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cambridgesepac Advocacy, COVID-19

Statement from the Leadership Team of the Cambridge Special Education Parent Advisory Council

Dear Madam Mayor, School Committee members, and Superintendent Salim,

Cambridge Special Education Parent Advisory Council is an all-volunteer group of Cambridge parents and caregivers working to improve special education and general education practices with particular attention to the needs of black and brown scholars with disabilities and special needs in our community. Our guiding principle is that decisions must be made based on the needs of the child, not the availability of programs or resources.

We want to begin our comment by saying thank you for basing your latest proposal on the needs of our scholars and community, rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all model. Your new proposal is a significant improvement and we can see that you have been listening. 

On order #20-204, parents of scholars with disabilities have a range of opinions on standardized testing. The core mission of Cambridge SE-PAC is to focus on the needs of students and to demand accountability for ensuring they are learning to their greatest capacity.  

Under current conditions, we are united in a belief that standardized testing in Spring 2021 would place undue burden and stress on students and teachers alike.

However, our students — particularly students of color with disabilities — are most at risk for being left behind during this pandemic and we demand that CPS adopt an alternative assessment that is reliable, transparent and family-friendly. CPS must commit to improving practices for sharing information about how our students are doing in relation to grade level standards.

We have repeatedly asked the district to adopt the iReady system, which is used in charter schools and private schools to share real-time data on student learning between teachers and families. The system is more timely and more family-friendly than the MCAS, and our students with disabilities in charter schools find it easier to demonstrate their learning. This would replace the district’s use of FAST assessments and make student learning data fully transparent.

Statewide accountability measures should not be discarded until appropriate and transparent in-house measures are in place to ensure that parents and families understand how our students are doing during this difficult time, such as the iReady System. We have recommended adoption of iReady in writing, in public testimony, and in meetings with the Superintendent and Office of Student Services. If the CEA is serious about finding an alternative to the MCAS, we call on you to be allies to our students by investigating and publicly supporting this measure.

On #20-209, understanding that being outdoors reduces the risk of transmission of COVID-19, we remind our community that the needs of all students must be considered in this and any other procedural change. Specifically, there are a number of medical conditions that would result in the exclusion of students if outdoor learning were to take place during certain New England weather. For instance even if warm clothing were provided on cold days, many conditions such as sickle cell anemia, asthma, and allergies which are prevalent in communities of color would be exacerbated, compromising immune systems further. Please keep in mind that some of our teachers and staff also suffer from these conditions. 

In addition, some students with special needs have a tendency to bolt away from their classroom and therefore would be unable to safely participate in outdoor learning without added adult supervision. Finally, the very common issue of inattention among students with disabilities should be proactively taken into account by ensuring that learning activities and curricula support students who may be easily distracted in the less-controlled outdoor environment.

With all of this said, there are also benefits for many students with disabilities to spending more time outdoors and specific classrooms or groups of students who may be able to adopt this measure without a problem. It is our role and responsibility to ensure that any course of action under consideration keeps in mind the needs of students with disability from the outset, and not as an afterthought.

We support the spirit of 20-205. In spirit, this order would provide parents and caregivers with greater transparency about children’s learning progress. Research shows that clear communication with families about what students are expected to know, and how students are progressing, is an important strategy for improving student achievement.

Under conditions of remote learning, this type of transparency and collaboration is especially important. Whether the district develops its own means for communicating student progress on “power standards,” or adopts the iReady system as we have repeatedly recommended,  school-caregiver partnership is crucial to building a more equitable, anti-racist, person-centered and socially just school system.

We encourage the District to continue to listen and actively seek out input from parents and caregivers to ensure that all families understand and agree with any adjustments made to student expectations when teaching and learning under conditions of a pandemic.

In Conclusion, our comments tonight point to the importance of transparency and accountability for student learning. The district’s revised proposal and inclusion of diverse parent voices on the COVID-19 Task Force suggest a deepening of respect for the role that parents and caregivers play in education. 

We would like to point out that IEP meetings are a context where the parent/caregiver role in education decision-making is legally mandated. We call on CPS to treat IEP teams as a microcosm for fully collaborative decision-making. Unfortunately, at this time, IEP teams do not provide a model of what collaborative decision-making should look like. Too often, decisions seem to have been made before the team even sits down at the table. When our views differ from the district’s position, we often face hostility.

We will continue to raise this issue, but take heart in the actions the district has been taken to fully include diverse parent and caregiver voices in decision-making at the district level. 

Thank you very much for your time and for all you are doing to support the best possible decision-making during this difficult and unprecedented time. 

The Leadership Team of Cambridge Special Education Parent Advisory Council:

  • Nicole Ahart 
  • Ruth Ryan Allen  
  • Bernette Dawson  
  • Lisa Downing 
  • Karen Dobak  
  • Gardite Fougy  
  • Love Holloman  
  • Julie McKinney 
  • Alec McKinney 
  • Berry Pierre  

  • Rosalie Rippey   
  • Mercedes Soto  
  • Ena Valenzuela 
  • Linda Vick

cambridgesepac COVID-19

Cambridge SEPAC Statement Advocating for the Learning Needs of Students with Special Needs for Remote and In-Person Learning

As we face a pandemic which includes both COVID-19 and the the centuries-old public health crisis of systemic institutional racism, we, the leadership of the Cambridge Special Education Parent Advisory Committee urge CPS to prioritize the physical and emotional safety of our children with special needs, especially those who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Under life and death conditions, we must also stand up for the physical and emotional safety of the educators and staff who care for and educate our children.

CPS must collaborate with families and caregivers to ensure the removal of additional barriers faced by students with special learning needs to receive a free appropriate public education. We urge the district to adopt a remote educational model at the start of the school year, making in-person education the exception and not the default. And, we urge CPS to prioritize students with the most needs and the least resources for in person learning and partner with caregivers and students to plan for safe, in-person learning options for these students.

Priority students must include younger children, some students with special needs of all ages, placements and grade levels, and students at risk of dropping out of school, including those who failed to engage with remote learning. CPS must do whatever it takes to make sure that all of the trauma experienced by students due to COVID does not result in further lifelong trauma due to a failure to complete high school.

Decisions must be made through equity-driven partnerships and relationships, and not one-size-fits all. Equity means that students who need more, must receive more.

Targeted outreach to families must be provided to ensure understanding and provide families with the opportunity to opt-in and have their children attend school in a physical classroom with co-created and realistic safety procedures that minimize the risk of spreading the COVID-19 virus from home to school. This communication should be done by phone call or video meeting whenever possible.

For students on IEPs, CPS must ensure that students receive appropriate accommodations that both goals and services outlined in their IEP are adapted based on the different conditions present with remote learning. This includes collaborating with caregivers so that additional needed services are added to the IEP without delay if they are needed to ensure that students receive a free and appropriate education in a remote context. These may include additional goals, accommodations, or services that had not previously been needed.

Additionally, for Special Education Students, CPS must ensure that students are provided thorough transition planning services starting by age 14. CPS should collaborate with the student and caregivers to ensure that the transition planning goals are truly about the student’s dreams for adult living and address all of the competencies necessary to make the student’s dreams come true. Due to the constraints of what can be accomplished under COVID, we demand that CPS extend the timeframe to accomplish the students transition plan beyond age 22 if needed.

In order to maximize learning in a remote context for ALL students, CPS must take decisive action to provide high-quality, consistent, interactive and relationship-driven remote learning opportunities for students who are able to participate and access the curriculum through this medium. We expect our students to receive a robust education that addresses their learning gaps and continues to teach new content.

CPS should utilize all staff to reach out and develop relationships with students. Some staff could be assigned to be “youth outreach workers” to text reminders and make phone calls to ensure that students are engaged.

In addition, CPS must collaborate with all educators and staff to ensure that they receive the support they need to effectively serve students remotely including partnering with caregivers to determine what works best for students to make progress. In the interest of transparency, learning benchmark assessments should be shared and discussed with parents regularly, whether or not a student has an IEP.

CPS must also teach students how to plan for and organize their day for remote learning. This includes explicit teaching of schedule planning, calendar use, alarms, and notifications. Expectations should be clear around attendance and remaining focused and engaged during virtual lessons.

Finally, CPS must work with caregivers, teachers, and principals to change its discipline procedures to one of restorative justice and positive behavioral support. This means eliminating the practices of suspensions and expulsions. For too long, black and brown students, particularly those with disabilities, have been excluded from school due to behavioral concerns by either sending the student to the office, calling the parent to pick them up without documenting this as a suspension, or through formal suspension or expulsion from school. We are concerned that increased policing of student’s bodies will occur due to COVID concerns, and that this will be used to further marginalize this population and deny them the same learning opportunities as their peers.

We look forward to continued collaboration as we all look for solutions that will best serve students in Cambridge.

cambridgesepac Uncategorized

SE-PAC Elections

While all Special Education families are part of the Cambridge SE-PAC, the SE-PAC Leadership Team requests that you consider stepping up to serve as an officer to make the team stronger, increase diversity and be more inclusive.

SE-PAC Officers must commit 20 hours per month of their time for the full school year. These hours may include attending meetings and workshops, planning events, providing support and referrals to families, writing statements, among other activities.

Please fill out the below form by Tuesday, July 14th to nominate yourself to be an officer on the Leadership Team.

An election form will be sent out Monday, July 20th with the election ending Wednesday, July 29th. An announcement listing our newly elected Leadership Team will be sent out Friday, July 31st.

As a first step in working toward becoming a more anti-racist and inclusive organization, the role of Co-Chair will be shared among the newly elected Leadership Team members who by taking on a specific role or to help manage the sub-committees listed below.

  • Parent/Caregiver Support: Supporting parent/caregiver advocacy and developing a family-to-family mentorship program
  • Workshops: Planning and setting priorities for parent/caregiver education
  • Outreach & Communication: Communicate with families, district, partner organizations and the public
  • School Committee Relations: Attending and organizing attendance at school committee meetings
  • Racial Equity: Lead advocacy efforts around racial equity & special education
  • Community-Building: Building community among special education parents and caregivers
  • Awareness Raising: Organizing and supporting organization of disability awareness activities
  • School Relations: Supporting and structuring connections with all CPS schools
  • Compliance Monitoring: Taking action related to district legal compliance
  • Leadership Development: Empowering leadership skills within the SE-PAC and SE-PAC Board
  • Treasurer/Co-Treasurer: Develop and coordinate finances

Even if you’re unable to be part of the Leadership Team, we encourage you to reach out with any concerns to the SE-PAC through the Special Education Liaison, Zuleka Queen-Postell, zqueen-postell@cpsd.us or the SE-PAC Twitter or Facebook pages to ensure that your voice is heard.

cambridgesepac Uncategorized

Creating Hope: A Dialogue with DJ Savares

Cambridge SE-PAC has been invited to join a special opportunity:  Creating Hope: A Dialogue with DJ Savarese at 3 pm EST on Sunday, June 14th

“Hope is not easy. Hope is hard. But what if we imagine living life as a perpetual meditation on Hope? In this webinar, I make visible what helps me create hopeful possibilities in a world that is thankfully always coming-into-being.”

Prior to the dialogue, join us for a screening of the documentary, Deej Sunday, June 14th at 1:30 Register HERE

Deej is the story of DJ Savarese (“Deej”), a gifted, young writer and advocate for non-speaking autistics. Once a “profoundly disabled” foster kid on a fast track to nowhere, DJ is now a first-year college student who insists on standing up for his peers: people who are dismissed as incompetent because they are neurologically diverse. Will Deej be able to find freedom for himself and others like him?

Join us this Sunday, June 14th at 1:30 for a viewing of the Documentary. Register HERE

Then join DJ himself for his “Creating Hope” Dialogue at 3 pm EST/2 pm CST/ 1 pm MT/ 12 pm PT. 

Link for CREATING HOPE will be shared at the Documentary viewing.

For Questions an Comments Please Contact Zuleka Queen-Postell, ZQueen-Postell@gmail.com

cambridgesepac Advocacy, Events, Get Involved, Meetings & Events, Sensory Friendly Movies

Connect with Other Families

Webinar Wednesdays at 10am

Webinars will be broadcast via Zoom so that families can watch as a group, use the chat bar to ask questions, and talk afterwards. We are currently working through the Basic Rights in Special Education trainings of the Federation for Children with Special Needs. To join, email Zuleka Queen Postell at zqueen-postell@cpsd.us to request the link.

Parent Support groups – Fridays at 10am

Free support group offering support and information, facilitated by New England Home for Little Wanderers. More Information >

Sensory-friendly Netflix Party – FRIDAYS AT 7PM

Join through the Netflix Party App, or join us on Zoom to watch through the SEPAC. Past Family movies have included Farmageddon (A Shaun the Sheep Movie) and Arctic Dogs. Learn More >

SE-PAC Community Meetings – 2nd and 4th Wednesdays at 6pm

Work with other special education parents to advocate for equity and quality in special education in Cambridge. Learn More >

Questions?

Contact Zuleka Queen-Postell at ZQueen-Postell@cpsd.us or (617) 593-4402

cambridgesepac Uncategorized

SEPAC Statement – May 5, 2020

Statements read at the meeting are in bold with additional details following.

We ask for your consideration for the needs of students with disabilities and particularly low income, black and brown students with disabilities who are the most vulnerable among the most vulnerable students in CPS. Our students make up 1/5th of the total CPS student body and are the lowest performing student group in the district. 

We are speaking on several agenda items:

1) We support motion 20-69 and ask that the Committee additionally specify that a parent of a child on an IEP must be part of every School Improvement Council.  

2) We support motion 20-71 requiring weekly staff check-ins with every student, but ask that staff check-ins also include families, which is not consistently happening at this time according to our members, and students with disability are unable to access the learning material as a result of their parents not understanding what is going on.

3) We are also in support of Motion 20-70, regarding the set up of a recovery task force.  The SE-PAC board should be included as part of the recovery task force, to ensure the perspective of children with disabilities is considered. We also ask that CPS adopt a parent-friendly system for sharing student assessment data such as I-Ready.

In order to adequately address the recovery, we ask that parents be given full information as to how their child is performing compared to educational standards for students at their grade level. We ask that the district move to adopt a system like i-Ready, which is currently being used by a charter school in Cambridge as well as other school districts. We feel that this type of system addresses some equity concerns, not just for students with disabilities, but for all underperforming groups, as it provides communication to families as to the gaps in a student’s education, but provides tools that families can be involved in to address those gaps.

In the meantime, until CPS is able to adopt a system like i-Ready, we ask that after benchmark testing is available over the course of the year a report on results be shared with every family. In this way families will be able to be part of the plan to address their child’s gaps in learning. Only in this way can a true recovery plan address the gaps in education that exist in our District.

4) Regarding the Budget and District Plan, we support the major restructuring of CPS at the levels of Assistant Superintendents and request that the SE-PAC be the district’s resource for appointing a Special Education parent to each of the hiring committees for Cabinet-level positions including Assistant Superintendents of Elementary and Upper School/High Schools and Chief Equity Officer.

Job descriptions of both Assistant Superintendents should include responsibility for  inclusion of students with disabilities within general education settings regardless of placement and collaboration with the Assistant Superintendent for Student Services in order to hold schools accountable for inclusion and achievement goals. To ensure that disability rights are included within the equity vision of CPS, it is fundamentally important that students with disabilities be included in all planning around the position of Chief Equity Officer

5) We also wish to appoint a parent member for the position of Chief Talent Officer to ensure that the successful candidate has experience operating in a unionized setting to both value employees and hold them accountable to appropriate Civil Rights standards. 

6) Finally, we ask that as new structures are finalized, CPS correct the structural power imbalance that places the Assistant Superintendent for Student Services at a lower level of the district hierarchy than other Assistant Superintendents. The Assistant Superintendent for Student Services is responsible for special education quality and compliance within every single school in our district. If the Superintendent truly believes that our students are as important as any others, their highest administrative advocate should report directly to him or her. 

We have advocated for this in the past, and make this recommendation independent of any specific individuals. The role should not be structurally parallel to Curriculum Coordinators and Principals – it should be parallel to the instructional, curriculum and legal compliance leaders of the district. If the Superintendent of Schools truly believes that our students are as important as any others, their highest administrative advocate should report directly to him or her. 

Signed by fifteen current SE-PAC members

  • Ruth Ryan Allen, Co-Chair
  • Pamela Blau
  • Paula Caruso
  • Pia Cisternino
  • Bernette Dawson, Co-Chair
  • Karen Dobak, Co-Chair
  • Mercedes M Soto
  • Luis E. Cotto
  • Lisa Downing
  • Kevin Fanning
  • Katherine Gamble
  • Tina Lieu
  • Rosalie Rippey
  • Madelaine (Misha) Rosenberg
  • Jennifer Kozlik
cambridgesepac Uncategorized

Letter from DESE and Special Education Parent Toolbox

The following letter was sent to School Districts to distribute to special education families. It was downloaded from the DESE website.

April 9, 2020  

Dear Families and Guardians:

During this period of extended school closure, we recognize this is a difficult time for families, guardians, and caregivers. We understand that one of your concerns is how your children with disabilities will continue to receive support and services from schools while they are closed due to the public health emergency related to COVID-19. During this unprecedented time, we appreciate that families and educators will work together to provide the best possible access to special education instruction and services.

In this letter, I want to share important updates about what schools are doing to support your child during this time. The accompanying Family Resource Toolbox provides some helpful information about resources and strategies for families. 

On March 21, the U.S. Department of Education issued a fact sheet clarifying that schools must continue to provide a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) to students with disabilities while protecting the health and safety of students, educators, and service providers. In these extraordinary circumstances, special education services will be provided differently than they are when school buildings are open and fully operational. Remote special education services should start immediately. You do not need to provide consent for remote services to begin. You should receive a plan about how the school will provide remote services.

Read Full Letter:

Family Resource Toolbox