Arlington Special Education
Parent Advisory Council
Our Mission
Arlington SEPAC is a parent group that acts as a resource for parents and advises the district regarding meeting the needs of students with special needs.
We provide support and networking opportunities for parents and guardians of children with special educational needs, offer workshops and guest speakers to help parents become better informed about special education issues and meet regularly with school officials to participate in the planning, development and evaluation of special education programs in town.
Upcoming Workshops
Basic Rights Workshop
This workshop provides families with an introduction to their
rights and responsibilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA),
Massachusetts Special Education Law and No Child Left Behind (NCLB). It is designed to
help parents learn how to be effective partners with the school, to decide the child’s
eligibility for special education, to plan, make decisions and to monitor the educational
progress of their child. Please RSVP to: ArlingtonSepac@yahoo.com
WHERE: Hardy Elementary School, Media Center, 52 Lake St. Arligton
WHEN: Thursday Oct. 15 (or 22) 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Spotlight/Social Skills and Pragmatics Workshop
The Spotlight Program including its use of "Dramatics" is an
exciting new approach to teaching social pragmatics. Brian Gordon, prior to being Director
at the Spotlight Program of the North Shore Arc, worked as Director of "School to Work," a community-based
social pragmatics/life skills program at the Arc of East Middlesex. Kim Zahlway LCS, Spotlight Clinical
Director work with children, adolescents, young adults, adults, couples and families with various social,
emotional, developmental, behavioral and/or learning disabilities. Please RSVP to: ArlingtonSepac@yahoo.com
WHERE: Pierce School Cafetorium, 85 Park Ave. Ext., Arlington
WHEN: Thursday Nov. 5, 6:30-9:00 p.m.
Our News
We have a great group of parents working hard on creating our own needs and feedback survey. The survey committee is hoping to have the survey available to all this fall. Another initiative is a program committee which is still looking for volunteers. If you'd like to help with a committee or in any other capacity, please contact our co-chair Barbara Tilson.Our 2009-2010 workshops and meetings calendar will be ready in early September. It will be posted on this website as well as go home in backpacks with all elementary school students.
Contact Us
To contact us by phone, please call one of our co-chairs:
Trish Orlovsky (781) 641-0182 or Barbara Tilson (781) 648-1638
To contact us by email, please send an email to: ArlingtonSepac@yahoo.com
Email Lists and Discussion Forums
To sign up to receive Sepac email announcements, please send an email to: ArlingtonSepac@yahoo.com.
To join the Arlington parents moderated discussion elist, please send an email to: arlingtonsped-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Please note that you must be a parent of a child with special needs to be a member of this forum. This forum is not managed by the APS school department nor by the Arlington Sepac.
Last updated on September 14, 2009
hits since May, 2009