Adam Mann, Treasurer’s Report.

• Passed out the audit report for review.
• Motioned to approve the audit. Motion seconded, approved.
• SEPTA is entertaining suggestions for a new bank other than Wells Fargo.
• Budget introduced and passed.

Caroline Levy made additional introductions:

• Paul Jamelski, Interim Director of Education,
• Kathleen Donovan, Parent Resource Center Coordinator
• Teachers to whom SEPTA awarded mini grants last year: Anne Vincent; Caitlin Davies; Christy Przystawik; Heather Wire.

Caroline introduced the budget.

• Budget voted on and passed.
• Caroline highlighted the importance of our membership drive to a healthy budget.
• Reported that teachers here tonight get a gift membership.

Linda Campanelli, VP Fundraising—Report:

• 3rd and last year as VP. Looking for her replacement.
• We are currently in a good position funds-wise. Did not overspend last year.
• SEPTA Phantom Ball—“Do Not Show Up! We Don’t Want to See You!” :
• Help fund Mini-Grants to APS Faculty by purchasing tickets to our Annual Phantom Ball,
• October 32, 201610/32/16 12:00 AM to Sunrise
• Packages: $10 witch ticket; $25 Addams family pack; $50 Ghouls Rule Sponsor; $100 Angel or Devil.
• PEP program contest yielded the award-winning flyer for the Phantom Ball.

Kathleen Donovan, PRC: October is Learning Disabilities month, ADHD month. Disability and History Awareness Month.

• Upcoming Events—Check out www.apsva.us/prc
• Special Education Advisory Committee also having a special IEP forum, Tuesday, October 25, 2016, 7:00-9:00 PM at the APS Education Center.
• Disability History and Awareness Month Symposium, Wednesday October 26, 2016. Moring Sessions: 9:45 AM to Noon—featuring Assistive Technology/Literacy, Speech and Language, Mental Health Roundtable, and GMU’s Training and Technical Assistance Center. Evening Session: 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM Autism Parent Series—Puberty and Sexuality.
• Dyslexia Awareness Month Event: Film Screening—Dislecksia—The Movie. Thursday, October 27, 2016; 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Kenmore Middle School

Caroline Levy Reporting on Mini Grants:

• Deadline extended to 10/21.
• Team or individual must be SEPTA member, but we offer quite a few free memberships so $10 shouldn’t be a problem.
• Grants are awarded once a year for the current school year.
• An individual or team of teachers may apply.
• Some grant payments require follow up with receipts.
• Awardees may be asked to present SEPTA with a blog post or meeting presentation on the success of the grant project.
• Grants awarded for field trips; integrated play groups; resource materials; materials for demonstration to school or district staff.  Professional development will be considered especially if the training qualifies for recertification credit and can demonstrate impact on children.
• SEPTA mini-grants will not be awarded for the following: purchase of material or curriculum aids which are specified in a current year IEP; parties; general office supplies.
• Mini-Grants are up to $500 awards to support teachers and staff.
• Grant application form has been updated.
• Going to make a big deal about publicizing the winner!
• Application can be filled out on line.

Presentation by teachers who were awarded mini-grants last year:

• Anne Vincent, Teacher at the Stratford Program.
• Received a SEPTA mini-grant for school trips (had bus for trips but no budget for it.
• Purpose:  to generalize communication skills in 4 different settings
• Restaurant setting:
• How do you decide what you want?
• How to order?
• How to wait for your food?
• Anne Vincent showed pictures of students ordering food at Red Robin: Some used PECS (Picture Exchange Communication) to order. Some used SGDs, an iPad to communicate. Some had to practice ordering verbally. Students learned to wait patiently for their order. Had to set a timer. Practices “Calm body. Calm hands.”
• Store:
• Create a shopping list
• FInd items on the list
• Walk around store with calm body and voice
• Pay for items.
• Caitlin Davies, Stratford Program.
• Received a SEPTA grant for a Lego NXT Mindstorm Robotics Set.
• Used with 6-7 kids, ages 12-22. Stratford MIPA.
• Legos helped with Balancing Instruction:
• developmentally appropriate
• Within zone of proximal development
• Meets IEP Goals
• Prepare for life skills and transition
• Exposes to age appropriate standards and instruction.
• Interdisciplinary, Hands on Instruction (STEM)
• Hands on/Engaging
• Easy to differentiate and target.
• More on Caitlin Davies’ interest in Robotics:
• Someone was going to do a festival of the minds project on the robotics, grades k-12. It ended up not happening, but she was intrigued.
• Was more consistent with how the kids learn than how she learns.
• They like repetition. Robots are cool.
• Last year she kept it basic—easiest robot in the kit. They started with the basic, then the kids added extensions.
• She hopes this year to try ones that are more complicated.
• Legos are aimed at a middle school level, but takes a lot of modification.
• Class work with robotics culminated in a robot demonstration for a talent show—showed how they applied stem skills, problem solved, developed fine motor and vocational skills. They applied math skills and tried some programming.
• Question: How are they doing with teamwork and sharing, working with such small robots? Answer: Pretty well. Groups are kept small. They take turns taking steps.
• Question/observation: Logic based programming stuff might work for some kids in the class. Answer: Yes, programming has a range of appropriateness for different kids. Some companies use robotics for kids who are higher on the spectrum. For kids who struggle with interviews but who have technical skills, they can sometimes demonstrate capabilities on robotics.
• Christy Przystawik, Outdoor Garden Coordinator at Campbell. K-5th grade.
• Says the students are almost entirely integrated into the classroom at Campbell, an expeditionary learning program with an outdoor classroom. So applied for a mini-grant for a green house for more opportunities for learning.
• They installed the green house—the other Arlington Funding Credit Union funded the other half of the green house.
• Used at every grade level. Extended the growing season.
• Last year they did 285 outdoor classrooms, goal in 300s this year.
• Outdoors is great equalizer. Kids can sit, stand, move, pick up sticks, all welcomed. Growing their own food helps kids with texture sensitivities to food.
• Some things get started in the greenhouse, then transferred out.
• Comment from meeting participant: “I worked in outdoor classroom at Jamestown, 2-4 year olds, and found it developed their speech more.”
• Heather Wire, Occupational Therapist at Oakridge.
• Last year was her first year at Arlington.
• She received a mini grant for a kit to provide pencil grips
• She put together different grips for students to try and was also able to go in and support teachers learning about grip development.
• She made cards explaining how to use the pencil grips.
• She made one kit that could be checked out by all teachers.
• She hopes to expand this.
• Meeting participant said it would be great to replicate at every school and asked where Heather got the pencil grips. Heather said the Therapy shop.

Catina Claytor, Medicaid Coordinator for APS

• If a student has an IEP and has parental consent, we can bill for services to offset the cost of those services.
• Quarterly administrative claiming.
• We’re starting to bill for OT, PT, Speech, Psychology.
• Cost reports for supplies are another way to bring funds back in school.
• In February IEP meetings, we started asking for parental consent.
• Once you say yes, it’s a one time consent.
• The persons most impacted are OTS, PTs, and STs. They have to do the direct billing. But everyone uses the same forms. Privacy of the student is respected. No one is allowed to know who has given parental consent.
• Teachers were given a script this year to ask parents for consent. But the parent already knows if child has medicaid, and there’s no cost to the parents. They won’t even see the billing.
• Questions from meeting participants and answers:
• The money that goes back to the school, where does it go? Back to the general fund, not specifically to Special Ed.
• Is there anyone monitoring the impact of workload on OTs and STs? The only thing additional they had to do was a plan of care for all students in their care at the beginning of the year. They document their services anyway; now they’re just all using the same form.
• If a parent wanted to see the forms, would they be allowed to? Catina: Yes, you would be able to see it, you’d just need to ask for it. Therapist in the audience: The plan of care is really the IEP. The notes are the same as the log notes.
• We got a letter in advance of our IEP meeting (see dmas-letters) explaining and asking for consent, is that common? Yes we’ve started sending them out, have gotten back 120-5, only about three nos.
• Are these the funds that are reimbursed for respite care? No. The student has to have an IEP through APS and the therapist provides services through APS. In the Stratford program though, medicaid pays for kids to go to Jill’s house, T nights.
• We had an IEP in June and heard nothing about this. We had a revision of the IEP recently and did hear about it. I said I didn’t want to sign the medicaid form until I knew he was going to get coverage through his wheel chair. The letter from Dept of Human Affairs and Services says that this will not interfere with coverage.
• Caitlin will send all the info to Caroline Levy for the resource page. (see medicaid-faqs)
• If you have private therapy through medicaid and home and you have medicaid through APS, isn’t that double dipping? No.
• A big group of parents believe that APS is picking this up late. Why? Caitlin: Medicaid in the school program started in 1992. I came from Alexandria, have only been in NOVA for four years. Perhaps because Arlington is more affluent, some people have the idea that we don’t need it.
• What sort of income are you expecting from this? Don’t know for this year because of the medicaid penetration rate and timing of parental consents. After a year or two, will know better.  Alexandria, a smaller school district does fairly well. Two years ago, they brought in a million dollars for one school year.

Adjournment:

• Caroline Levy: Next month we’re meeting at Thomas Jefferson Middle School for an Introduction to Special Education in Spanish, presented by PEATC.
• We’ll be pushing the Phantom Ball out very soon.

Notes Prepared by Karen Sosnoski, Secretary.

Approved.