pages: CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2018-11-28.pdf, 9
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2018-11-28 | 9 | ITEM 2-A COMMISSION ON DISABILITY MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, November 28, 2018, 6:30 PM Victoria Forester: Sure. The law says that we have to provide free and appropriate public education for every student and we have a large variety and a spectrum of classes to meet kids needs in Alameda Unified. But if we can't provide free and appropriate public education then we look to other districts. I have partnered with our SELPA districts like Berkley or Albany or Piedmont to see if there is placements, and then I've taken some students of theirs. And then there is also non-public schools that if we can't provide FAPE, Free Appropriate Public Education, then we reach out to a non-public school. Families do not pay for that. School district funds that. Anto Aghapekian: Thank you. Victoria Forester: You're very welcome. Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Anyone else? Otherwise, I have a few questions Just one question. Can you talk about maybe one or two tangible measures of success, whether it be improved test scores, or graduation, or something that you're trying to achieve from this master plan? Victoria Forester: Absolutely. There's a couple of things that pop into my mind. I would like to see our general education teachers and, again, that is my background. I'm a credentialed general ed teacher. I would like our gen ed teachers to have the knowledge and ability to teach any student that is in their classrooms so that we can achieve more inclusion of our special needs students. That's number one. Number two is I would like to see less qualification for an IEP or special education because we're serving our general ed kids better. Every kid with an IEP starts as a child in general education. And so those are two ways that I would like to see us achieve. And the second way, of course, saves the district a lot of money. I am passionate about equity for our students, and believe that our kids with IEPs, with special needs, really are a part of that equity piece. And they need to be included, and have access to core curriculum. The more we do that the higher those test scores will get. Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: I was just wondering on the five levels of your strategic plan, where does What level does a student get assessed for an IEP? Victoria Forester: That would be in chapter one, in identification and intervention, right? How do we identify kids who need special education services and we assess in all areas of suspected disability to qualify a student. But before we ever do that, we engage with our kids in forms of intervention. So, small group intervention, a child we think they may have a mathematics disability, but before we qualify a student and put them through assessment, we put 'em in a small group, and we really hammer them over the head with some math instruction, right? If that doesn't work we go to tier three where we do more individualized service. And still if the student is presenting with a learning disability in the area of say math, then we do the assessment. Leslie Morrison: Yes. So the second measure that you had described, I wasn't quite tracking what you said, can you explain that again? So one was about training teachers in gen ed to work with a broader range of students. And the second one had to do with qualifying for an IEP. Can you just explain that one again? 03/13/19 Page 9 of 32 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2018-11-28.pdf |