Whoops. Hello. Good good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, and welcome to the special education committee. I wanna thank all the parents and, committee members for being here, our staff who is here, and of course, our presenters and folks who are in the audience today. Welcome. I'm gonna hand it off to Mike McLean so he can make a quick announcement. Hi, everybody. Thank you all for coming. Just as a heads up, we have members of the committee who will be speaking in Spanish. So if you do not speak Spanish and you're sitting in the audience, please put
your hands up, and we'll get you translation headsets. If you are on the committee and you don't speak Spanish, the headsets are already right in front of you. They're these little guys. You slap them on. They're already, to the right channel. And plea please use them if you need them and let let us know. My man, Bert, is down there handing them out if you need them. And when someone is speaking Spanish, that's your cue to put them on. Thank you. Alright. Good afternoon again. This is our first special education committee meeting of the spring semester. Unfortunately, we had a counselor meeting for the month of February.
My name is Carla Griego. I'm board representative for District 5 and the chairperson of the special education committee. We have, some folks here today who will be talking about the student participation in the IEP process, which is a topic that affects over 70,000 students served by the division of special education. I want to thank again to my left, we have, Scott Schmerlson who is our board president and member of our committee. We have Doctor. So to, who is executive director of division of special ed.
Alicia Haas, who is administrator of instruction, and we have, Mary from office of the general counsel. I'm introducing everybody today. Sorry. Because I wanna like so, I have Maria Sanchez, a parent. Maria Dugan, a parent. Brenda del Hierro, a parent. And Christina Martinez, who is a parent educator. Right? In at one of our schools. We have a small committee today but generally we have 12 members up here. So why don't we get started before we go on though, I want to mention
some of the observations for this month. This month we have, March is a time to recognize and uplift the abilities and contributions and resilience of individuals with disabilities and those with neurodiverse experiences. This month, we are reminded that it is our shared responsibility to build inclusive environments where every student feels seen, valued, and empowered to thrive. In March, we celebrate World Down Syndrome Day on March 21, cerebral palsy awareness month,
developmental disabilities awareness month, national multiple sclerosis awareness month, and national social worker month. As part of the national social worker month, I want to take a moment to talk to thank over 700 PSWs that support the mental health and wellness of our students and schools. In particular, I wanna highlight the work of our ERICs and PSWs, counselors who support and educate students receiving special education services and their families by providing counseling and support
to help positively manage challenging emotions and behaviors. The tools acquired through Eric's Counseling are designed to support students to learn and remain in the least restrictive environment. Eric's PSW strive to remove barriers in the educational setting to promote school success. They offer critical supports for our students, empowering our students and families to uplift their voices and feel heard during the IEP process. This segues nicely into today's presentation, student participation in the IEP process.
Oh, I forgot to introduce Tamela Davis on my left who is a PSA counselor, also member of the committee. Alright. So why don't we begin? And then after the presentation, we will pause for some questions and some discussion from our committee, then we'll continue with the presentation and end with some more questions and discussion. We'll try to keep it to ten minutes each, each section. And, at the end, we will hear from our public, for public comment. Alright. Let's see. Okay.
So why don't I pass it over to our first presenter, doctor James Coutts, who is the coordinator for the moderate, severe, and least restrictive environment programs under the division of special education. Good afternoon, committee. Thank you, miss Griego and mister Schmerelson. We are excited. I'm always so excited to be here because I get to share about great work we are doing in the division of special education, and thank you for sharing about all of the things that are being recognized in March. You took you took what I wanted to say, of course, but that's great, because
it we should all be saying about talking about all of those wonderful opportunities to recognize our students with disabilities. And I think that all of those groups that are being recognized during March and in April with upcoming autism month, all of those disability communities have a unified focus now in ensuring that the voices of people with disabilities are included in the conversation. And this topic today, focused on our students participating in their IEPs, is the first part of that journey for our students to become adults who are able to share
about themselves in this world and be able to fully participate in the communities in which they live. All of our work in the division of special education is, of course, grounded inside of our strategic plan, and we believe that this, sits nicely within pillar two, joy and wellness. In addition to that strategic plan connection, we developed the listen and learn campaign in the division of special education, where we listened to the community and heard, from community members, parents, and others to know what it was that we should be focused on.
One of our measures of success that came out of the listen and learn campaign was focused on including students in the IEP process more. So over the last several years, but now with an included and emphasized focus over the last year, we've been really working to make sure our students with disabilities are included in the IEP process, and we have a metric for that now. So we we think that we should be including we know that we should be including our students with disabilities in the IEP process because it is an evidence based
practice. It connects to the goals of self advocacy and the ability to, manage to have executive functioning in your life, to be able to, make decisions about where you wanna go and what you wanna do as a student, but also what kinds of supports you need, what kind of, things you need to be successful in the world. It does change. You'll hear from our, presenters in a few moments about how including students in the IEP process has changed the the way teams talk about students with disabilities, has changed,
the way that we frame things in our meetings and when students are participating. And you'll you'll hear some some very good examples of what the three schools here today are doing. We, when we first discussed this, people said things about, well, how could an elementary student participate? How could, any age of student participate? And in a later slide, I'll, I'll show some examples of that, but there is a wide variety of opportunities and participation possibilities for students to participate on in the IEP. The one of the common, ways that teams have heard about this in the past
is student led IEPs, which is a really high bar for an elementary school student to lead the IEP team meeting. And so our goal is to just make sure that we are increasing the ability of our students to participate. And if some can lead the meetings, of course, they should. But if they're not at that level yet, we have options for them. The last two lines up here are specifically about when a student participates. When a student is under 18 years old, their parents get to decide if they participate.
The IEP team, the the notification goes out and lets families know that those students may be invited. And if the parent declines, then the IEP team would honor that. But it is, something that we're encouraging. You'll hear that from our elementary presenters today that it's really changed the nature of those discussions. The other point up there is that when a student is over 18 and not conserved, that it's the student that is actually inviting the parent. So, our career and transition center students, our adults, our students who are 18, still
in high school, those students would actually be giving permission for their parents to participate in that case unless they were conserved, just as a little note here. So what you'll see before you is just a few of the strategies that we have shared with the field, with other special educators and with assistant principals, about how students at any age level could participate in their IEP team meeting. We call it the matrix of participation. And what I should have noted on this slide is that on that matrix of participation, the very first thing that all students can do is sign that they participated
in their IEP when they have. That is actually the way we're measuring success on this. When a student has signed their IEP in saying that they attended, not that they agreed if they're under 18, they don't get that opportunity, but they get to sign that they attended and practice a digital signature. That might be the minimum participation. For elementary school students, though, we've encouraged attending during introductions and sharing about themselves, maybe using a portfolio or some sort of a presentation document to get the meeting started
to be really focused on that student and who they are. In middle school, students can more easily share about themselves and present about themselves, and they can share about what they think might make them more successful in school. Those are a couple of examples for middle school. In high school, we really focus on those post high school goals through the individual transition plan, the IEP, that is part of the IEP document. And so at every IEP meeting with an IEP, we are expected to invite the student and discuss those goals.
They could also present about the supports that they need in the classroom. And our adults at our adult transition programs, they're often discussing employment, education, and independent living goals in their IEP team meetings. And they might actually be the ones making decisions about the services and supports that are going to help them be successful while they're still with us. And that is they make those decisions when they are over 18 and not conserved. I did wanna share some very preliminary data based on our signatures, preliminary for this
year, of course. The previous years are finalized. You can see that when we first started looking at this data, we had about 8,000 students participating in their IEP team meetings in the 2223 school year. If you look at today's number, mark the the big number at the bottom for 2526 through today, through earlier this month, I I apologize, we had over 13,300 students who had already participated in their IEP team meetings in some way.
And what that means is we're on track to beat the 16,842 number we got last year. We're at a pace where we may be seeing about one third of our students with disabilities participating in their IEP team meetings. We moved from one fifth, one sixth, all the way to one third possibly in just a matter of years, Not by having any real message other than it works. It helps students to know about themselves, and it also removes the stigma of having
an IEP. It removes the what the the thoughts of what's going on in that meeting where you're talking about me, but I'm not there. It makes it something that can be empowering rather than something that should be hidden. And we want our students to be proud of who they are and to know what they need and to advocate for that, especially as they're leaving us to go to college or the workforce. And this is part of that development of those skills. And there's my slide for the first part of discussion before we hand it off to the school sites. Wonderful. So I'm gonna open up discussion for us here for about ten minutes.
So if you have a question, doctor Koontz, or a comment, this is the opportunity. Maria. From the difference of 2425. What is it why is it that there's a decrease from those two years, or what did not what method did not work? Because here we see that it did increase from $16.08 $4.05. But for 2526, it was reduced. It went down. Can you please give us the information? Thank you. Yes. Yes. I can. The can if we could go back to the data, you'll see that it's only
through, March 2, and we still have all of March, April, and May, and the June where we'll have students participating in their IEP team meetings. And so, we had about two to 3,000 students participate in the last month alone. And this is a very, IEP heavy season of the year as people plan for the transitions between grade levels and schools. And so we do expect to beat that 16,000 number you saw for last school year. Thank you.
Any other comments? Yes. Pamela. Hi. I'm not sure if actually this is really related to what you're talking about, but you mentioned conservatorship. At what point, does a family, are they advised about conservatorship, or does it come up in the IEP process or or, you know, at any time in their education? Yes. Absolutely. The, at the IEP team meeting when a student is 17 years old, there's a very specific, part of the IEP document that informs families of the fact that educational
rights will transfer to the student at 18, and then they can take action on that outside of the school system, to, to apply for to to, gain conservatorship if that is granted to them. But it is a part of the 17 old IEP team meeting. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? I'm gonna sorry. I'm trying to say it in Spanish too. Maria and then Christina. Okay. My question is, will you implement, work and service for the students once they graduate?
That is my question. When a student, graduates with a diploma that meets the LAUSD requirements, that's the end of their time receiving service. For our students who are eligible for the diploma with the alternate assessment exemption, they can earn a diploma and continue to receive service. I do can you clarify? Did I I think maybe also the traditional Mhmm. Can kids graduate? Some experience so I think maybe that's what she's speaking to.
If you can speak to that Yeah. As well. I think that I'll I'll repeat. I think that that's what I was sharing, that a student who earns a diploma with the alternate assessment exemption, you know, that's new in our school district district and new in the state. So we're still educating everyone about that, and making sure that they know that a student who is eligible for alternate assessment, that means they have to have a significant cognitive disability, that those students can earn a diploma and go to a transition a career and transition center program.
Yes. Go ahead, Christina. I guess my my question is, you know how for middle school there is a a drop? I guess, why could it be that there's that significant gap in the middle? Because, obviously, elementary are very involved in high school. You know? So my question is more for middle school. Like, why the the significant change in numbers? Yes. Well, first of all, middle school is only three grades. And so, you know, we only have three grade levels of students with disabilities there
to add up to that number. So it isn't necessarily that less students percentage wise are participating in middle school. It's that there's there's less pool in the three years of middle school. There's four grades in high school and six grades in elementary school, maybe more, at some. And so that might be why there is that discrepancy. Okay. Thanks for that clarity. Makes sense. Definitely. Thank you. Yeah. Scott. So something that has not been mentioned and how all this is possible is if you have someone at school, like a bridge coordinator, who coordinates all these things to
make sure that the parents' needs are met, to make sure that the parents are informed, that their child may participate in the IEP, that the correct teachers are in the IEP. All this has to do with an excellent bridge coordinator doing it because the principal is super, super busy. And I know the APISs are now no longer one per school, and I depended a lot on them, you know, but now I depend on a bridge coordinator. Now they cost money, and the school has to budget them.
But the point is to have excellent service, in my personal opinion, as a principal, you need someone who's responsible to coordinate all of these things to make sure that the parents' needs and the students' needs are met. So that's just a comment. Okay. I have a question that actually came up in conversation with the parents prior to coming out because they were sharing with me that they didn't know about this, that their kids could participate in IEP meetings. And they were thinking that maybe it only happens at certain schools, like, maybe only magnet schools do it or only one time in the period that they have an
IEP. And, so can you speak to how we inform our schools of this? How are we training our IEP, not our IEP. Well, yeah, the team members to to bring students in. How do we train them to to support students in expressing themselves and, you know, perhaps in their present level of performances. Right? Their strengths, their needs, and how do you support a student who is nonverbal to participate in the IEP? So how do how are we doing this? How are we supporting our schools?
So I'll I'll let the schools present about how they're actually including a student like you described who's nonverbal in their IEP meeting because we actually have an example of that. But for our students, for the training for staff, we've been talking about this at our AP meetings, which includes our bridge coordinators for secondary level as mister Schmerlson mentioned that they're such an important integral part of this. We've been sharing the resources and materials with those staff, and there's still like, everything we do, there are times when it we hear it, and it's we're ready to
implement right away. And there are times when it takes planning at the school site and thoughts and sharing with families before we do it. And so I would we will continue to share the message with those those staff that are responsible for the IEP team process and encourage them to invite all of our students with parent permission to that IEP team meeting. Doctor So to, were you gonna say something? I keep seeing you do this. I this is a very, important topic, for me. It resonates with me as a as a father of a student with disabilities who's
in high school. My son is 15. He's in ninth grade, and we had a IEP a month ago, and he participated. And it was great to have him in that role because I was able to talk to him about we're making decisions on your education. Like, my son is a student on the modified core curriculum, but he was able to share some input, things that he liked, what he liked about certain classes. And then the biggest piece for me was he was able to make a decision on an elective. What elective would you like to take next semester? So that was an important conversation. The meeting did go a little longer, so he was a little frustrated, but I
think there was an opportunity for him to give some meaningful input in the IEP. And I was proud of him. I took a picture of him signing in. Right? So it's an important topic and I think that as a as a parent, I'm my son's biggest advocate. So when I go to the school site, I wanna tell them, hey, I want my son to participate in the IEP. So they had a chair there for him, they brought him in, and I said, he doesn't have to stay for the whole time. I want him to stay for a good amount, and then we can release him for nutrition or whatever the case may be. But it's very important for our students to take a to take some part in
the IEP process, especially as they get older, when we start talking about transition, what they like to do, what are some plans that they have for their future so that we can definitely ensure that's part of the conversation as we're making their IEP goals, as we're writing their present levels of performance or going over their PLPs. So just want to me, this is a very important topic for all parents, and there is students we want students to participate whatever way that they can, but at least to have one part even if they come in to introduce themselves to the IEP team. So, just just wanted to make that comment.
Thank you so much. I appreciate. We're gonna move on to the second presentation so we can hear from the folks who are doing it already and learn from them. So thank you so much. So I'd like to introduce, miss Stone, principal Stone. Good afternoon. Very lovely to be here. Thank you for inviting me. I am, a very, very proud principal of a of Anatolia Elementary School and board president and committee member Scott Schmirlson's region. We are waiting on my slide, but I can talk if I don't. So our school, we are very small but mighty.
We have 260 students. We have three current special education programs on my campus, we have two core curriculum classrooms and one modified core curriculum classroom, and then we have a group of students who are receiving resource supports. And, I will, I do have some videos to share with you for our, from some of our team members at school about how we are having our students participate in the I. E. P. Process. Our first video will come from our APIS, Ms. Eunice Macassa, who I do wanna give a shout out to.
This is most, this is her work, but we do have a very amazing family team at Anatolia, so we are proud of everyone that works together for this. Our students are invited to their IEP to their IEP team meeting and we are, able to include them in a variety of ways and she will discuss that in our video. And I know he had addressed how, non verbal students would be able to participate and we do have some of those students on our campus, and they are invited to participate in very different ways.
Obviously, if they have speech services, that therapist might be there and show the parent what they're working on. Maybe ask them some questions and show them what sounds that they're producing and have the provider and the student work together in front of the parents. That's also true for something like A. P. E. Or occupational therapy. They can show the families with the student present what the child is working on during those sessions. We also have some videos that will show you, what our, teachers are presenting with our students. Our students come with portfolios of work and they can share what they're working on
and what they're learning in class. We also, we try to make this, real for our families. Many of our families struggle with, the technicality of the terminology that we're using so when the students are participating, they can really see what we're doing and how we're helping their children at school and it also shows them what strategies they might be able to use at home to support their students as well. We do have our students come in and sometimes they can introduce the team members to their families.
Oh, this is our, you know, person so and so. They were they they helped me with my, you know, pronunciation or this is the person that helps me with my math. This is the person that helps me with my, you know, my writing. So different students are participating in different ways. And we, also have some examples of students bringing selecting work that they're working on in class and presenting that during their present level of performance review and review of their data of how they're currently producing in classrooms.
So I am going to share with you our video from Ms. Mikasa. She is our wonderful APIS who is Mr. Schmerlson doing all the coordinating because we do not have a bridge coordinator, so she is the one that takes care of all of the scheduling and having all of our students participate. Hello. This is Eunice Mikasa, assistant principal at Anatola Elementary School. At Anatola, we have all our students participate in their IEP meetings, and it's very unique and specialized to each one of them. So for some of our nonverbal students, we provide them an opportunity to show their
parents what an OT session would look like. So we would smear shaving cream on the tabletop, and they would show their parents how they're practicing their writing skills. And then they would say bye, and they would go back to their class while we continue on with an IEP meeting. One of our students in our IDM class would participate by showing an actual lava lamp that he created in his science class that he made streams into, and we would have him talk about, using academic language such as density and words like float
when it comes to the top or it, sinks when it goes to the bottom and so on. Some of our students bring their accommodations and they will show their parents how they use placement charts to show place values in a math class. Some students will start off the IEP meeting by introducing all the members of the IEP team, or we have some of our students come in at the end of the IEP meeting where we celebrate their goal attainment and ask them about the accommodations and what's useful, and then, again, talk about services and how often we're going to
be seeing the student for specific services. So I'm happy to share that we have great student participation at Anatolia. Come and join us and see what it's like to experience everyday miracles at Anatolia. Bye. We have two students, and some examples of students, participating and talking about their participation in IEP meetings. The student on the left is actually in his IEP meeting talking about what he is working on with his teacher, and then the student on the right is, going
to talk to you about his participation in his his IEP meeting and how that that impacts him. That's okay. Yeah? So this is the beginning of the year. We're working on penmanship a little bit and writing complete sentences. Yeah. Yeah. So remember, how do we how do we rate sentences now? Oh, look at this writing now. Oh, nice. Oh, wow. Yes. So he is working on starting with capital letters. What else do we do in between the words? Like, exclamation. Yes. And then we always have to have A comma. A comma? That that's a comma.
A period. A period? Yeah. So we call it punctuation. Pattern. Yeah. Sometimes we put exclamation mark. Right? Yeah. Nice. So what we've been doing is, again, we have a journal prompt for him. Right? Ask a question, and then what do you do with your friends? What do you do with your friends? Remember the communication norms? Yeah. What do we do? First, we think. Yeah. So first, we think, then we what? Remember? When we choose a partner, what do you do with your partner? Buddy pass. Yes. You buy a buddy pass. But when we're talking about the journal plan The knees to me. Knees to me. Eyes to eyes.
Eyes to eyes. And then you have a conversation. Right? Yeah. Yes. And when you're sharing, then we get ideas Yeah. And then we write it down. Yeah. So he's usually able to produce a sentence for me. But when it comes to writing it down, of course, he does struggle a little bit with the spelling. Oh, hi. Hi. My name is Jessie. I'm in second grade. I've been so supportive and that's why I like to go to school and I wanna be a professional boxer and that's it. They got a little camera shy. And then this is one of our, special day class teachers.
She is currently, the teacher of our primary art program. She is also a former teacher of some of our other special education programs. She has taught all of our special education programs on campus. So she wanted to share a few words about, how her students participate in the IEP process. Good afternoon. My name is Esmeralda Aguilar and I'm currently the kindergarten through second grade autism core teacher at Anatola Elementary School. I have also had the pleasure of working with missus Mucasa for the past three years as the resource and SOD teacher at our school.
During the time that I have worked with missus Mucasa, I've seen how she intentionally builds relationships with families and truly gets to know each of our special education students. Because of this, she builds a strong rapport with each student and helps them feel comfortable and confident when they attend their IEP meetings. When students participate in their IEP meetings, it becomes a very positive experience. They're excited to see their families and the IEP team and feel proud to be part of the conversations about their learning. During the meeting, I bring a binder that includes their IEP goals, work samples, and
pictures of them participating in different classroom activities. This helps the students visually see the progress they have made and gives them something meaningful to share. Because missus Mukase knows each student's strengths so well, she asks thoughtful questions that allow the students to respond and share about their work. It is truly special to see how missus Mucas engages each of the students and how proud they feel when they can share about their learning. Thank you. Alright. So a lot of positive feedback from that. We really hope that, as we start this process and continue it, our goal is
really to have 100% participation in our meetings throughout the upcoming years. And I would like to thank you all very much for this time to speak, and I will hand it over to the next school. Afternoon. Oh, sure. Here we go. Come on. Good afternoon, and thank you for welcoming Sonia Sotomayor, magnet, to the school board meeting to talk about our special ed program. My name is Felicia Montes. I'm the assistant principal. And we have Alma Garcia. She's our special ed, bridge coordinator. And we have Alexa Carrillo, our student speaker for today. So I'm just gonna give a brief overview about our school.
We are a SPAN school, so we do support students grades six through 12. And the reason I wanna bring this, up for for all of our grades is because we since we are a wall to wall magnet, we are very inclusive focused. All of our students get to participate in all of our CT pathways, our arts and sciences programs, and they get to experience all the great successes that our all of our programs have, such as the theater program, our fully functioning farm to table farm program where we have plants and animals. So I encourage you to come out and pet some cows and some chickens.
We have an amazing, inclusive athletics program where shout out to our girls flag football team that were the Southern League champions this past fall. And including in that is our academic successes where our students received AP exams, silver award for the last year for our AP exams. And recently, we were, awarded the California distinguished School Award. And this is important because since we are fully, inclusive, we want to give a shout out to all of our students who do have IEPs that are a part
of these successes. I'm gonna pass it over to our bridge coordinator, Alma. Good afternoon, committee and everyone. So I do have that special connection as a bridge coordinator, special education, coordinator. I'm really able to make close connections with our students and our family and really when we get new students, we are a span from middle school to high school as we get our middle school or high school students that are new to our school, it is very important to ask, you know, do you know what an IEP is? You know, do you know what's your eligibility?
Do you know how you best learn? What are your instructional accommodations? And really try to gauge where their knowledge is in their own, right, IEP. And so that really does, depending on their their knowledge, it's really giving them that explanation. And, because our we have that secondary and we're preparing them for the, you know, for to be successful adults, it's really important to make them their own advocates and, really understand the importance of, you know, you learn differently and these are the tools
that you, you know, that you have. So really making them understand what is your IEP and how important it is for you to have these instructional accommodations. And then, you know, we talk about what their role in the IEP meeting is gonna be, as well as, you know, we are gonna discuss your your progress for the, you know, the year and all the great things you learned and how you met your goals. And then and if, and you know, you're not perfect, so there's gonna be areas that we still need to work on and we're gonna keep working on those instructional, you know, resources and tools.
And that is, and then that leads to our IEP passport. So our IEP passport is kind of what I like to call the cheat sheet of their IEP, and we provide this after we have their meeting, we provide the RSP case managers, provide this copy to all their teachers. Alexa will speak, but we the students also have this available to them so they can say that if a teacher, you know, needs a reminder like, hey, I need this extra time for a test or I have a small setting for my testing,
they really have it at their hand. And, part of, again, building our students up and empowering them to have their voices in their own process and understanding again how they learn and what it is their eligibility. We I have communication again to follow-up with, okay. Here's your IEP notification meeting. Your this is when we're gonna schedule this is your scheduled time, so I need you to give this to your parent, and, you know, and I and I show them, like, what boxes they need to check, and calling parents like, hey mom, hey
dad, hey Tia, grandma, whoever their guardian is. Did you receive that notification IEP meeting? I really wanna accommodate your time. We know how important it is for you and your child to be present. And really it's about again empowering our students and I would love which leads me to, Alexa who is one of our juniors and she'll introduce herself, but who is just absolutely amazing and has really, taken her own voice in the years that we've had her. Hello. My name is Alexa Carrillo, and I am currently in eleventh grade and attending Sotra
Sonia Sotremayo Arts and Science Magnet. In my second grade, I knew I was getting additional support by being pulled out to get individual help. At the time, I had no idea what an IEP was. Throughout my years, my mom kept me somewhat removed from my IEP meetings out of concern that I might feel different or begin to see my IEP as a limitation rather than a support. In my eighth grade year at Nightingale Middle School, I attended and participated in my first I. E. P. Meeting. I was very confused and overwhelmed and had lots of questions on what an I. E. P. Was. But, I remember thinking, am I different from everyone else because I learned differently?
The meeting helped me to understand why I was being pulled out and getting additional support and accommodations. My ninth grade year at Solter Mayo, due to my learning center class and being introduced to a passport of my accommodations, I became fully aware what an IEP was and how it works. This helped me understand myself, my strengths, and my weaknesses. My tenth grade year came around. Although I had learned skills to be be successful on my own from doctor h and miss Garcia in some classes, I was not independently independently And needed the accommodations in my IEP. In the class where I was struggling, I pulled my passport and showed my teacher
my accommodations and let him know what this was, and I gave him a copy. After a few weeks, still struggling in the same class, yet not having all accommodations followed, I took a proactive step and sought some guidance from my case manager, discussed the situation with my mom, and I also informed miss Garcia what was happening. In the end, my ultimate resolution and primary objective throughout this whole process was taking ownership of my success in the classroom. I was proud of myself for advocating for my needs, and also taught me the importance of attending my IEP meetings and becoming familiar with how I learn best. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Alexa. I just want to, wrap up, for Sonia or Sonia Sotomayor of Magnet in that, you know, looking forward to the future with our inclusive practices. We we just started the robotics program. We have pentathlon and decathlon and esports. And all of these programs, just like other schools are sharing, have said that students get to pick the IUP or the, elective that they would like. And so these are building upon students' interests and students' desires to be part of these programs, and, we are excited about being able to share them with all of
our students. Thank you so much. Thank you. We will probably have some more some questions of you all after everyone's presentation. Thank you so much for welcoming us. I wanted to give a special hello to the man you can blame for having to listen to me today, mister Schmerlson, who hired me fresh out of college as a special ed teacher at Mount Vernon Middle School twenty one years ago. I cannot believe it was that long ago. It's only ten. Yeah. Mister there we go.
Mister Gomez and I, join you from City Terrace Elementary School, which is on the Eastern end of LA Unified. We are a magical little school of 300, two of whom are my own children. And we were we received the 2025 California distinguished School Award, and we also have a Mandarin dual language program. Most importantly, we are about to celebrate our centennial anniversary, and so I welcome all
of you to come and join the festivities next fall. So before we talk about student participation, I think it's important to step back and ask a basic question. What is the purpose of an IEP? And it's not just a compliance document. It's also not a showcase of one's technical knowledge. We would argue that it's a communication tool. And at its core, its purpose is to clearly communicate a plan that improves a
child's outcomes. And if students and parents and staff don't fully understand that plan, then the implementation suffers. I will be honest. When this push first started, I was quite a skeptic. I was worried that it would be awkward. I was worried that it would slow meetings down. I assumed that adults needed space to speak freely. But after trying it out just a few times, something unexpected happened. We noticed that the language in the room changed.
The acronyms started disappearing. The technical terms got translated. The explanations became clearer. And it wasn't because we mandated it, but because when a nine year old is sitting at the table, you can't hide behind our three letter initialisms. And that shift in language led to something even bigger and more important. The meetings became clearer. Inviting the students into the IEP meetings forced us to distill the complex and operate at a higher level of clarity, and we fervently believe that clarity improves outcomes.
So once we saw the impact, the the next question became, how do we make this sustainable? And so we obviously formed a working subgroup with 15 different stakeholders and elicited the expertise of the most distinguished scholars in the world. Now we, of course, did not do that. If you know me, that that that is obviously not true. But, we did something that was really simple that made a big difference. Instead of creating a whole new program and a whole new detailed framework, we just made one simple structural shift. We we changed the default.
So instead of asking, should we invite the student, the default became, we are inviting the student. And that small structural change increased the repetition, which built comfort, and over time, that comfort became a culture. I'm really fortunate to partner with John Gomez, who is our amazing speech and language pathologist, who also happens to be a professor at Cal State LA, a documentary filmmaker who has created an award winning film on stuttering that I would encourage all of
you to watch. We are really lucky as a district to have him because he is a world class expert in something that is very complex and very difficult to understand. And so what he's observed when students who stutter are included in their IEP meetings has been powerful. So I'd love to welcome him up as well. Thank you, mister Milat. Thank you so much. I feel very fortunate to work with a team member over here who understands the value of what I do. I want positive outcomes for all of our students, but particularly my kids who stutter. That's a very special segment of society that's often misunderstood.
A lot of times in society, we want to not talk about the stuttering, hide the stuttering, teach the kid that they need to be fluent. And I found that really the key for them is confidence. And how how do we gain confidence? We invite them into the IEP. And when we invite them into the IEP, we're talking to their parent. We're telling their parent, this is what we want you to do at home because this is what we're gonna be doing at school. And the kid is there. Sometimes they're talking, sometimes they're not. And I'm gonna talk in a minute why they might not be talking. But they're certainly hearing what's going on, and they know what the plan is, and
they're hearing positive things about themselves. Having talked to many, many adults who stutter, I can tell you right now, seldom do they ever remember hearing anything positive about themselves when they were children about their communication. All anybody ever focused on was you're stuttering. Stop stuttering. Slow down. Think about what you're saying. In that very first meeting, they're hearing positive things about themselves. I'm just gonna use the name Julian here. Okay? Julian is a really, really robust communicator. While he might stutter from time to time and while he might have some fear
and anxiety around talking, when he's in a comfortable environment, he's a kindergartner using the word bioluminescent qualities. Isn't that tremendous that this kid already knows terms like that? And and he's there hearing these really positive things about himself. What typically happens in an IEP meeting when you have a a child who stutters is that they're not invited because we don't want them to hear about this terrible thing called stuttering. But stuttering doesn't have to be a terrible thing. It doesn't have to be stigmatized. And we can start to destigmatize it by talking about it openly there in front
of the kid and talking about all the positive outcomes that can happen at home, that can happen at school. To really emphasize this point, I wanna tell you guys about a really, really nice story. About four or five years ago, there was a young man who was identified as stuttering in one of the rooms. And the teacher came to me and she was really concerned. She said, John, this kid is definitely stuttering, and he seems to really withdraw from speaking. He doesn't seem to want to speak at all. He's not really socializing. He's not making friends. And, I, you know, I went in there and I did a screening and sure enough, he was stuttering.
You know, he was avoiding communication opportunities. So we had that initial IEP. His mom is there and she's worried. She's really worried about what his future is going to look like. And we have this young man in there, and he is suffering from major communication apprehension. And you have authority figures in the room, and he doesn't know what to think. But he does hear some really positive things about his communication, and he knows what I'm telling his mom to do to do for him at home and what we're going to be doing in the therapy room. Okay. Cut to a year later for his annual IEP.
Mom shows up. God is my witness. And she says, mister Gomez, it's really nice to see you. I'm like, well, it's really nice to see you too, miss Garcia. How's everything going? She's like, fine. She's like, I'm I'm a little confused as to why I'm here. Like, well, you're here because we're gonna talk about Julian stuttering. Julian? Julian doesn't stutter anymore. Like, actually, miss Garcia, he does still stutter, but he's so confident right now. He's changed so much that his stuttering is forward moving, and he's a very robust communicator. It's like a robust communicator. Tell me about it.
We took an hour long drive the other day. He got in the car, and he wouldn't shut up the entire time, mister Gomez. That is a positive outcome, and that begins in that first IEP when you invite the kid in and you invite them to be part of the process. Thank you. So what we're refining, we definitely don't have it all figured out. It sounds like the other teams are doing amazing things, and I'm going to be stealing a lot of those ideas. Some of the things that we are working on is we wanna be more intentional about the students' preparation process, and we wanna continue to make the language meaningful but
accessible, which can be a challenge in the land of three three letter initialisms. And another small default change that we're testing out is including a student feedback section in the FAPE two part four narrative section. So we already include parent feedback, and we thought adding a student feedback section would be a great way to meaningfully incorporate student voice. So, if informed students and informed families and informed school staff lead to better outcomes,
and we believe that they do, then clarity is not a small thing. It is foundational. And inviting students into the room has been one of the simplest ways that we've improved that clarity. So thank you. Thank you so much. Wow. Such great presentations. And now we have time for us to ask some questions, give some positive feedback, some comments to our presenters. So I'm opening it up to the team here. Anybody? Yes.
We'll start with Christina, then with, Maria Duran. Anybody else? Go ahead. Thank you so much. I actually was, when the bridge coordinator was talking, I was you know, she was mentioning transitioning time, right, between middle school middle school and high school. Right? I guess my question is or I don't know. I guess, throwing it out there, like, what happens with students at you know, there's elementary, middle school, and high school. Right? Some it it kinda goes back to the question of the data.
Right? There's different transitioning. But how can as a school, I think it's a great idea that the student takes, you know, that package with them, you know, and advocate for themselves. But how can we bridge that gap from one elementary school to a middle school to high school? Like, how can we, like, gap that bridge in all those three stages of their lives? Thank you. So, I think everybody here here has kind of been mentioning the same thing about
changing our mindset to to making this, a the student is an expectation. We want the expectation to be for our students and our families that that they are present in the, in the meetings. And it's just as easy as having a conversation about it. Right? And I think it's really, helping our students understand that, you know, because you have an IEP, you have a stigma. Like, oh, you know, children, like, I'm you know, they think and I've heard it
from our students say, like, oh, miss, I'm dumb. I just don't I'm like, no, sweetie. You don't. Your brain just learns differently. And the reason why you have an IEP is because you it's gonna take you like I this is the best way that I explain it to our students and making them feel confident about, not not having IEP because they struggle. Right? It's telling them, like, you know, how you use Waze, and you put in your destination. You're going to get to your destination, but along the way, you might hit some traffic. You might hit some, you know, some, construction.
And it's gonna take you a little longer, but you're gonna get there. So even us just having these honest conversations with the students and in our experience, at our school, we because we are a smaller school setting and I have the honor to be able to be that connection with the students, the families, and and and the and the teachers. I'm able to to have these, honest conversations with our students and our parents and letting them know, like, how important it is. And really, like, our kids and and I think, John said it, like, they're not
used to hearing a lot of positive things. So when you're in the IEP and and you're the teacher is there and the counselor is there and they're talking about these positive things, so I think it starts with the conversation and really telling them how important it is to know how they learn and not, oh, you have an IUP because you have a a learning disability. Well, let's talk about what an SLD means. So really giving them knowledge, the student and the family, and it's just making an expectation.
Thank you. Don't mind, I'm gonna add just one quick thing to that, which is they're doing the hard work of the, the grown students. And so when they are tasked with inviting a student who's never been in an IEP meeting, it's a big shock. But I think over time as the more elementary schools invite more kids, it becomes something that they're more comfortable with. And so the expectation when they go from elementary to middle is we're gonna participate. And so they'll have more kids who are ready to meaningfully participate over time.
And then I also, you know, at least in the East, miss Bueno does a really good job of getting us connected with our feeder schools. So whatever middle school we feed into, we're able to meet with them, in the spring to talk about what their programs look like and how we transfer that. And so we're able to do a effective handoff. So I think that that happens also between middle and high. And I think that's actually a good idea just because, you know, I I'm a paraprofessional, so sometimes we get kids from other schools that we have no background.
And it's always nice to have a little bit of feedback or at least to know a little bit about the background of the child so then when we work with them, we know or at least try to cut that time of getting to know the child with, you know, knowing, okay, a little bit about them and how can I adjust it, you know, maybe in a different way or maybe I can continue, you know, going? So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And then Scott. Okay. Thank you so much for the presentation and for the work that you are carrying
out to promote student engagement in the IEP. And every single school year is using different outreach or different systems. And at Anatola, what I was able to see is that you're using a structure system that is step by step before, during, and after. Is a more focused approach, like roles in in transition. And the other school is more focused on language communication, accessibility, and change in the mindset because every single school is implementing different, approaches to the student participation in the
IEP. Well, every single model, every single standard model is I want to know as a district, what can you do so that this is the model, not just for some, but for many schools. And so I would honestly, not just for my students, but for the I mean, more students, I hope that this suggestion for my suggestion would be is for to
support the parents and to give more workshops because sometimes this cause a lot of frustration, and that's why parents have a fear that because the way that they how they're treated, they're gonna treat their students. So the priority is to support more parents so that they have the trust, confidence to go to any school, any administrator. Give them the confidence that they will be, doing or the same as with the students. And for me, it would be very important suggestion is to establish a consistent, clear
model that would include specific supports for communication that would be like language support, alternative communication, models because some of for some of these students, every single student has a very different level so that they are able to participate in a significant matter. And we hope that you are able to carry out or able to take into consideration that the district should develop a policy or a referendum that promotes student participation
in the IEP and not to make them sign the agreement, but instead that they learn that that include also the authorization from the parents until the student meets the, when they meet eighteen years. Thank you so much for your outreach, and thank you for your presentation. Okay. So is it okay if Scott goes, or do you wanna respond? I can respond. Okay. Go ahead. Thank you so much, senior Adriane. I just wanted to add, and it kind of goes back to something that, Kristina, you had asked about as well, which is how are we communicating this work.
There's a variety of ways that we're communicating this work. So, doctor Coont shared that we've been sharing this with our assistant principals who often and bridge coordinators who are leading those IEPs. We also are working with our special day class and our resource teachers. This is a topic that they also get training on. We also, as a result of our fall coffee with special education that we did in each region, we heard from parents that this was an area that they would like to have more information on in workshops. So we're working to develop that workshop as well. But I want to be, we we want the process to be authentic to the
school and authentic to the students. And because our students are so unique, there are times that schools need to start where they're at with the students that they're serving because students may be, more able to participate at a greater rate or less able to participate at a slower rate. Our goal is to begin that process and have our students be part of that team. So one of the ways that we've done that is we've created a toolkit that's available to all of our schools with a lot of the resources that you've heard about today, suggestions, ways that they can go about it, and we continue to add
to that. We have a committee that focuses on that work and adds resources on a regular basis so that schools can access. Our goal is that all schools take into consideration the role of the student in the IEP. So I thank you for your comments, and just know that we did hear you and we heard the parents through the listen and learn campaign and the coffee with special education, And there will be workshops for families coming on this area. Thank you. Alright. Scott. So, mister Mulatta and mister Gomez, come on up to the microphone. I have a couple of questions for you.
So, I visit all my schools. I sit in the classrooms. I listen to the kids. I talk with the kids. And there's something that that that really bothers me a lot, and that is first of all, I don't see many speech and language pathologists. I mean, so rare. So rare that I find one and I, you know, I just wanna make sure that I I make good use. So when I visit my schools and I see that there is an extremely obese student in the room, k, I will make sure that I find out what that
student's name is, and I will go to the nurse because the nurse is there five days a week. The nurses are very busy. They're very busy all the time, but I think it's very important that the nurses call in students and their parents when they see a student who's extremely obese, very unhealthy, and give them nutritional advice about how they can help. That's one thing. But what bothers me even more is when I hear students with speech impediments. And I always wonder, does anyone else hear them except me? I mean, do I well, I refer them too.
I I just wonder, has anyone, notified the the principal, the assistant principal, or the, APEIS, or somebody that, you know, someone needs to listen to John or Mary and hear the speech problem that they're having. Hopefully, someone is doing that, but I can't be sure that they are. And I don't know how I would go about making sure that kids who have obvious speech impediments are being heard, are being treated. How how do I go about doing that in my visits?
If you can tell me. It's a no. It's a fantastic point. Well, I all I can speak to is the schools that I'm at, and our referral process seems to be pretty rock solid, particularly at City Terrace. So if there's a teacher or a resource teacher that's working with a student and they have communication needs, oftentimes, they'll get referred to me and, you know, we will go through all the RTI process. And then ultimately, if we've determined that that's not successful, we are going to, you know, start the IEP process. So I feel pretty good about the schools that I'm at. But with regard to the schools that I'm not at, and let's let's get back
to stuttering over here. Stuttering, again, is greatly misunderstood. There are a lot of speech pathologists and I would venture ninety percent of all speech pathologists don't know how to handle it. There are numbers out there that say they're literally scared to work with children who stutter. And this is a little bit of an appeal since I have your ears right now. For five years, I had the stuttering support position, which meant that SLPs within the district, if they had any questions about their student who stutters, they could contact me. I would have a Zoom meeting with them, a phone conversation, or even go to
the school site and work with them directly. It was really, really nice. And then two years ago, the position got cut because they wanted us to focus on caseload, which I understand. We have a lot of need. I get that. But there's still a lot of need for kids who stutter, and there's still a lot of SLPs who don't know how to deal with this particular issue. So I oftentimes still field all these calls pro bono in addition to, you know, maintaining a full caseload. So I think that the specialty positions that we have, we have them for AAC, augmentative communication for kids who are nonverbal.
You know, those are those are in place. Those are still there. But I think even for niche issues like kids who stutter, having a support position like stuttering support, even if it's not me, if it's somebody who out there who feels comfortable and competent, is extremely important. So, I think not not only identifying that the kids have needs, but making sure that we have, a staff in place that feels confident and competent to help them out. Does does that answer your question? It does. And as not being a speech and language specialist at all, it's just something I hear that kind of I I I wanna identify.
Mentioning it to the teacher privately, would that be enough to say, hey. Is so and so being seen by by someone in speech and language to identify if they do have a correction that's needed? Or do I do I call the special ed office and start bothering you every single day when I have a kid that I noticed? You're never a bother. You're never a bother. No. But, again, if you're at a school site or somebody's at a school site and they notice an issue that causes concern, we would absolutely want the teacher to be aware of that. We also have to be mindful that it might be something that's situational. It might be something that, is based upon just having you in the classroom that,
you know, with your wondrous self that puts people maybe a little bit, nervous. But at the end of the day, if there's something that you suspect or anybody suspects, suspects, we would want the teacher to be made aware of that, and then the teacher can determine based on other data that they've collected, whether or not additional steps need to be taken. I also just wanna clarify there were a few acronyms you threw out, so I just wanna make sure everybody knows. We heard RTI, which is response to intervention, so we wanna make sure that you're aware of that. And SLP is a speech and language provider, so we just wanna make sure you're aware of all of those. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, guys. And mister Schmerson still makes me nervous as well, so I can understand why some
but, also, I would bring up that talking to the teacher is likely the quickest and easiest way to go about it because odds are they probably are receiving speech services. You know, your your ears don't lie to you when it comes to those kinds of things. And so I think, at least in my experience, teachers have been really good about referring kids to me, and then I get to work with John. So that usually is how it works. Thank you so much. I'd like to invite, some of our committee members who have not, had the opportunity to share. Brenda or Rabia, if you would like to, ask a question or or make a
comment and also invite you to ask any questions or make comments of our student who is here today. First, I'd like to say that, I think if these are it's sounding like it's working really well. Other schools, my son's now in eighth grade, and he has never attended his IEP. The only time that he ever attended his IEP was in fifth grade when he was first given, services. So as, a parent new to the IEP, this is something that I wish like, even I have his IEP meeting tomorrow, so he's not gonna be part of that meeting. I didn't you know, I that's something that I asked about.
I said, oh, well, we really don't do it till high school. But if it's a common it's a it seems like it's a great process to do, like, to have our the students there, and it should be a common something common at all our schools. And, you know, I don't understand why he did it in elementary school and they were capable of doing it. And now at the I he's at a, I guess, considered a suspenseful, seven through 12, and it's not provided. Often enough, we're kinda pushed away. I'm very I'm forced a lot of the times to do, IEP on Zoom. I'm probably I'm adamant about doing it in person because I prefer to do it
in person. I want to see who the caseworker is or who who might be there. Previously, the last meeting that we had, it was a teacher that wasn't even his teacher that was there. So just things like that that are happening at schools that I think we need to be more aware of because as parents, sometimes it's like we don't know what the right or wrong process is, and it'd be nice to know. Like, my son for even he's receiving now speech, therapy, but his ETK teacher referred him, and he just started receiving it officially in fifth grade because it was not.
They kept saying he's gonna outgrow it. But had he had those services and and ETK, he probably wouldn't have these problems now that he's 13, gonna be 14 years old. So these are the things that, as a parent who's a huge advocate and as a parent who speaks up, he fell through the crack. And even though I've advocated for him, and it's it's unfortunate and it's sad, I don't want other kids to do you know, to fall through those same cracks. It shouldn't be it we shouldn't have to fight this hard to get our kids services. Thank you. Ravi, I invite you to make a comment or ask a question if you if
if you want to. I don't wanna force. You know, I'm gonna also make a just a quick comment on involving the student, and I think it speaks to, one of the first issues we talked about in one of our first meetings, which is sometimes the IEP document can be complex and, hard for people to process. And when you have the actual student there in the room, as he so eloquently described, you know, it allows you to have goals explained in accessible language. And and, you know, myself as a parent of a special needs child, you definitely
see the difference. You see the buy in of the student. You see the the ownership of their own educational plan, and then you actually see the impact. So I think this is this was fantastic to hear that instead of should we invite, we are inviting. And I would love to see that start from day one, even when they're in kindergarten, just to participate and understand that these people are here to support you, and this is this is your education. Last call. Let's see. Christina and, Maria, you wanna share something?
Yeah. So I wanted to add on to that, in you know how it's a whole team that comes together. And I know we've mentioned at my school, we have weekly meetings, you know, to kind of fill each other in as far as students and stuff like that. So then one suggestion that we had made as far as, you know, getting the pairs involved in the meetings as the IEP meetings to just have an idea in general, with the students that we worked directly with. And I think that that's also important because it kinda goes back to what they mentioned as far as, like, what if somebody that works directly with the child wants
to get more involved or get to know a little bit more, how can we get trainings, you know, to help out students in the downtime, you know? Each you know, she mentioned that, you know, her student, you know, she felt a certain way that they felt, you know, between the cracks. And sometimes it happens that we as parents see that, like, hey. This this student does need that extra help. And maybe in downtimes, you know, other staff member can help, you know, fill in that little gap. You know, so I just wanted to suggest that or make that comment.
You know? Thank you. Senora Duran, you'll be our last, commenter. Well, because anything, I wanna congratulate miss Alexa Carrillo. And, honestly, I'm surprised, the way she has communicated, and she's had the support for people that are at the school, and I congratulate you. I we know that we want all all parents want our students to know how to advocate, for a difficult life that's ahead of them. I also want to congratulate the pathologist, mister Gomez.
Honestly, you have found that small detail that all students need. And I hope that all pathologists find that small detail within them. I congratulate you because the pathologists in certain occasions, when they do their evaluations, when it has to do with speech, Sometimes they wanna remove services. But, honestly, there is a point in which you said, and I have seen many students, families, friends at the schools, the primary, secondary schools, and high schools, not just
with my son, but also with other parents. And this is a big necessity. I hope that there are more pathologists, that there are more mister gold misses because we do need them and that would help a lot. Also, just what mister Scott mentioned. Thank you. Your journey of coming to understanding your IEP process and, you know, advocating for yourself. And you're way on your way to just do great things. When you have that voice and you find that empowerment, you can do a lot
of things. So thank you. Thank you for the educators who prepare our students for this. I know that it's not easy. It doesn't happen, on its own. There needs to be intention. There needs to be motivation. There needs to be a desire to include folks, to bring people in, to respect our students, and to respect our parents, our families, right, who are there. And when students see that we respect and honor the families, their family members, that is empowering to them. And, when we're doing this, we are modeling that.
So, I wanna thank you all are way ahead of the game. And, as you can see, our committee here is wanting that so bad for their own school sites, for their own students. So I'm glad that this is one of our goals in our listen and learn campaign. I my my dream is that it's not that the the way that we measure meeting this goal goes beyond a student's signature, that we have a matrix where the we move up to the point where the student, like someone said, is leading the
IEP meeting. That should be our goal. And, I love that we are starting young with our students, and we are accepting many different ways for students to communicate themselves themselves because that is that is something that we want. Right? We want students to be able to express themselves in whatever way they are able to in that moment, and in fact, we should be adapting to where our students are. That should be the goal. So, I also wanna acknowledge that this work doesn't happen on its own.
It does require some culture change at the school site, and it does require conversations at this school site, and it requires professional development. This is something that we have uplifted in this committee that all of our staff need to be, participating in trainings around what parents have said, empathy, inclusive practices, learning about the different eligibilities, right, and how all of us participate in this because they're all of our students.
Right? And so we wanna make sure that we continue to uplift that. I want I wish we could go back to articulation meetings. I don't think they're happening everywhere, right, where we used to meet with the feeder school and hand off the students that were coming in. I wish you could go back to, monthly or, you know, meetings for our RSP teachers where they could get information on the different things that are upcoming. I know. We used to do them, and I want us to find the funding for that because that was very important for a lot of our of our staff.
Incorporating some of these PDs into our bank Tuesday PDs because when we make it mandatory, it's gonna happen. When we make it mandatory, it means we're valuing that. And so I wanted to be part of our Tuesday PDs. And then lastly, you know, I just wanna again, reiterate that all of this, really is empowering to our families. And that is what our parents have been asking for is a space where they can get information so that they can be empowered to advocate for their children. So, my staff has taken notes on everything that has been shared here today.
Like I said, earlier, we're going to gather all this information, and we're gonna present some recommendations to our, division of special education as well as our board of, our school board members. And we're gonna meet again on May 6, and I hope to see you here. I hope to see some more students. And, let's see. I think I wanna thank again everyone, our our presenters, of course, our special education division who make sure that this happens, our committee members who some travel very far
to get here, our board secretariat, our ITS, and our translation unit. And I'm gonna hand it off now to Mike McLean to, lead us in the public comment. Thank you again. Alright. Here we go for public comment. The first person and the only in person speaker today is David Tocovsky. Come on up, mister Tocovsky. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin, and then we'll take all the folks who are signed up, to speak remotely. Thank you very much. My name is David Takofsky. I'm a bilingual teacher, and I sat as a school board member for nearly five
thousand days. I haven't counted the hours, but let me just say a few things. One, having an APEIS here today reiterates the importance of what we created when I got on the school board during the Chanda Smith lawsuit to make sure that every administrator in the district began as a special ed administrator. Because as they rose up, then the whole organization would have that knowledge and experience. Secondly, governor Newsom has put $500,000,000 this year, $500,000,000 more into special ed.
We need to tell the public that, and before the May decision on the budget, advocate for more money for special ed. But it's a reminder that the whole district's $20,000,000,000 is special ed money. It is not special ed money and then general ed money. It's neurodiversity. It's search and serve. Third, the tutoring settlement, we should get a report on how that settlement is going. Four, we should check on outsourcing of psychologists for speech therapists and get a vision of how much is outsourced and why it's not, part of the district's employment.
Also, there's a lot of one time money in Sacramento this year. It's still green. It's not red money. It's green. And you could dedicate that one time money to causes like special ed. Additionally, there's 5,600,000,000.0 being held back by the governor. That will come back this year and that money, is containing, along with the 2,300,000,000.0 that he's already returned, money for special ed. And finally, some topics to look at. Facilities. We don't have any report on any of the special ed sites, whether they're being
modernized or put money in. We're putting $300,000,000 into a kitchen, but we're putting nothing barely into our facilities. Lawsuits, we could get a report from miss Kellogg on what people are complaining about and suing about. And finally, child find. If you know what child find is, it's a federal requirement that all districts must search from zero to three to find the kids and have a document filed with the federal government. We only have very few special ed kids. Thank you for your time. You're welcome. Cheryl Kono. I see you're on the line.
Cheryl Kono, you're on the line. Please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you have two minutes to speak once you begin. Cheryl Kono. I see you're online with us, miss Kono. Please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Okay. We will come back to you, miss Kono. Roxanna Garcia. Are you on the line? Roxanna Garcia. I do not see you on the line. Are you in the room? Roxanna Garcia. Alright. Concerned parent. I see you're on the line. Please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Concerned parent. Good afternoon, committee members. Thank you for the presentation.
I wanna, first and foremost, congratulate the students for advocating for themselves. I think it's powerful to see, what, advocacy can bring. Board member Schmerlson, I wanna encourage you to look into child find data from the district because that's how you find out if students are being referred to special to be evaluated for special education services. And I would also urge you to look into potential violations of the district using RTI to delay or deny assessment.
I think, moving on, the I think it's it's great to see. This is a great example of what it could look like when this is done right, but, unfortunately, there are situations where this is done very wrong. I've experienced that myself. My older child who had an IEP experienced a horrible IEP meeting that two minutes is not enough to to cover what what took place. It it damaged his self esteem, and it was very difficult for him to overcome
because the IEP team did not have the proper training to support him in that meeting. Now I understand that, this is wonderful, but I would look into the district maybe, including sensitivity training so that they're able to support students appropriately because we don't the purpose is to encourage and empower students not to diminish or deny their their needs. So I really urge you into looking to that because we don't want this to
be a disservice to the student. And finally, individual IEPs are individualized, so the way that each student, will participate will differ based on their ability. So thank you for your comment, and I will follow-up with you, via email to provide you some information about what what happens when it goes very wrong. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Ernie Ballesteros. I see you're online. Are you signed on to speak online, but I do not have you signed in in front of me. Are you in the room, Ernie Ballesteros? No. Not here. Glenda Mejia.
Glenda Mejia, I see you're online. Please press star to unmute yourself, and you have two minutes to speak once you begin. Hi. My name is Glenda Mejia. I'm a clinic PSW, and I'm here to to read a statement from another PSW in the ERIC program. These are the concerns that she's expressing. She has a big concern regarding the recent mid semester decision to transition ERIC's provider's school based roles, but still notice their clarity. The abruptness of this trip has created significant disruption, not just for them as providers,
but more importantly for the students, families, and schools that we serve. This change implemented from one day to the next, needs students to rely on Eric's services feeling unimportant and uncertain. These are students who depend on consistency and connection. Being removed from a trusted provider mid semester breaks back on community of care. It sends an unintended but clear message. Their needs are not a priority. Without a clear plan of communication, there's widespread confusion about who will deliver the mandated services these students rely on as providers who build strong trust in relationships with these
students and their families. We've had to sit with these students, come in tears, and deliver the news without being able to offer them any answers or reassurance. Watching them for us, said and not finding the hopelessness in that moment has been heartbreaking. And the providers will not be ignored. Many of us are left with having to abruptly adjust our schedules and the possibilities often with no explanation or consideration for how this could affect our personal and professional lives. It's left many of us feeling undervalued.
The impact of these decisions is felt across all levels. Students are left without the care and consistency that they need. Families are unsure who is supporting their child. Schools are left to manage without more guidance or resources. Providers are uprooted with little regard for the therapeutic relationships they've built or the personal sacrifices they've made. We're asking for accountability, for communication, and for compassion in how these transitions are handled moving forward. Time. Most of all, we're asking that the needs of the students, particularly those Thank you
for your time. The next speaker is Thakur Singh. Please press 6 to unmute yourself. You have two minutes to speak once you begin. Thakur Singh. Hi. Can you hear me? Yes. Perfect. Great afternoon, board president Schmerlson, board vice president doctor Rivas, and board member Griego. Happy today's Wednesday. Happy Wednesday. I am again speaking here today in support of an independent graduation for the Leadership and Public Service Virtual Academy. Students have been raising this months in advance. But like we've mentioned at recent board meetings, we kept receiving conflicting information that kept
having us running in circles. And, we I like I mentioned yesterday, we do have a petition that has been circulating. Yesterday, we had 95 signatures, and today, we're at over a 100. We're at a 102 signatures. This is from students. This is from families. This is from alumni who all indicate that an independent graduation would be far more intimate for our students, and it is possible. We have a location figured out. We have, teachers who are willing to support in terms of a committee. And I know I as a student and my peers and our families are more
than willing to move mountains to get this done because students deserve to have a graduation ceremony that is intimate, that is personal, and that truly celebrates their their achievements. So we ask that you please, instruct the virtual academy administration and inform them of our wishes. Again, it really is possible. We just need the green flag. And I did send that email yesterday with I did resend the email with additional information. I hope that when you get a chance, you all take a look at it. Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you for your time. Ekaterina Singh, I see you on the line. Please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Ekaterina Singh. Ekaterina, I see you're on the line with us. Please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Okay. We will come back to you. The next speaker is Tatiana. Tatiana, are you on the line? I do not see Tatiana on the line. Jamila Funtua, I see you are on the line. Please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you once you begin. Jamila. Hello.
Can you hear me? Yes. We can. Okay. Members of the school board and acting superintendent, happy Wednesday. My name is Jamila. My name is Jamila. I am a student of leadership and public service Academy at Resnick, a board member of Newburgh's District. I'm here again today to speak publicly and vocal support of our school having our own graduation ceremony. We are students have called for independent graduation since last year, but never received transparent communication sent back to us. Now our Berkshire County leadership tells us the reason we can't have our own graduation because it's too late. However, it appears that the Berkshire County administration never never actually never attended to provide
us with our own ceremony. Previously, we were told that it was simply a matter of, quote, tradition that we cannot that we can't conduct our own graduation. There are actually several students who witnessed this being stated. Graduation is a major milestone for students and their families. Now it's actually being demolished. Each day at the Berkshire County, we should not grant our school the right to our own graduation, the bunch of students and parents will add. In fact, there have been talks that we walk out at the graduation if their current plans continue. We are appealing we are appealing to you, the Board of Education, because we have nowhere else to go.
Every return, we are told that it's impossible or that we have to agree to false compromises. But we know this is but we know this can be done. We already we already have the teachers who signed up for graduation community. We we already have much of the details figured out including the location. Students and parents are already students and parents are already waiting for for us to have our own graduation, we just need the green flag. We are more than willing to contact you if if you have any questions. We can provide you with all the information as soon as possible. You have our emails in your inboxes. We hope that we can attend to we hope that we can attend your support.
Thank you. Have a good night, and good day. Thank you for your time. Alright. The next speaker is Brianna Hernandez. Brianna Hernandez, please press star six to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Brianna Hernandez. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Wonderful. Good afternoon, board president Carlson, board vice president doctor Rivas, and board member Grillo. I'm Brianna Hernandez, a student of the Leadership and Public Service Virtual Academy. I have returned to speak on a petition for an independent graduation ceremony. Please imagine a time where you have been told something was impossible to do even
when it wasn't. Maybe someone told you that it would be impossible to run for your very current state. Despite this, you kept pushing and proved that it wasn't impossible by winning. We're in the same spot today. We know that this can be done. Virgil Academy administration has claimed that it's too late. So even before then, they kept trying to shoot us down. Despite the fact that this is what students clearly want, we also kept receiving conflicting messages that kept us running in circles. Why is it our fault that we kept receiving unfair and unclear communication? Why are students being penalized by not having their own graduation for the seniors this
year? We showed that VA leadership will consider this next year. That's great for us juniors, but for seniors, this isn't this isn't right. As board members, you are very familiar with LUND support for student voice, parent voice, inclusivity, and let's chase in our dream. Why then can students not have their dream of a personal and intimate graduation, especially when it is doable? We are saying please do that it's not impossible and that you stand with us and our parents. If you have any questions or need more information, please reach out to us. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time.
Johanna Golda Mez, I signed up to speak remotely, but I do not have you signed in in front of me. So you are not here. Gabriel, I see you are signed on. Gabriel, please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Gabriel. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Good afternoon, members of the school board. My name is Gabriel Wenigan, and I'm a senior at Pugetian Public Service Gradual Academy who graduated with the crown in 2026. As a student, I've always wanted a graduation ceremony that's personal to me, my family,
my friends, and my teachers. Instead, virtual academy administration has taken a chance away from us. Virtual academy administration has forced leadership leadership virtual academy students and families into a gigantic graduation ceremony with five other schools against the wishes of us and our parents. They never even asked for our input yet now say it's too late to change things. But it isn't. Contrary to what virtual data administration claims, this can be done. Their only reason is that it is it is, quote, violent. But we already have a location, teachers who have signed up for a graduation committee,
and parents and students are strongly in support of this. Imagine your child in our shoes. Not having the requisite special graduation with strict limits on student speakers and limited time between you, your child, and their teachers. We do support them in having independent ceremony. We please ask that you instruct virtual academy leadership to respect the wishes of students, parents, and grant us the grant us the chance of a meaningful graduation. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Isabella Telles. I see you're signed up to speak remotely, but I do not have you signed
in. Are you in the room, Isabella? No. Abigail De La Torre, I see you are on the line. Please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Abigail. Good evening. My name is Abigail Dela Sora. I'm speaking to discuss concerns of a leadership and public service virtual academy student with the upcoming graduation for the class of 2026. As we're afraid of approaching our graduation ceremony, this should be a milestone to look forward to. Now the current plan to group six different virtual academies into a single ceremony is causing lots of concern among the incoming graduates. We have been told that independent graduations are impossible, yet our own research proves otherwise.
For months, we have worked to find solutions and have even secured alternative schools that are willing to host us. Despite being told that we should have voiced these concerns earlier, we have been consistent in our outreach only to continue to be met with excuses. LAUSD frequently pledges a commitment to inclusion, yet it's both of those decisions are being made based on administrative convenience rather than being for the for the well-being of the students. Administration has also been making unilateral decisions regarding our graduation without considering student and parent wishes, which at the Leadership and Public Service Virtual Academy are overwhelmingly in support of an independent graduation as we do currently have over 100 signatures in favor of an
independent ceremony. We have constantly received false and conflicting info from leadership that continue to delay our advocacy. We have worked hard for four years to earn this moment. We deserve a ceremony that respects our achievements and our families. My grandparents suffer from serious health issues that make attending a prolonged event a significant risk. They are physically unable to sit at them for the extended amount of time required for a ceremony with all virtual academies. They may be unable to attend my graduation due to this. A combined ceremony, which lasted six hours last year, is effectively an environment of sensory overload that my cousin, another student of LAUSD who is on the autism spectrum, cannot navigate.
In a crowded and chaotic setting with thousands of people, my cousin will experience extreme physical and emotional distress. This is not a situation he can simply sit through, especially not for six hours. The plan to combine all six graduations will effectively prevent my immediate family from attending to witness my once in a lifetime milestone. It is disheartening to see the values of student expression and equity being preached after every school board meeting yet not followed. I hope that you, the members of the school board, please please follow these rules, align your actions with your words, and allow the leadership and public service virtual academy students and families to celebrate this milestone with an independent ceremony.
Thank you for your time. Thank you for your time. Cheryl Kono, we are returning to you, Cheryl Kono. Please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Cheryl Kono. Gerald Kono. Okay. That's last call, miss Kono. Alright. Ekaterina Singh. Second time that we're calling on you. Ekaterina Singh. Please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Ekaterina Singh. Hello. Good afternoon. Can you hear me? Yes. Hello. Good afternoon, members of the school board. My name is Ekaterina Fink. I am the parent of two virtual academy students who have been with LAUSD for
nearly the past decade. I always imagine that my kids would have a graduation that is personal. That will not be the case for them this year unless things change. However, you, as a member of the school board, have the power to change that and give my son and his peers who are graduating this year the chance at their own graduation that it's personal for the school and, for us as a family. I and other parents, at the leadership and public service virtual academy are strongly in
support of that. That is why so many of us have signed the petition for that. We are also more than willing to support and move mountains for our kids to have this chance. Whatever it takes, we will support. But already, even before getting approval, students have found the location and gathered support from teachers and families. We, as a parent of Leadership Virtual Academy, ask that you please give our kids a chance at a graduation ceremony, which is personal and intimate.
You have the power to change that. Thank you so much for your time, and I hope this will resolve in the best way. Thank you. Have a nice day. Thank you for your time. The next speaker is Marisol Alvarez. Yes. Marisol, please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Marisol Alvarez. Hi. Yes. Can you hear me? Yes. Hi. I'm, Marissa Alvarez. I'm a school based PSW. I am speaking today on behalf of the eight transition service facilitator PSW.
I would like to express deep concern regarding the removal of psychiatric social workers from the early childhood special education department. PSWs play a critical and irreplaceable role in ensuring that young children with special needs and their families receive the timely, coordinated, and compassionate support necessary for success in early intervention and preschool special education services. PSW serve as a primary connection between families and the educational system. They help families navigate complex processes such as evaluations, individualized education program development, and service
coordination, ensuring that each step meets mandated timelines under IDEA. Without their support, families are likely to face significant confusion and delays in accessing services, jeopardizing compliance with required timelines for evaluations, eligibility determinations, and then the initiation of services. But beyond compliance, the absence of PSWs would create some substantial hardship for families. Many families of young children with disabilities are coping with emotional, financial, and logistical challenges.
DSWs in this program provided vital assistance with accessing community resources, addressing barriers such as transportation and housing instability, and supporting family well-being factors that directly affect a child's ability to participate in services. Their unique very unique training in mental health and family systems allows them to build trusting relationships and provide continuity of care that teachers and service providers already stretched thin cannot replicate.
The removal of these PSWs would also increase the the administrative burden on educators and delay timely communication. Thank you so much, board members, for the for the attention to this very important matter. Thank you for your time. And the last speaker is in person is Jessica Sepeira. Come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Hi. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Jessica. I did not initially plan to speak, but as I was hearing everything that was being reported, I felt like I had a lot that I wanted to elaborate on. And, like my colleague Christina here mentioned, I think that it is extremely important to
include all stakeholders, and part of that is paraprofessionals, specifically special ed paraprofessionals as we're on this committee for spec because we're sometimes the ones that know the students the absolute best. We're there from the time they get on that school bus to the time they get off of that school bus. We're there from the time they finish their after school programs and what have you. We're there in every capacity, with those students, but it is crucial to enable us with the tools to be able to support our students.
Not as many, paraprofessionals are familiar with the IEP, the different sections of an IEP, how a behavior plan gets put out, how BII is implemented, and how it's a service and not a person, how minutes get built out, and all of those aspects are extremely important in order to support our students. The other thing that I wanted to briefly comment on is, the IEP and having a student a part of the IEP. As a health care assistant in the district, we work on continuity. I've been with my students since she was in the first grade. She's now in the eighth grade.
And when she was in the third grade, out of an idea that was born initially with me, but supported entirely by the school principal, teacher, PSW, PSA, we all collaborated in what was a really traumatic time for her because she had lost her father and was able to begin being a part of her IEP. And from there to now to the eighth grade, she knows how to advocate for herself. She knows what her needs are. She carries, an index card with her accommodation. So if she forgets, she knows her reference to that.
So I just wanted to further elaborate on that and say that it is absolutely something that needs to be happening at all sites. It's gonna look different. Nothing's gonna look the same, but it needs to happen. So that was it. Thank you. Alright. Well, I think we are done with our meeting for today. I wanna thank again everyone for participating, and I will see you in May. Have a good evening.