Headline News:

• AB SpEd PAC Transition Task Force Recommendations.  This report was presented to Pupil Services on February 6th, 2008. The PAC is working with Pupil Services to identify which recommendations can be implemented.

• Proposed AB SpEd PAC By-Law Changes: This is a copy of the By-Law changes proposed at the Annual Meeting on May 14th, 2008. A final vote on the proposed changes will be taken at the SpEd PAC Board Meeting on June 4th at 7:00 PM in the High School library. All interested individuals are welcome to attend.

• New School Committee Policy and Procedure related to PAC. Previously posted letter to the ABSpEdPAC from School Committee, the SpEdPAC's response to that letter, and a copy of the PowerPoint presentation titled Exploring the Role of a PAC, which we presented to the School Committee on Dec 6th, 2007.

• ABSpEdPAC Meeting Minutes: We have added a tab in our navigation bar for a page that includes the minutes from each PAC meeting.

• New resource materials: We have added some new reference materials to our Links and Resources page, including NCLD's Idea 2004 Parent Guide, FCSN's Guide to Selecting an Advocate, and Closing the IEP Deal.

• New district guidance on FERPA: Pupil Services has recently released information regarding the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). We have included it here for your reference.

• Independent Education Evaluation (IEE) Forms: After working closely with the AB SpEd PAC over the last year to clarify the district's practice regarding the completion of private evaluation forms, Pupil Services has published a practice titled Outside Agency Forms.  In addition, the AB SpEd PAC has updated their Guidance on IEE Forms to reflect the district's newly published practice. We have also posted the Federation's FAQ sheet regarding IEEs. We hope you will find this information helpful.

• New Boxborough Special Education PAC Website: Boxborough has recently created a new website for their PAC www.bsepac.org, which serves the Boxboro School District (K-6). For more information about the Boxborough SEPAC contact Laura Estrada at happyreaders22@yahoo.com or 978-264-0346, or contact Kathy Thomas at kathythomas2@comcast.net or 978-263-6002.

• Update of the 2003 AB School Committee Report, "A Look at the Costs and Drivers of Special Education:" A joint subcommittee of the AB School Committee and the Finance Committee has been formed to review and update this informative special education report. The committee is interested in feedback from parents on what sections of the report to update and what information is most helpful or instructive to focus on/include. Links to the full text of this report and the associated Appendices are included here. Comments may be emailed to Mike Coppolino (Committee Chair) at copp@verizon.net. 
   

General Information:

• Email Lists: We have two email lists, which circulate up-to-date news.  

  • Abspedpac General List: For current Acton and Boxborough Special Education Parent Advisory Council (A/B SpEd PAC) information, we invite anyone interested in Special Education issues in Acton and Boxborough to join our general email list.  The general PAC list distributes announcements of workshops, conferences, and other general special education announcements that are of interest to everyone who works with special education students. Parents, special education administrators, and some school committee members now receive these mailings.  To subscribe, please contact PAC General List with a message stating that you would like to be added to the general PAC list.

  • Parent_2_Parent List: We also have a PAC Parent Support list that is solely for parent support information, such as parent-to-parent communications, and only parents are included on this list. If you would like to subscribe, please contact PAC Support List with a message stating that you would like to be added to the PAC parent support list.

• Our Calendar of Events  - This calendar includes special education related presentations, meetings, and workshops in Acton, Boxborough and surrounding communities. To add an event, email the event name, date, time, description, contact information and/or link to nsherburne@mindspring.com.  The calendar is updated about once a week, so get your events in early!

• Would you like to become more involved in the PAC?  
  Please see How Can I Become More Involved?
   
• For further information about the AB SpEd PAC contact Nancy Sherburne at nsherburne@mindspring.com or Paul Clough at phclough@verizon.net.
   

Special Reports:

• June 2007 - The National Center for Learning Disabilities' web page No Child Left Behind Report Card includes two new reports Rewards and Roadblocks: How Special Education Students are Faring under No Child Left Behind and State Testing Evaluations: Their Value and Validity.

• October 2003 - The Acton-Boxborough School Committee prepared, "A Look at the Costs and Drivers of Special Education" and related Appendices.
   

This page was last updated on 05/15/08.

Website Coordinator:  Karl Brace
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