District ABA Advisory

Minutes – February 20th/08
District ABA Advisory
Attendance 21

 

Meeting held at Surrey Conference Centre

 

Meeting called to order at 7:12 by Nancy Walton

 

Dubravka Skrijelj asked if the group wanted the meeting video taped or audio taped. Nancy Walton asked if participants would like the meeting taped, the majority were not interested and the meeting was not taped.

 

Nancy Robins explained why the organization could not be a PAC. Those are defined in the school act and are assigned to specific schools. She further explained that the District was not concerned with titles and were interested in working with our group.

 

A new name was proposed; District ABA Advisory. Discussion that Advisory would include all parents and guardians of children in the district with ABA programs.

 

A brief history of collective ABA advocacy in the district was given for any new parents in the room.

 

The agenda was adopted.

 

Nancy Walton read the Mission and Purpose of the organization as written by the steering committee (Nancy Walton, Nancy Robins, Steve Booth, Elaine Raynault, Eleanor MacDonald). There were no questions or comments

 

The group moved on to a read through of the Constitution and Bylaws.

Questions

•What about people wait listed with consultants who plan to be or have previously been running ABA programs – answer – if child has a program with ABA consultant then parent is a member
•What about people who are currently not enrolled but want their kids to go to this district and pay taxes in this district – answer – if child is registered in district then parent is a member
•Who is an ABA consultant – so who can be running a program – answer – needs to be those eligible on the ACT list since those are parent’s options

A question for the district – Will there be a form coming out for parents and consultants to state the child has a continued preference for an ABA SW or should parents write letters. Will there be a reminder send to parents?

 

•Does having a home program guarantee an ABA SW – answer – no there are currently supply and demand issues, although a list is kept of those whose preference is an ABA SW
•What if you don’t want that ABA SW or SEA – answer – we can talk about strategies going forward, if there are technical issues and not personal ones, if the issues are Hewko related (instructional control, or ability to deliver on behaviour plan, etc) then these are individual and the parent should proceed as they see necessary
•Question on role of ABA Advisory – will the group deprive individual students and parents of their rights – answer – no, the parent is still the primary advocate for their child and they chose to act as they see fit in advocating for their child.
•Question – how many ABA SW’s are there – answer – currently 30
•Question – what is the difference between ABA SW and ABA SEA – answer – it is our understanding that there will be no more ABA SEA’s they were from the group with 6 months non defined home program experience

The review of the Constitution and Bylaws and the Code of Ethics were completed a motion to adopt by Steve seconded by Paulina the vote carried.

 

Steve Booth was appointed Nominating Chairperson

 

He opened Nominations for Chair Person – Nancy Robins was nominated by Nicole Kaler seconded by Deb Antifeav – no other nominations were brought to the floor – carried

 

Nominations opened for Vice Chair – Nancy Walton was nominated by Deb Antifeav, seconded by David Poole – no other nominations were brought to the floor – carried

 

Nominations opened for Secretary – Eleanor MacDonald was nominated by Nicole Kaler, seconded by David Poole – no other nominations were brought to the floor – carried

 

New Executive Committee asked Advisory to review and accept Proposed SD 36 support request – motion to accept Nicole Kaler, seconder Elaine Raynault

 

It was determined the proposal would be sent to the district and their response would be forwarded to the membership.

 

Motion to adjourn 9:00 pm Deb Antifeav seconded by Dal Dhillon

 

Future meeting dates set

April 8th 2008

June 10th 2008

August 12th 2008

October 14th 2008

January 27th 2008 Annual General Meeting