You should. Oh. Oh, I'm really loud. >> Oh, yeah. Cuz you're listening to yourself there. And there. So, if you want to take off the headphones. >> All right. Good night, everybody. Welcome to the special education
committee meeting. We have our translators. Um, if we could have our translators um, let our families knows how to get translations. We start with Spanish interpreter. Say
thank you. Spanish announcement completed. Thank you. >> All righty. Um, can we have a Mandarin interpreter? mentoring finish announcement. All right. Can we have a Arabic interpreter?
Fore! Foreign! Foreign! You probably I think you're good. >> Okay. Do you want have to to redo it cuz >> um I can put it in the chat. That makes you have to >> All right. Cuz you um my Arabic interpreter, you froze for a little part of it. So we'll make sure the
information is shared in the chat. Okay. So um I am the chair of this special education committee and we felt that was relevant to have this committee since we
have a large population of our families that have students in special education whether it's D75 or the students with um IEPs. And this also includes uh English language learners. And we do know that
many families have had concerns about related services and so forth. So we wanted to create this committee so they could bring concerns to us as um the CC so we could help support them and guide
them to where they need to get the resources and the support to help their students. Okay. So, um, do you want to introduce ourselves? >> Okay. >> Okay. My name is Tamara Stern. Um, I'm
been a PAR advocate for a long time. Um, I also have um a student um in with disabilities with an IEP. So, I've been a constant um parent advocate for um for her for
that. And I've also been able to help support other families as well as a parent member. So John, you want to >> Yeah, my name is John Raton. I am Tamara's co-chair for special education. Um, if you guys have any issues, you
could go on our website CC20 and you could check out the liaison schools and also email us about the issues that you have that we could take care of for you for district 75. And like Tamara said, >> all right. And and this since this is a committee meeting, it's going to be run
differently than how we do our CC monthly meetings. So if any of the parents that are on would like to introduce themselves, tell us a little bit about themselves, you can unmute or you could put in the chat however you feel comfortable.
>> Hello. Um, >> hi Maggie. >> Hi. How are you doing? Thank you so much for um doing this much neededed meeting. My name is Maggie. I have um child in district 20. Um do I have to say the
school name or not necessarily? No. >> And we I also have my child has IEP and I would love to have more support and um we can work as a team. I'm I'm very glad and I am attending this meeting and you you are existing. You're doing amazing
job. Thank you so much Tam. Thank you so much John. And we are uh receiving tremendous support from John and he sent a link to attend this meeting and going forward I will be communicating with you. Thank you. Thank you for doing this.
>> Thank you for being here. Maggie, does any other parent want to unmute himself? say a little bit of something. It's informal. We don't want to, you know, Michelle,
should you tell me? I could call people. Laura, Mary Ellen. >> Hi there. Good evening. This is Mary Ellen. Hi Tamara. Hi John. Um, thank you for putting this meeting together. Um, I'm also a fellow district 20 parent. I
have a second grader and um, a 4K um, student that's just about to start kindergarten next year. So, um, I have a lot to say and I have a lot of experiences to share. Um,
all of it good um, with you guys. I I really want to thank you for what you do, for putting this together. As soon as I heard that you were doing anything, I registered for it. So, um I I try and
go to your meetings all the time and and follow you. Um so, I'm I'm I'm happy to to share my experience um and what I've learned. I've been around, you know, since 2022
with my son. Um, and I'm I'm very interested to hear other parents' experiences because I feel like um, in short, there needs to be a lot more support for parents coming in to the New
York City Board of Education. Um, I am born and raised in Brooklyn and was raised by um, a public high school teacher and um, a college professor. So, education was
really like instilled um in me and both my kids have IEPs. Um so, I've learned a lot about this process and um and I would love to help where I can. So, so thank you so much for doing this. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you so much. >> Does anybody else want to mute? Oh, you put it in chat. >> It's up to you. We We don't want to, like I said, it's in the formal, you know, because some All right. If nobody else would like to unmute, we could just
discuss um some of the goals that we want to do with with this committee. And you could unmute at any time and add to it. Um, so what we want to do is like we want to be able to help um,
thanks Laura. We want to be able to to help our family. Um, like I was stated before, you know, it's a lot of times it's who you it could be who you know or what you know, you know, cuz from my personal
experience, my child um was giving early intervention services. So I had like I have three kids and they've all at one point in time got early intervention services and for me at that time cuz my
kids are like probably older than some of the people here because I have two in college. So at that time a lot of information wasn't accessible to me you know and my husband's a teacher. So it it was him
asking some of his colleagues, how do we go about getting services for our child, you know, at the age of three and four, you know, because we had no idea like how to navigate this system at that time. And as somebody who's an immigrant
but also a citizen, I didn't grow up knowing like any of the this information. So I was learning it on the ground as I was going through it, you know, and it was kind of hard to to really find other families to to ask
because, you know, in some cultures a lot of this conversation is taboo. You know what I mean? You don't really talk about stuff like that. But we need to because we need to be able to help support our children through their education in in order for them to be
become productive adults. And we need to know who to go to and where these res resources are. And like I said, I speak English and I don't speak another language. So if it was hard for me, I can't imagine how hard it was for
somebody with English is not their first language. You know what I mean? And I think we the supports need to be more accessible than they are. And I know like that's one of the things we do try to advocate for a lot of the new
schools is to add um D75 seats uh like programs like um Ames Horizon. We want to make sure that a lot of our families who have um students in um special education are able to go to school in
our district because many of our kids were actually being busted out into other districts because we didn't have the programs in this district. You know what I mean? So that's one of the things we were fighting for and I was one of the parents that was fighting for that alongside with John. You know what I
mean? So we want to make sure that >> in the school the ASD. >> Yeah. And and and Horizon and Nest and ASD. We want to make sure that us because you're living here, you're paying taxes. Your child should be able to go to school in their
district. All right? They shouldn't be taking a 2hour bus into district 17 or whatever. You know what I mean? you. Oh, no problem, Marielen. Listen, we made it as accessible because not everybody can be in person and
unfortunately with what's going on in our world, a lot of people don't be safe physically outside. So, we want to make sure that this meeting is accessible to anybody that has any questions. Oh, go ahead, Mary Ellen. Big up to you.
I'm a PTA president, too. But like, does anybody have any questions or any concerns they want to they want to just discuss? Because one of the one of the goals is to make sure that we're meeting the needs of uh our families with students
in special education. We're giving them the resource. You guys know who to go to, where to get the information. You could guys could get the training. There's a lot of organizations out there. I'm not sure if you know like include NYC. They do um trainings and
workshops in multiple languages. Beyond access is wonderful as well. They do a lot of stuff there. They also have support groups for families with students with disabilities and they have it um for
um families that speak different languages as well. You know, there's also an organization called um uh Synergy Synergia that also helps support you in getting a child evaluated
um helping you with like any health resources and wealth and they deal with housing and a lot of other things that is really helpful, you know, and it's done in multiple languages. So like I don't know what we want to know what our
families know and what they don't know so we could get that information out to them. >> So does anybody have like anything to add? >> I Yes. The Megie again it's uh so like I mentioned I have 12 years old with IEP
and we are in um the public school special education 12:1 classroom. So it's a smaller classroom. I'm myself the first generation immigrant. uh English is my third language. Um I'm lucky enough to advocate for myself. I learn.
But what I see mainly are the people who don't speak English. Let's say classmates of my child, the parents, they don't speak English and they don't even know how to advocate for their children. Number one is this um the language barrier. Yes. The second is
what available resources we have at school. So basically parents um don't really have an access to the resources don't let's say we have services occupational therapist speech therapist um physical therapist parents
don't even know what to ask so they basically my child is getting therapy and then I ask so what is the result are you getting the progress notes how do we work with the the uh the service provider there is zero communication with parents the
communication from IEP to IEP. Parents don't even know what's in IEP. They cannot read the IEP. They don't even know what's inside the IEP. Many times I've translated whatever the services that that their kids are getting and they have no idea what was inside the
IEP. In my understanding, there is a huge funding for special education which is used for I don't know for what, but now for special education. the um I believe there has to be a language access. We have to have a PTA in each school. So that calls a SEPTA which is
special education PTA team also along with the PTA to work and to have a each PTA has to have a member with this uh the who speaks Chinese, who speaks Arabic, who speaks any other language. So when the parents come, they have an
information they can access, they can get translated. I also see there is a lack of communication when it comes from the spe I can speak up for the special education today. I do have a college student but um it's different. I do see
parents don't understand how to advocate. They are not receiving the services which is which are mandated services and the language and information has to be given to their >> the language that that they can read,
they can advocate and they need a parent advocate. Um because I see there is zero information when it comes to the children the IEPs. Um we >> I mean I mean personally this is Mariellean I I like really disagree with
that. Um, in my school it must be like by school because in my school it's the exact opposite. It's like if you actually speak a different language, you actually get more support and more um transparency than
you do in English because it needs to be translated and it needs to be checked. um other people need to be there and when you're speaking in English it is a lot more informal and someone can say something and you don't have a record of
it but with the other languages there's so much record that this person needs to be there to um interpret for this person and there is a record of everything and I've learned that that is the best thing that you can possibly do. I totally agree
with you to get an a parent advocate that speaks the language, but if that hasn't happened yet, that's like the first step and that comes from DOE. I mean, or Google or anybody else can translate, you know, a document into the the the
language. If that's not being done from like the first conversation, like it it's it's way beyond. I agree with you too about having, you know, a PTI and and all of the languages, but like that's done like in the back end type of thing. You know what I mean? Like before
you even start a conversation, you have to know the language that the person speaks. >> Okay. Um I'm very happy that you have a you disagree and you have different experience. I can speak of from my for my experience and I'm very happy your school is thriving and receiving
information as needed. I can only speak of for my school um and then some other schools. So um like I said this is the ongoing issue in our case in our schools and then like we can take an example from your school how you're functioning
and how you are delivering such a great services for IEP. we can learn from each other and um I'm I'm very happy that you you your school fun your school is functioning on a different um delay and we would love to hear from you and we would like to implement the same steps
in our school also. >> Yeah. And and I have to agree with Maggie. Unfortunately, I have known a number of other parents who haven't had the same experience you have, Marielleen. They have not gotten the IEP
information translated in their home language. >> Like even some even some some of them at the IEP meeting, they've had the children translating for the parents because >> Yes. you they haven't they didn't get
translators, you know what I mean? And like to me, I don't agree. Having a student translate, you know, documentation with words that they don't understand to a parent is not adequate at all. You
know what I mean? And we do need to >> I agree. >> That's insane. That's really insane. This is also it's like I would say I would not not all parents are comfortable having the children on IEP meetings. Sometimes the IEP meeting can become very int like intense.
>> Sure. >> Also the having a child um being judged on such a level it really causes um the lot of mental um >> mine aren't and >> mine are never there. They have no clue.
>> No. And I don't agree that I mean this is like really um disturbing the child is translating. It's >> have you have you reached out to include NYC? >> Oh yes I have. Yes I have. It's just I do have an information.
>> Which which language are we are we talking about? >> So today for instance I had a I had a discussion with Arabic parent like she's she speaks Arabic but not in a level to advocate for the IEP meeting. I do have also the Spanish speakers, the lot of
the um the Mexicans, they don't speak um enough to advocate and then also what I see whoever has an experience on IEP meeting can be brutal. So the parents cannot be they cannot really express their needs and then it's constantly
even in my case I see sometimes the school is twisting oh no she doesn't understand no that's not we told the parents that we we explain mom different way so the parents are put on a sometimes in a situ the position where
they seem to be less educated uh because of the language and it can be used against the parent like I said and I feel there is needs to be a lot more support when it comes to the language what is IEP people don't even know what
the IEP I'm from country Georgia we don't have IEPs in Georgia I never heard about the IEP so a lot of people don't even know what the IEP means how it works what uh the rights how you have to keep up with the teacher teacher has IEP and every six or every year they have
annual the IEP Okay. So you need to sign done. So there is no um um evidence based data. The parents are not getting any kind of updates. Parents don't see what the progress the the people are making progresses. Um I mean the kids are
making if the students are making progresses. They don't even know what to ask. I myself have the whole three shelves of books. Um, and I had to educate myself about IEP because the constantly, oh no, she doesn't understand. That's not what we told mom.
So, I had to educate myself. What is the IEP? What my rights are? What can I ask? How can I follow up if my child is making progress? I have experience in an elite school in a city where the child is on iPad for 6 hours a day because we
check the data. Six hours every single day. Meanwhile, we have IEP. was not followed and um that's that's that's a very um unfortunately there is a pattern that's it's it's it's a lot school are
the schools are not providing uh the support the parents need and like I said it's always like a the language and it it can be no we told the mom she she did not do it she did not do it because moms don't know how IEP works it's just like
I said not everyone has um >> the knowledge >> the finances or the ability or time people are working for three jobs and no one has time to read 10 books about the IEP or um they just they they can't they
just cannot do that and like I said IEP is not translated and delivered what is IEP so I think that there is a lot to be done um needs to be done for the IEP support special education um the kids with different needs And like I said,
there is um enough funding to access all the supports and then parents definitely definitely need more supports than they are receiving because they don't know what the IEP is. I did not know what like I said what I AP was and how how how it was functioning what to do and
like I said because I had to learn based on um my experience and now I see other parents and just they don't even know what how to ask the let's say occupational therapy if the services are done if there was signature done because a lot of times I see the therapists are
absent or the um special education teacher is not in a classroom and there has to be a replacement if there is no replacement. Parents are um parents can ask for the the the vouchers. They can you know the make up the session. So there is a lot to do with the special
education and like I said um parents don't have information access um the levels they need to and like I said you know not everyone has um um finances to purchase all this the the the books and the time also to sit down
and just educate themselves >> and and I I no Maggie is right um unfortunately there's like there's many um families from different cultures with like like I said before well culturally this is not a discussion that we have no >> services that we might have in our
country cuz like like I'm not I'm not American I'm from the Caribbean we >> we don't have the services there sobody that came up here and was educated in this school system like I I and my husband's a teacher he didn't know either so like I had to learn as I went
you know >> teaching I learned the more knowledge I had but you Know for me I felt it was hard just finding the information. >> Yes. >> Like at that time you know like my oldest is 22 at that time before >> mine too. I have oldest 22 years old.
Yes. you know due to the co and everything it was hard to find this information on yes website >> and going forward there are also the the a lot of support groups there are the colleges and there are the schools um uh
the the um like the mainly those that it depends on the child also we need to support the children not only in a prek and middle school in high school what kind of evaluations are not done um accordingly
and also sometimes the school says the child needs a lot of IEP support they making very easy cut okay and recommendation is district 75 um district 75 um >> no I agree I agree Maggie you know what
I mean and like I I want to make sure like every voice is heard >> yes we we need more parents involved we need to have information delivered We're speaking from each of our own individual experience. Some >> great experiences. Some of us unfortunately I meet a lot of parents
that haven't had that many great experience and it could be that like you know they might not have great experience in elementary but in middle they did >> and know and like what a lot of families don't understand is like the experience is different um in each school like from
elementary to middle is completely different from middle to high school is completely different from high school going into college is completely different you know as you're learning new things as you navigate those those schools and those systems as your child
gets older and the learning curve. You know, there's transition services when it comes to high school going into college, which a lot of parents don't know about the, you know, but Maggie is right. There's things that end up on the IEP that are being taken off and parents don't know because they don't understand
how to read the IEP. They don't understand what the services mean. They don't understand that these services are mandated and they're legal services. They're legally binding services. Their children should be getting these services. >> Definitely. >> So, we want to make sure that we're
getting this information and we're educating our parents in the that they need and in the way because like like I said, not every one was educated here. So, >> you know, we're coming they're coming from a place of like just different
different aspects. So, we want to make sure that like the things that they're learning here can be used to help them further advocate for their child. But also want to teach our children to advocate for themselves because once they get into high school, honestly by middle school into high school, they
should be attending these IEP meetings because they should know what services they're supposed to be getting. So then so that they know if they're not getting it. Well, mommy or daddy like I didn't have speech today. I don't know what happened. Or mommy and daddy, I didn't have OT today. I don't know what
happened. Nobody came and got me. Like what am I supposed to do then? What's next steps? You know what I mean? because we want to make sure that these IPS are being followed constantly and that the you're reading the information that the teachers are putting um about what your student needs
to do, what your students are are are keeping up with, what where they need to make changes, what extra supports that needs to be in place. You also need to know what um resources the school is giving and have available because if they can't if you can't get the help there, they could bring in the help or
you could go outside the school, but you need to know that ahead of time so you could set that up, you know, because unfortunately a lot of these IBS aren't completely followed. They're not >> right. No, no, they're not. There is um unfortunately it's a vacuum a lot of
vacuum of information and knowledge. I see it's it's the IPS are constantly violated and not followed and IEP is a legal documents mandated services and children's not receiving um and um it's it's a really really um hot topic so it
has to be taken care of immediately if um it's going to end up in the right hands. >> Yeah, >> that's that's our main goal >> and that's and that's what we want. We like this meeting is to make sure that we like we get that information out to
our parents that are not getting it. You know what I mean? >> But we also wanted to to >> be there to support one another because what what Mary what Mary Ellen is is is experiencing. She might be well equipped to help another parent. You know what I
mean? >> Right. Yes. She's she's very happy. She seems excited what she's receiving. And I I can't wait to you know she's um if she speaks Arabic you know maybe like she was um like that she writes there are a lot of uh the resources on do
website but like I mentioned before not everyone everyone reads you know the certain language or they would like to have information on a school level it just goes simply that not everyone is equipped to read the three paragraph essays and educate themselves. So we
need to give the services um as effective way as possible. I mean as as as possible. Yes. >> Yes. We um were picked or volunteered. >> I'm sorry. >> Sorry. What does it say in the chat? Mary Ellie,
>> what did you ask? You could unmute. You guys I'm I'm sorry. I just have my kids in the background and everything. I was just wondering if this I this was the first time that I was hearing of the the special education subcommittee. So, I was wondering if this was something that you guys came up with that you
volunteered to do or they were like, "Okay, we need to do this. Tamar and John are going to do it." >> Well, this is something I've been advocating for like a while, honestly, because it's one of the subcommittees like like as a CEC, we have a number of subcommittees that that are in our
bylaws and then there's ones that we could um establish like if we decide as a group to to do it. And this is one of the subcommittees that's like near and dear to my heart that has been quite fat. >> That's so cool actually. >> For like a while. So
>> it's like really cool that you could make your own like what you know you guys have to focus on it. It's awesome. I was talking to Alina for a little bit about the AI stuff. >> Yeah. I actually mentioned if they wanted to start a subcommittee on that. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean it's been quite kind
of quiet. They've been doing their own thing but what you know I'm I'm interested in that too. like anything, you know, that they want to add or what they're doing, we we you know, we want to know what's going on. >> Yeah. You know, and and that's the thing that I wanted to to establish with this committee. Like I wanted to to know if
you guys what did you guys want us to do? like do you want us to have um people that that that come and actually give you the resources where you they could give you their email, their contact information so you're able to you do you want us
have like uh where they come in and present um do is there information that you want us to get for you because there's a there's like I have a list of like um resources that I'm able to share that we put on our CC um website because that's
accessible Like Maggie says, a lot of people unfortunately, you know, do go to the the DOE website, but honestly, that site isn't as easily navigated. >> I agree with you. >> Yes, Tamara. I think we can start from
giving out instead of um you know directing parents. We all have a Google, but it's not that what we need for now. Um we can start from schools and give out the parents um the information um on
uh the languages like just print out or send the emails also. But I believe the printing version is more um effective and what supportives are available and we can have a monthly or every two months some kind of meetings with the parents parents meeting. So we the
parents can gather together and discuss what the services are available, how they can advocate. Basically the IEP advocacy, we can have meetings about IEP. We can have some kind of um the time dedicated for it and parents can
come and we can have information available on their own languages. So explain the parents basic basically IEP workshop. So that we explain uh the parents how the IEP works and what resources are within a school so they
can ask for and how part the teacher supposed to follow up IEP and school can follow up IEP. If the IEP is not followed up, what is the next step? Who can I ask for help? Where can I go? So parents need to know what the IEP is,
how it works, how the related services are provided and followed most importantly because like I said, we can have a beautiful IEP, the written um uh by the professionals. But if it's not followed, it's not followed. It's just a piece of paper. No matter how how good
the IEP looks like, show me the result. Show me how that was the the follow. So that's all we need to do. So educate parent what is IEP and and even it's not all children have IEP they have maybe occupational therapy or speech therapist
um and um how can they work with the speech therapist how often they can ask for result and um monitoring progress we we don't have monitoring the updates it's like you know the school prints okay that was monitored we did this we
did that and that's it but basically the just give us a signature and a goes beyond this level. So I don't see um any any proper uh the access to the information. So I I think we can offer
schools the workshops and um the parents can like I said um find out and then learn what is IEP and how it can be followed. >> That's actually some really great goals. So, like one of the things that John and I will focus on for like because we want to be able to do these meetings at least
monthly. Yes, >> we could um get people to attend to actually give you guys the information, right? But we also want to be able to check in with you to see the program. >> Yeah. We want other parents to to be able to join this conversation as well
because we just don't want it to be us talking. We don't want it to, you know, we want it to be a conversation. um kind of like a support for one another. You know what I mean? There things like that that I've gone through my experience that might be helpful for somebody else. Same thing with you Maggie. A lot of the
things you you mentioned like you you have the trouble, right? >> So like it still resonates with me that it's not even funny. But then I've also had some really great experiences like Mary Ellen and it honestly and a lot of
those experiences because I've learned this information in order to continue to be an advocate. You know, you know what I mean? And like and I don't I don't know if families know like Maggie, you could become a parent member. you could go to a training where you could
actually, you know, get um documentation where you could get paid to attend um other families IEP meetings and get paid for it by the Department of Education. >> I'm not interested in pay like I would be more than happy because then I will be obligated to do it. Um I will do it
voluntarily. I'm more than happy to dedicate some time and my knowledge to share my experience. More than happy to do it. And like I said, um I'm on the board. I don't want anything. I I'll do it voluntarily. No pay. >> That's how I feel like the training and everything and I do help out with IEP
means I Yes. >> But it's necessary to pay to to to take the the payment because like I I enjoy this. >> No, I mean that there there is a way of course like I said, but I have I have >> um I have full-time job and I don't looking for like full-time job as
because the parents advocacy is just really it's a complex um the area. you need to dedicate a lot of time and like I said I'm more than happy to do it on a monthly basis or provide and share my information but when it comes to on a dayto-day um the basis it's it's more
time consuming >> thank you um I just want to bring up two things prior to um >> chairwoman >> um I actually had district 75 the specialized programs they're going to come to our CEC meeting on February
11th. Um you could join Zoom or in person. It's going to be at PS264 Bay Ridge and um it's going to be 37189 Street. They're also going to put on um a music and
dance at the location. And also we try to get Mrs. Piscetto. She's her name is Marisol GR. She's the certified family connector of district 20. >> Huh? >> One, two. >> Oh, yeah. >> Yeah. >> Really? >> Yeah.
>> She's uh she helps the shelter, food, and resources. I could give you her phone number. It's 3475138684. And also Tamara is also the certified family. >> Yeah. >> You know, so okay. So that's really great. So, like I hope you know any families that attend this sub um this
committee meeting attend that meeting. Um okay. So, what besides like the um the IEP process because like I feel like a lot of this starts with early intervention, you know what I mean? Because like the earlier you get your child evaluated when you see something
that you know then the the more you get help with their services. So you you could get them the the resources that they need. I think that's that's another thing that we really need to um >> early intervention to focus on early intervention. Yes. So it has to be
starting from the early age um basically um >> from the birth. >> Yeah. You know once you once you know like making sure that you going to those doctor's appointment keeping up like >> we can give out the resources. I do have I can share my own um the information
and I can share my own uh the resources and basically it's the the the evaluation is done it depends what kind of um the early intervention and their their it's a wide umbrella it's different disabilities different special
needs or all that but like I said I I'm more than happy to share my own experience my own providers uh and um like I said I can I can use other parents experience also um I would be more than happy to
um participate. >> I think that's okay. So that's another goal of us to create our own um provider resource pages so weies. >> Yes. >> That way we could have like maybe like a list >> like that. Well, in order to receive the
also the the early intervention um family has to start evaluating in most cases now from just the regular pediatrician has to be a developmental pediatrician has to be certain diagnosis has to be um done with more complex steps. So um
we can we can definitely like I said I can definitely share my own experience and provide families with the information. I just um yes I need to go back in a few years. >> Well that's great Maggie that's okay. So
one of our goals would be because so that's our goal to make sure we um for next month which >> there are a lot of resources also let I don't want to cut you short. So there are a lot of resources also people with a for the district 75 particularly and then kids with disabilities
>> and special needs. There are a lot of other resources the parents can receive the help like a family help that someone can come and help you at home because the respit services which is through like uh the fully funded from Medicaid service it's a Medicaid program. Um so
there are a lot of parents they cannot work because they are taking care of their own children. So there there is Medicaid program uh those kids are eligible. New York we are lucky to have Medicaid. It's a Medicaid waiver program which is not income based. This is
disability based. So you may be a millionaire but you are having you you can still receive the Medicaid because your child has a disability. Your child can have a Medicaid waiver. That's what it calls. So once you have this Medicaid waiver you have you can access to many many many services and you can have home
care the help and there are a lot of resources. So I will be more than happy to share all the information I have for district 75 and not only the families there are kids with disabilities in just the public schools too. So so there is a
lot >> and people just don't know. >> All right. Thank does anybody else want to say something >> on the meeting? like do do you guys think this is this a valid plan for going forward with this
committee to to have somebody come on to discuss you know the IEP process and just break down the the process step by step so parents could understand that's one goal we also want to talk about what does it say
>> okay and then um doing um a resource page with provided information and like and links to anything any information that they need would be uh are you talking about like um Michelle incoming families >> by any chance
>> where in incoming to the the United States incoming to the the school district like >> I believe she's asking the the next meeting >> is there any information at all out there for families that are
incoming into 3K 4K for any green >> and who have special needs. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. That's what we we are trying to work on and give out the information to create the um the the files maybe like
the few pages and then give out the family list the resources. I don't know. This is my first time participating in this kind of uh the the meeting. So it's it's a work in progress and we can we can definitely start from somewhere and this is our goal to give all the families the information they need.
>> Oh and what we can do is we can reach out to the special education department because >> staff that are designated for each individual >> yes >> like um age and grade and everything. So what we can do is we can invite them to this committee meeting to give us
resources and information so that way you guys uh know like from birth to like college you know what I mean and we could do >> the district district 20 let's say that every district has the information available but like I said that the parents are still asking because you
know not everyone has not everyone goes on the website and reads the there is a overwhelming amount of information. So if you give the parents it's like a black and white this is the page and X Y and Z like they break it down to the steps like a
simpler steps and then they can see what they can search for. So I believe there will be um this is that's much easier for parents to navigate how to access >> all the information the services they need. >> Maggie and we're going to be tapping you
to help with that because you >> I'll try my best. you you let us know what what um if you want to email us that information and then we could do like um >> yes definitely uh >> like a fact sheet and so forth whatever information that we get from actually
all of you could do whatever information you have >> anyone yes so it's like there are many many people here on the meeting they can share their own information experience and some people are more successful than the others and like I said this is learning experience we are just trying
to make somehow better for everyone. So, let's do it. >> Loving this meeting. I'm loving the people in this meeting right now. This is so wonderful. All right. Okay. So, um what we're going to we're going to try to keep a lot of these meetings um on the first Tuesday,
>> okay, >> of the month at six o'clock. >> On Tuesdays, the first Okay, let me write down. one we want to have like a set date and time for everybody so like they know ahead of time so that like they can like you know plan accordingly um okay if this time works for everybody
>> I guess yes um that's yes I believe that also the Fridays are the best >> because we're not rushing to dinner and early bedtime as much as a parents so if we do
somehow the first month I I mean I speak for myself. >> You could always alternate. You could do like maybe like the first the first Friday if that works to see which one >> I mean the Fridays like to me like as a the working mother I can say that to me like I love Fridays in the sense I don't
have to rush for the bedtime and the dinner and we have to get up tomorrow early in the morning. So Fridays it's it's it's it's it's it's my my personal choice, but I'm more than happy to accommodate what other people's
>> um are leaning towards too. >> Yeah. >> All right. So next we'll try um the >> Yes. So you don't have >> just to get an idea to see if like that um date and time better and see which like see which one works because we also
families that like you know they you know because of the religion they start start you know >> oh yes okay so the okay >> one of the reasons we didn't want to choose the Friday just in case because we wanted to be you know inclusive >> okay so for the Sabbath so they it
starts early okay so okay >> we could alternate it and see like what kind of what kind of um attendance we get for for the different months and everything and then that way they could if they miss one they could come to another you know make this as you know
as accessible and as inclusive as we can. All right. So we'll work on that. We'll work on getting um um putting together a list of resources um getting somebody to go over the IEP. um bringing on somebody from hopefully
the special ed education um department to talk about um early intervention services and how to go about um that. Um and is is there like anything else because we want to we want to at least have a comprehensive list of things for
these meetings so we can really target every Yeah. Yes, Michelle. either um um the first Tuesday of every month, but next month we're going to try the first Friday to see if we have better attendance and um and see if that works better for everybody. And if it doesn't,
then we um we'll stick with the first Tuesday. Okay. Um Okay. So, we're making All right. So, we got resources, um, IEP, early intervention, um, basically understanding the the the IEP
and the information being distributed in multiple languages and maybe in a clear maybe the verbiage in a clear um, manner that because honestly, if you if you read through the IP, first of all, it's
a it's a very long document. It's a it's multiple pages depending on um what your child is getting. You know what I mean? And it's and it's feedback for um almost all of the teachers on how and the progress of your child and um and what
other services whether it be counseling, OT, PT. Um also parents needed to know that they they are allowed to have assisted technology if it's needed. Um, and the school has to provide for that.
Um, and just parents knowing that these services are mandated and they're legal services. A school cannot tell you that your child cannot get something. You know what I mean? They're legally mandated services. So, they can't tell you, well, your child can't go to this class because uh, oh, they this child
can't go to um, PT because they have this class. No. Yes, they yes, they can't go to PT. you got to work around the the class, you know what I mean? and and just making sure that you know um
and having conversations with your child like as they get older and they understand you know like they they be they're having speech they're having OT they're having PT understanding what that means and knowing that they're getting these services why they're
getting these services and to let you know when they are being denied it as well because some, you know, also testing accommodations. And what I've been finding out is unfortunately like my child's look
certain child's teach certain teachers would not tell a child that they have accommodations um and what they are, right? Unless a child says they need it, that's not how that works. Okay? You know what I mean? So, >> some teachers don't even read the IEP.
They don't not every unfortunately not every teacher reads the IEP in order to to to know what the student needs. >> And then also Tamar um that was a good point that you bring up the child can advocate for themsel but there are children who are verbally delayed and they can't they can't really tell you
what is going on. In this case you have to have a communication uh the way with the teacher. They have to provide you with a log. They sign they send it home and they can write down each time what kind of service was provided and what they work on and provide the work
because like I said not all childrens are able verbally to express and describe their day. So there are non-verbal children and um they need they need the teachers need to accommodate um with the parents there as needed.
>> Yeah. and and families know understanding that and knowing that, you know what I mean? So, I think it was a really great meeting. Does anybody have any any other things that they want to bring up besides the stuff with the um we're
going to plan to do in the next few months? um and just like continue to have this conversation and getting more families to enter into the this meeting this committee so they they could let us know
what they're not getting cuz like I I talk to parents all the time so I know I've been to numerous IEP meetings with parents so I know what they're not getting you know what I mean >> okay >> and unfortunately some parents are are hesitant and are are fearful of saying
anything because they they don't want to be retaliated against by the school, you know, and just and and understanding >> Yeah. >> and teaching them that um it that's that's not something that they need to
to be concerned about because once again, these are legally mandated services. They have to do this. Your child needs it. They have to do it. It's the law. >> Yes. >> And and understanding their rights as parents because I don't think a lot of people a lot of um parents read the the
parents bill of rights or when it comes to the children with special education and the services that they need they don't read it and it's it's available on the DOE website in multiple languages but if you don't know it's there you know >> you can't really blame the parent also
like okay it's it's on the website go on the website and read yes it's available on um the translated versions also but like I said not everyone has time to go and then read the multiple choices online. So we have to deliver information on the
most effective way and you know it's functional. We have to have some kind of functional goals and easy to access. That's the main goal. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> We're gonna John's writing everything down.
>> Okay. >> I do get an idea. I do have some kind of brainstorm and I will come up and do my best to complete the homework. >> Oh, we also do have a district 75 representative on CC. His name is Steve
Mooney. Um, unfortunately he couldn't be here tonight cuz he's at work, but like he could be um a strong advocate for the D75 as well. >> So, wanted to make sure we hit everything. um
just for all our families and any questions that you have about like any of the new schools and whether it comes to D75 seats, you can like John said, attend our CC meeting next Wednesday and then you could ask the superintendent
about this question because these are questions we ask and we're we're you know advocating for, you know, an increase in these seats for a lot of these new schools are coming online. We want to make sure that, you know, we're we're meeting the needs of our students in the district so they don't have to go
outside the district to have those needs met because at the end of the day, nobody wants to be on a bus, a hot bus for like 2 hours when you're like 5 years old. You know what I mean? So, and that's and that's another issue too is um transportation is a big issue. So
that's that's that's like a whole other median. But um yeah, anybody anything else anybody wants to um highlight? Please, you could unmute yourself and and and let us know.
>> We have 15 minutes. Uh Ellen told me to say the security guard said to leave 15 minutes at 7:15. >> Yeah, the security guard. >> So >> yeah, probably. >> Okay. All right. So, at this time, >> but if anyone has any comments, >> does anybody else have any comments?
Like, you know, so we have um a next steps on how to go forward for next meeting next month and um we'll make sure that the um the meeting notice goes out to everyone. And please sign up.
Please bring a friend. You know, that's the goal for next month. Bring a friend. Bring another parent that you know might be having concerns or questions about this very topic. Bring a friend, whether it be a parent, whether it be a staff member that could also give
resources. Bring bring a buddy. Okay. And please let us know if you need any other languages besides the ones that we have because we want to make sure we meet the >> Yeah. The link will be posted once once it's set up, Michelle. Mhm.
Does anybody have any other questions before before we end the meeting for tonight? You know what I want everybody because of how this meeting went. I want everybody to think of one word. Um, how do you think this meeting went?
Just one word. One word that stands out to you. >> Thank you, Maggie. Okay. Thank you. All right. Mary Ellen, you hanging out with Beyonce? L I love that.
You know, I I think my word would be bravery because not everybody is brave enough to to share these concerns. Yeah. Thank you, Laura. What do you think, John? What's the board that you have?
>> Excellent. >> Okay. All right, everyone. So, we will see everybody. We're going to try next um next month for Friday, the first Friday of the month. All the information will go out will also be on our website. And
um if you have any any resources to share with us, please email us at the CEC email and we'll start compiling a list of um resources and information and we'll work on getting those um topics that we discussed for next month as
well. All right. So I want everybody to have a wonderful night and we see you next month and please >> thank you so much. Have a wonderful night. Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you. >> Thank you. Have a good night. >> And all our emails are on the CC website if you guys need it. >> All our first all our
>> And there's also tomorrow. Thanks, John. >> You're welcome. Thanks. Thanks for being here. >> All right. Have a good night, translators. We thank you for awesome job that you guys do every month. >> Have a good night, everyone. Good >> night. Bye. Bye. >> Thank you. Good night.
>> Thank you. Good night. Good night.